Shieldwall

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ class video game

In short, I wish I had listened to the other negative reviews. I thought, "oh the only negative comments seem to be that it is hard, these people are just a bunch of scrubs" but difficulty of this game can't be overstated. It's kind of funny because once you know the game, you can even see the player in the trailer getting their ♥♥♥♥ rocked hard. I like hard games and get satisfaction from adjusting my build or tactics to conquer a challenge, but Shieldwall really lacks any of the depth needed to realize that. It is less of a strategy game and more of a puzzle with a very baked in way to win, so when people say its hard they more mean finding the exact way to cheese each level is tiring. When I came in I was expecting to have tactical options and command decisions that would alter my unit's behavior, but really all you get are the ability to throw, charge, or tortuga. These abilities change very little about how the soldiers will perform as your meat will slap their meat and whoever has more meat wins. Period. So when you are engaging a flag, there is really very little you can do to change your fate once the enemy starts spawning soldiers from thin air around your squad or any challenge once you do the same to them attacking your flag. You can change up your standard which is a neat idea, but again every level has a baked in way to win so the standard gameplay kind of comes down to did you pick the right one for the right mission? Ok, so maybe the units have some sort of rock paper scissors effect, after all you get three types with each faction. Nope. You start with some meat with swords which can upgrade into meat with spears, and finally get armored meat who you have will never have a reason not to hire. All units have the same abilities and perform the same functions and seem to only vary how much hp they have. Well you're a unit! Maybe you can be the deciding factor! Eh not really. Your best move is typically to circle to the side and throw ♥♥♥♥ at their flank to knock their meat off their feet, thereby giving your meat the numerical advantage. There is no depth to the player's combat abilities: no counters, parries, or attack variety. Alright, well most strategy games are cake if you out eco your opponent. Cool, except you will run out of things to spend money on and your meat is capped at 25 which you will likely earn back by the time the next fight happens should you lose. There are defenders you can buy which count against your meat cap, but there aren't barricades or fortifications you can buy. There are no repeatable upgrades to ramp your units up once you've completed the tech tree. Your eco has nowhere to go. Your treasury is full, but your meat remains lacking. So what does this game have? A very, very cool idea. It's like an arcade-y Mount & Blade mixed with some Battlefront. The squad behavior of following you around is very clean and it's cool to line up the boys and do a shield bash. They rarely get in your way like Skyrim summons and the way the squad moves to face the direction you're facing is very reminiscent of the fluidity of Age of Empire's unit formations. The environments are cool, and I enjoy the simple art style quite a lot. Just... you know... do something with it. Lean in to the squad gameplay! Give me consequential unit composition, or formations, or orders, or or or ANYTHING! It just sadly ain't here