Bellfortis

I was really impressed with this game! I finished a campaign as Bohemia, and it gave me just about everything I was looking for from a grand strategy game. It's described as being "Crusader Kings + Total War: Medieval II", and actually, that's not quite accurate. What it *is* is actually an excellent modernization of Total War: Medieval - the first one. If you haven't dipped into the pre-TW: Rome games, they play much more like board games. You're staring down at a huge map, moving your army pieces across provinces. It's a high-level strategy game, with some arcade-y battles to change things up. What impressed me the most was the diplomacy and intrigue systems. They're not the deepest, as with a lot of the rest of the game, but what is presented works extremely well! Veterans of TW games know that diplomacy doesn't usually work very well; you're lucky to negotiate trade deals or ceasefires that last a turn. Here, I was successfully able to negotiate other factions into becoming my vassals or integrating our kingdoms, giving me massive leaps in power. Alliances were always held, because they were beneficial to us both. Shocking, I know! TLDR: The game mechanics are very well done and everything felt like it worked how I'd want it to. I had a lot of fun and it's absolutely worth your time and money. Will you get 1000 hours of play? Probably not, but you'll absolutely get your money's worth.

If you're a veteran of this genre, then you'll find Bellfortis to be easy to learn. As a veteran strategy gamer you'll be offered a moderately deep strategy game perfect for those times when you don't want to think too hard to play a game but want a bit of a challenge. If you're looking for a game with Paradox Plaza level of depth ala Hearts of Iron, etc. then this is not the game for you. If you are new to the turn based strategy scene then Bellfortis is an excellent gateway game for you. You will learn much about moderately deep gameplay mechanics and have fun doing it. If you have never played a strategy game before then this game may be a bit difficult as an introduction to turn based strategy. I'm a 30+ year strategy gamer with a lot of experience. Bellfortis hits that sweet spot for me in terms of easy to play but complex enough not to be too frustrating. Peace be with you.

Incredible game, simple and fun to play, real total war competitor, PLEASE, ADD NAVAL BATTLES

[h1] Pour ceux qui préfèrent une jolie vidéo plutôt qu'un long texte ennuyant, j'ai pensé à vous ! [/h1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI1Mr6kT6Gs&feature=youtu.be [h1][b]Bellfortis : Le Rempart Ultime contre les Envahisseurs (6.5/10)[/b][/h1] [h2][b]Introduction - Qu'est-ce que Bellfortis ?[/b][/h2] Bellfortis est un jeu hybride mélangeant [b]Action, Stratégie en temps réel et Tower Defense[/b]. Vous incarnez le commandant d'une forteresse isolée qui doit être reconstruite et défendue contre des vagues incessantes d'ennemis. Le jeu se distingue par sa capacité à vous faire passer de la planification stratégique (construction et gestion) à l'action directe sur le champ de bataille, où vos décisions de placement et de recrutement font la différence entre la victoire et la chute du bastion. [h2]🎨 Graphismes et Ambiance[/h2] Le jeu opte pour une direction artistique en 3D stylisée (Low-Poly de haute qualité) qui donne un aspect "maquette" très plaisant et une excellente lisibilité à l'action. [list] [] [b]Atmosphère Médiévale :[/b] Les environnements sont variés, allant des plaines verdoyantes aux cols montagneux enneigés. L'ambiance change radicalement entre le calme des phases de construction et le chaos épique des sièges nocturnes. [] [b]Lisibilité :[/b] Malgré le grand nombre d'unités à l'écran, le jeu reste fluide et il est facile de distinguer ses troupes des assaillants, un point crucial pour la gestion tactique en temps réel. [/list] [h2]🕹️ Gameplay et Mécaniques[/h2] Bellfortis repose sur une boucle de gameplay solide et exigeante : [list] [] [b]Construction et Fortification :[/b] Vous devez ériger des murs, des tours de guet et des structures de soutien. Le placement est primordial : une tour mal placée peut créer un angle mort fatal. [] [b]Gestion de Compagnie :[/b] Vous recrutez différents types d'unités (archers, fantassins, mages) que vous pouvez équiper et faire progresser. La micro-gestion de votre escouade est au cœur de l'expérience : il ne suffit pas de construire des murs, il faut savoir où et quand déployer ses hommes. [] [b]Défense de Vagues :[/b] Les ennemis attaquent par vagues de plus en plus complexes. Vous devez adapter votre stratégie à la volée, réparer vos défenses sous le feu ennemi et utiliser les compétences spéciales de vos héros pour repousser les assauts les plus violents. [] [b]Économie :[/b] La gestion des ressources (or, matériaux) limite vos ambitions, vous forçant à faire des choix cornéliens entre améliorer vos murs ou recruter plus de soldats. [/list] [h2]📖 Histoire et Narration[/h2] L'histoire sert de cadre à la progression : vous êtes le dernier espoir d'un royaume en déliquescence, chargé de tenir des points stratégiques (les Bellfortis) pour empêcher l'invasion totale. La narration passe principalement par les briefings de missions et l'évolution de votre campement, offrant un sentiment de progression constant alors que vous libérez des régions et renforcez votre influence. [h2]✅ Points Positifs (Synthèse)[/h2] [list] [] [b]Mélange de genres réussi :[/b] La fusion entre la stratégie de construction et l'action tactique est fluide et addictive. [] [b]Satisfaction visuelle :[/b] Voir son château résister à une horde massive grâce à une défense bien pensée est extrêmement gratifiant. [] [b]Profondeur tactique :[/b] Le système d'équipement et d'évolution des unités permet de créer des styles de défense variés. [] [b]Difficulté gratifiante :[/b] Le jeu propose un vrai défi sans être injuste, récompensant l'apprentissage des patterns ennemis. [/list] [h2]❌ Points Négatifs (Synthèse)[/h2] [list] [] [b]IA alliée perfectible :[/b] Parfois, vos soldats peuvent avoir des comportements étranges ou rester bloqués dans le décor, nécessitant une micro-gestion manuelle un peu lourde. [] [b]Répétitivité :[/b] Bien que les cartes changent, la structure des missions peut finir par se ressembler après une dizaine d'heures de jeu. [*] [b]Interface :[/b] Certains menus de gestion d'inventaire et d'équipement pourraient être plus ergonomiques pour faciliter les changements rapides entre deux vagues. [/list] [h2]🎯 Conclusion et Verdict[/h2] [spoiler]Bellfortis est une excellente surprise pour les amateurs de stratégie et de défense de base. Il réussit à capturer l'essence héroïque de la défense d'une place forte tout en offrant assez de profondeur pour satisfaire les tacticiens. C'est un jeu "un peu plus qu'un Tower Defense" qui demande autant de réflexes que de réflexion. Si vous aimez bâtir des forteresses et mener vos hommes au combat, Bellfortis est un investissement sûr. [b]Verdict :[/b] Un titre solide, visuellement charmant et tactiquement prenant. [/spoiler] [h1][b]Note finale : 6.5/10[/b][/h1] [i]Statut : Disponible sur Steam - Développeur : Manna Potion[/i]

Extremely simple turn based strategy game with RTS features that could be great if they just turned it around to a part 2 fast and added tons of features. You get resources and have to build each city area but it's very few combinations and static rewards as you get bigger. It becomes annoying when you are on the attack and have to go back through dozens of cities and build whataver you can. It must be done or your resources won't keep up. The military side looked funner than it is. It becomes pretty annoying as well to the point where I just auto battled everything. Even on a higher difficulty you can really just stack all units and bum rush the enemy or let archers pick everything off for a bit then rush. Units and generals are made through xp but we can't interact or do anything with them. For the price I think it's worth buying and playing through if you like these games. I would buy another version of this where generals are manageable with stats, more indepth territory management (not like an RTS though) and maybe some story lines to go with historical generals. Make the units and battle field turn based as well and improve the AI. I thought I'd like the RT battle but I see you'd have to have MANY maps with castles and sieges that required the right types of units etc and the NPC AI is so far off I don't see that. That said, I played for 8 hours, beat he britainnia scenerio and will not ever play again because there isn't enough to do and the AI is so easy to beat.

To qualify myself, I offer my experience of well over 300 games in my steam library alone, bought Civ I back when it was sold on 3.5" disks, and have well over 1000+ hours in EU4 alone, and double that if we add in EU2&3. I wanted to get this in before the sale ended -- This is an absolute "buy" even at full price -- and a "No-Brainer" on sale. It handily scratches that combo itch of those earlier historically leaning games of yor, yet has that "more than a smattering" of EU'ish overload -- without overloading. You will play as the hours drift by, then "hit the hay" with visions of your next moves happily cluttering your mind...(Unless of course '90's Uma Thurman happens to be next to you). It is my hope that some more complexity and unit control will find its way into future updates whilst still maintaining its playability (we don't need another Paradox...don't get me going...), and that the beloved Dev will hone this labor of love into an absolute must-have classic. It is an "Total Win" for any armchair grognard to add to their library.

It tries to mimic the first Medieval Total War vibes. It doesn't succeed.

Great game, easy to just keep playing and playing to see how the next strategy plays out. At first I thought that it would be almost impossible to get a domination victory of 50-80% of provinces conquered while the "simulate large empire" option is enabled (which gives you a steadily increasing nerf to your income and food to simulate the overextended empire bureaucracy). But you can still win with that option, and it greatly improves the game. The trick is not to keep expanding all the time, but pause to consolidate your gains with provincial improvements and to give yourself time to get buffs to money and food with inventions. That moves the game farther away from a Risk-like game, closer to the Grand Strategy side of the continuum. Having lots of fun with this game and highly recommend.

The best Game 2025 for me !!!

Fun and easy to learn unlike your usual map painting strategies. What really makes this fun are the battles as they are mini Total War battles. Not as replayable as lets say EU4, CK3 as most of the countries will play similiarly. But totally worth the money even if you play just one or two full campaigns. My most issues are with UI. I could write several paragraphs of my issues with it. Useless information (no, I do not need to know that a faction I defeated at the start of the game is my enemy :) ), not very well organized, tedious army training, bad army overview, useless microscopic icons, etc etc... but it is still playable even with these issues.