Nusantara

If you are a fan of turn-based games, I would definitely recommend Nusantara to you. If not, then I would still say to give it a shot; it is only 4€ and it might pull you into the genre. In Nusantara, you play as either one of the two races: Sanghoy or Frenza. Sanghoy is a kind of tribal/barbaric race which uses shapeshifting powers to form strong units, while Frenza is a more modern type of race relying on good old gunpowder and steel. One thing I really liked is how playing one race differs from playing the other one. If you play only Sanghoy, you are really getting only half of the experience. Going from Sanghoy to Frenza or vice versa will require a different strategy if you want to utilize the race well. Each race comes with different units, buildings, research trees, resource types, and heroes. Heroes are a type of unit that can really affect your strategy. You can only have one of them, and you can pick them only once, but nurture them well and they will start to pay off. Maps in Nusantara are mostly what you've probably seen in other games: you are on one side of the map, and your opponent is on the other. The map consists of different tiles, each with different properties that should be taken into consideration when thinking of your strategy. The map is filled with neutral units that won't attack you unprovoked, but you will probably want to get rid of them to open new paths and get that sweet experience for your hero unit. Each map also has several gold mines, which are the primary source of your resource income. The unique aspect of Nusantara are interactable tiles that are randomized at the start of the game, making each session unique. There are various effects that can be found on those tiles, such as additional income, unique units, powerful spells, etc. The game currently supports multiplayer, which is how I mostly experienced the game. There is an in-game server browser that should make it easy to join friends' sessions and set up the lobby. If multiplayer is not your thing, the game also has custom games where you can play against AI with different difficulties. One of the great things about this game is how open it is for modding. Not only does it support modding, but developers have put out detailed resources to help you do so. If you have an idea for a map, just open the map editor and make one. If you think a unit is not well-balanced, open the data and tweak the numbers to your liking. If you have an idea for a spell that would really suit a specific unit, you can add it yourself. Or maybe you have an idea for a new unit? Also not a problem. Maybe you want to put an entirely new race in the game? The sky is the limit. If you have any coding experience, adding any of these mentioned beforehand should be trivial. If not, don't get discouraged. There are plenty of examples of stuff that are already in the game that you can draw inspiration from.

It's a great deal at this price point. Lots of content and features. The skill/upgrade tree is a great idea and makes melee games more fun. Art style is ok but could use more animations. Really looking forward to the campaign!

promising

Fun game