Planet Stronghold: Colonial Defense

This is a Winter Wolves game. Which means it is a game built around a concept and created by a team that seems to have a love for making great games. While some of their efforts haven't gone as well as planned, they always do come up with intersting concepts, and even their few lesser games have been decent. This is a good game. That said, I should also mention it is a prequel to another of their games, Planet Stronghold. And while it took a while to understand how to use the card-playing part of the game (and get past a small issue of not being able to construct decks well), the rest of the game is great. Most of the achievements can be done in visual novel mode (and one actually requires you finish one playthrough that way), but one achievement is tied to a bunch of side quests that require the card game aspect. The characters are interesting, the combat... well, thrilling enough once you get the card thing down, and the romance options are expansive. And by that I mean you have eight options per gender. You can play as Alex or Diana Nelson. Alexander has four male, four female love interests, Diana has three male, four female, and a robot love interest. Note that four of the love interests are shared. And there is a default romance for the character you do not choose (interestingly, Diana's is Charlotte, a mother of a ten-year-old, which maybe the first time I've seen a default non-standard romance). The art of the characters can be set as either realistic or manga-style. Note: if you choose manga-style, and choose to... not censor certain scenes, you will see some suggestive content.

I really think that Winter Wolves should remake this game's combat system and removing the cards & replacing with previous Winter Wolves titles battle system which there was no need to change. IMO. The original planet stronghold's battle system I thought worked out fine, so I do not know why it got revamped into the card play style. Perhaps to try something new or attract some "Magic" players/ I for one am not and not a fan of card battles. I will refund my 20.00 I you have a knack at the card battle genre and like a challenge, then by all means give this game a shot. However I experienced battles in the later missions that seemed to be buggy and heavily stack the odds in the AI's favor despite what cards you have in yours.. (I researched this on google and others complained about similar experiences.) Time to play Loren again.

First of all this game is a pretty unique mix, it has some flaws yes, but its strengths definitely outweighs them. The card game, while unusual for such a game is actually really good. Compared to the standart rpg fights in similar games where you have 3 or 4 different spells or attacks and you just have to see which type of elemental damage does the most harm and spam that and throw in a heal or stun from time to time, the card battles feel more challenging. On the highest difficulty level you actually have to think about which cards suit in which situation. Also it kinda suits the theme. While in fantasy settings I prefer the party of heroes wandering around fighting its battles itself, here it feels more like you are the base commander managing troops and resources of your colony and thinking strategically. The artstyle, writing, setting and music don't mesh that well at times. It allready begins, when you fire up the game and the opening theme begins to play. While the girl that sings it is probably as cute as a button, it just doesn't really fit the game and artstyle in my eyes. It would be better suited for some high school dating sim with manga art where everyone and everything is just kawaii. Or maybe I'm just a dumb ignorant german, with a bad taste in music. Music during the actual game and card battles fits just fine, no problem. Same goes for the dialogues between the characters, for this setting they are a bit too often on the light hearted side for my taste. Overall the writing is pretty comparable to Planet Stronghold 1, just improved. Not really a bad thing and I don't want to sound too critical here, since I definitely have fun with it just with the more realistic look maybe writing should have changed a bit in a different direction at times. Artstyle is hit or miss, I didn't like it at first, but the longer I played the more I like it. The characters just lack the cuteness that you can find in many other winter wolves games. But I must say charlotte is still pretty nice to look at, just in a different way and at least most of the time. Because Facial expressions look more often than not odd. No sugarcoating here, thats definitely not one of its strengths.Alien models on most part look improved, the only ones that I don't like better than in the first game are the marada. 15 years ago, I would have gladly paid double the price for that if it came out with a nice box and manual that contains all the informations on the different alien races and characters. Today like most I'm more on the cheap side, but I can say its pricing is appropriate. PSCD is well made, contains interesting mechanics like the card game and lots of unique characters and on top of that is also quite long, I think I have read it contains over 200k words thats like double of that what most other VN contain. Also the developer will patch some more content in, like some more romances and maybe some kind of free battle mode and a few more cards. And you can even romance an android, if thats not a must buy then I don't know. Whats missing? Well personally for myself the free battle mode, where we can make our own decks and play vs the ai and some incentive to play through the story more then just once. I know there are achievements ingame and on steam and more romances and other choices and all of that together, but it would haven been nice if there was a way to earn a few more special cards. Like winning some of the battles on hard mode under certain conditions would reward you with a special card or with a card that previously only the enemy had access to. That way I would have enough incentive to play through the story with its different choices again and also sit down and fiddle about my strategies for those battles.You know people like to collect things, whether its steam cards or stamps or troll dolls. But all in all a good game. If you interested but unsure, maybe try out the demo first, its only 80mb to download and some of the biggest concerns I had (mainly with the artwork), just vanished after a while.

One of my absolute favorite VNs. Multiple female and male romances for both Diana and Alex, and the "canon" romance for Diana is Charlotte. Multiple endings abound, with a pretty clear path to each one so you're not surprised by sudden violence. The anime-style dlc is cute but I prefer the original, though it's still definitely worth getting. The card game is amazing. Usually I get tired of such mechanics and switch to story mode(which is an excellent thing winter wolves offers), but the balancing and style of the cards made each battle a lot of fun. Score: 10/10 I play this game regularly and hold it as a standard for design and execution.

Not as good as the original Planet Stronghold, in my opinion. However, if you never played the original, or simply prefer CCGs over RPGs, I highly recommend it.

Just finish the game and I think I like the game. I personally feel a pure Visual Novel game is a bit boring. SO I am glad to play game that have RPG or card game element & can be myself at the same time. This is first game that I as Gay Captain can have relaionship with Royal family! Thank you for break stupid stereotype that Gay can't be Royal or knight. Character talk too casual about SEX in my opinion but I still can live with that. I hope Winter wolves make more game like this (Card game/RPG).

I had thought this was a sci-fi strategy game with romance in it but in actuality it's a romance game with sci-fi strategy elements. The characters seem to think about sex so much it's like they're teenagers or work in porn and there's some cringeworthy dialogue like whether ectoplasm would make a good lubricant or not. I also find it puzzling that although there are gay, straight and bisexual characters nobody of any orientation is fine with you having 2 people at the same time and get jealous; the degree of diversity seems very arbitrary that way.

[b]Before anything,[/b] I only did the VN mode and with Cristopher's route as Alex. The review may be incomplete, but I [b]#already liked the game, playing it without a game mode? sounds promising.[/b] Playing as Diana or Alex Nelson [b]#only important when you want to choose your romance options[/b], we are ordered to lead and protect the colony of Stronghold, which is surrounded by alien races of different kinds and goals. More of the most important decisions, dilemma, and of course, who to give your heart, will be [olist][b]PROS:[/b] [*] Play as a female or male character [b]#sorry, no binary for now... or maybe is it?[/b] with 12 dateable characters [b]#but beware, some of them are single-minded and only like meat or fish[/b]. And yea, I [spoiler] wanted that daddy to be my... [b]#inminent guard[/b], but the game decided that guy is not dateable by anyone.... [/spoiler]. [*] It takes around 5-6 hours of gameplay, in Visual Novel Mode, which the card game is skipped. Along with the decisions and the multiple endings & romances, can be a good game for replayability. [b]#and trying to figure out all the characters' sexual orientation... may take a while[/b] [*] There is a card game, along with a free-play mode. Also, some of the decisions made along with the story influence directly on the card game, altering the cards, objectives, or even your resources. Difficulty can also be changed at any moment, and only affects the card-game part. [*] Characters' design would be switched between a manga style [b]#seems so similar and reminds me of English Exchange art too[/b], or a realistic style [b]#was funny how they highlight their features[/b]. CGs for both art themes are included as well. [*] An exclusive OST of 10 tracks, and can be downloaded with a paid DLC. [b]#was worth looping the track nº8, not a subtle recommendation.[/b] [/olist] [olist][b]CONS:[/b] [*] Even with a DLC that guarantees the +18 patch, [b]#no genital parts are shown in the whole-gameplay...[/b] Better call it +16. [*]The vast amount of sprites on screen and the lack of some of the characters' code-coloring on the dialogs [b]#too many characters talking at once, like a bukk*ke[/b] and some of them never appear, can be confusing and overwhelming at the start of the game, while associating the personality with their appearance. [/olist] [quote] An interesting large story, compared to other Visual Novels at this price, but a high level of English is required to enjoy. Added a card genre with variable difficulty. The romance is not at its best. Great CGs and art style. Highly recommended [b]#8/10[/b]. [/quote]

Come for the card game with an unfortunate vn attached. This card game is similar to most energy based games on the market, you get one per turn and spend them to play cards. However unlike your usual hearthstone clones this game has four different resources to manage with your specialised cards costing more of one than others and your supporting cards giving you refills on those resource types. This is a system which pushes you to focus your build around a certain playstyle whether that be high on power hungry machines or going wide with infantry. You've got a default set of basic cards but 9 classes to pick from offering their own uniques. Each class focuses on one strategy like walling up or chargers and while some have little synergy it is impressive how many functional deck combinations can be made from any of the pairs. What's more impressive is how well this plays out despite the tiny pool of overall cards for a game like this. I say all this with the understanding this is a single purchase game, no booster packs, no seasons just one complete package which means if you're a fan of card game gameplay you'll have a blast, however; if you're a fan of getting new cards or seeing suboptimal decks get new support I'm afraid this isn't for you. I admit I'm giving this game a lot of slack considering it is an indie title in a market of juggernauts but there are some flaws that do need mention. The game and all its classes force you to play as the human empire, there are no mirror matches nor times where you get to add alien cards to your deck, the game is unfortunately bogged down by the vn side which doesn't allow more flavourful deck builds so while you'll see plenty of great alien cards and tactics to exploit they will be forever out of reach. On that note I need to address the elephant in the room, the vn. It's bad, there's no better way to say it. The plot doesn't follow a structure of acts but a pattern of characters jabbering on like they're highschoolers before an alien attacks. Rinse and repeat until the finale. You never get the sense these characters fit the role the game claims and instead come of with the impression they're a group of sociopaths who make jokes before during and in the aftermath of every alien attack. For example at one point they're informed giant aliens are wreaking havoc on the colony to which the characters continue to stand around and make godzilla jokes. The only reason these people apparently haven't been deposed and imprisoned is how no civilian ever appears at all. Even after completing the story I couldn't tell you how large or advanced the colony actually is. We as readers only ever hear about destruction elsewhere in the colony while our heroes remain in the same enclosed scenery or out in front of a generic wilderness background image. The cramped feel of the vn is only made worse by the off camera screen door keeping the entire cast out. I can't recall a single scene where two characters talk without a third walking in and usually following the third are the fourth, fifth, sixth and so on until the entire cast forces their way on set. Worse you'll find many scenes where your screen is full of characters and yet the text box is talking from the perspective of even more standing off camera. This is a minor annoyance later but early on will pose a large hurdle when the reader is still trying to work out who's who If this game could be divorced from the vn entirely it would be all the better and while the quick play option lets you do that, you'll only have the starting card pool until you unlock those cards in the story. As a player interested in this product I can not stress enough, you need to play on hard for the best experience and if any of the devs read this: Please have your characters act professional or put much greater focus and freedom on the card game so it isn't hamstrung by the writing.

I play this game in VN mode, since cards are not my speciality:) I'm still in the middle of playing it, but im already in love. The story, the characters-im loving it all. It would be great to see more to this game-DLCs or sequel:)