From Glory To Goo

I rarely shill a game, but this one here deserves it. After discovering horde/wave-survival-RTS games like 'Diplomacy is not an option' or 'Age of Darkness' (or, for others, 'They Are Billions'), I wanted to see what else this subgenre had to offer. Researching, quite a lot of people recommended 'Glory to Goo', which sounded weird, but it grew on me. I checked out some screenshots and gameplay videos, and it looked charming. Not knowing that this was an early-access game, it made me sceptical, cause I usually wait for 1.0 releases. Seeing that this game is made by a solo dev and has regular updates, I just bought it and don't regret it for a second so far. It has nice pixel art that is distinguishable even when your colony expands a lot. Sound effects are serviceable, fitting, and are coupled with awesome synthwave soundtracks. The game offers several modes varying from survival challenges, endless mode, a roguelike-esque mode, or a cool campaign (of which only Chapter 1 exists so far because it's a work in progress), but it's well done. You even visit some of your older maps/colonies you built in newer missions, such a nice little addition, even though the story, or rather the dialogue, could use a little upgrade just to make you care more. Your mind will have to fill in the gaps. Outside of the game, you collect resources that are used to upgrade your units, buildings, and several passives that help you in-game (of course there are in-game upgrades as well). The dev also added 2 new factions that are interwoven into the campaign or can be played in the other modes, depending on the captain (think of WC3 hero) you choose. 'Glory to Goo' combines a lot of mechanics and styles from other games, but they are put together wonderfully, and finds a perfect balance between being simple and intricate. It just oozes SOUL. On the downside, the tutorials are a little barebones, especially for the second faction. You have to do a little trial and error or get some info online to really know what the game expects from you. Though, it does offer 5 different difficulty modes, which vary from very easy to quite challenging. If you expect to turtle in and just wait for enemy hordes, you will be quickly overwhelmed because it expects you to expand (but this is actually true for most games of this genre). I could go on and on, but just see for yourself. For just 10€, this is quite a steal, with more content to come.