Recent reviews by Apathetic11B

I've been waiting for a WW1/Trench Warfare game at the tactical level for a long time. I was really intrigued by the idea of their turn-based strategic mode combined with a focus on tactical battles. Most WW1 games tend to either be strategic or a shooter. So I was instantly sold on this game once I saw it advertised before release.

I think they hit the mark, but not as well as they could have. I also think they abandoned the game too soon, but they at least did add mod-support and the workshop, but despite a few decent mods the game never really garnered enough support to have a community driven continuation of the game through mods.

One of my biggest cons/disappointments is the strategic layer of the game. It is pretty bare and it mostly consists of shifting troops around to different hexes to defend/assault positions. There is no real persistence in your actions. You have no real options on hurting the enemy's economy nor can they hurt yours through taking territory. There are no supply lines or positions that give you an advantage for holding them. Enemy units that you can almost entirely destroy in one battle will immediately be replenished and only take a slight morale debuff for your next attack. Your own units are the same, you do lose money to replenish them but it's done instantly. The enemy can attack your hex and you have no tactical reason to hold reserves back for follow-up attacks as you'll take the morale debuff no matter how many troops you lose or if you win/lose/draw the battle. This lack of persistence hurts the strategic layer significantly. It also harms the tactical level as it removes some difficult choices you may have to make while attacking to preserve forces for a possible defense later on. You just never really see your actions provide any results.

The tactical level of the game is the core and meat of the gameplay. It is fun for a while, but it has its own problems. Namely economic balance. You have access to many unique tools in order to defend/assault but often they are so overpriced compared to the base options that you hardly ever use them. You'll overwhelmingly use the basic light/heavy artillery barrages rather than creeping barrages, airbursts, gas, etc. While those other options can be devastating and cool, they are priced so far above the base choices compared to the damage they actually do or utility they provide. Defense like Machine Guns and Mortars are very quickly neutered by enemy artillery despite being extremely expensive. I only found consistent success with those when I unlocked the concrete bunkers at the highest tech tier where they actually would survive multiple barrages and couldn't be stopped with a light suppression barrage. These options are good and unique, but the economy balance is so poor that the player often has no reason to utilize them compared to the base options.

Last biggest con is the battlefield persistence. They advertised on this pretty hard before the game released, and while it was technically there on release it felt like the misled people on it. Some updates came out and helped, like with corpse persistence and such, but essentially how it works is:

A map is decided by which hex you attack out of into which hex you attack into. Every time a tactical combat is started/played in that hex, the battlefield will develop a preset level of additional "destruction" when you fight the next battle. Continue fighting battles out of that same hex into the same enemy hex, eventually the battlefield will be a mess of craters and ruins.

Corpses and craters you specifically cause from your own artillery and combat are NOT persistent. If you attack from a different hex into the same enemy hex, the destruction of the map is entirely different and on a different counter. So unless you are attacking from the same hex into the same hex every turn and never capturing that hex, you'll likely never see any large change in the map's destruction. So is it persistent? Yeah, technically. But not in any way you'll likely notice significantly and once again, you own actions like shooting down planes or destroying tanks in No Man's Land wont persist into your next fight. This now removes the visual layer of your actions in the game. We can see a consistent theme here.

The good thing is: MODS HELP THIS SIGNIFICANTLY. There are a few good ones that help with adding tactical battle persistence and re-balancing the economy. Unfortunately none of these really change the strategic layer, but this at least makes the core game play feel better and less repetitive.

So, I've sat here and ranted about cons for a while haven't I? I also recommended the game. I did this specifically because the game could have been so much more. It is fun, even in vanilla, but the half-baked strategic layer and the player actions not being visually represented or having any real changes on the strategic layer really drop any long term replayability of this game. Once the tactical battles lose their fun, the game stops being fun. When you play the campaign you will play a lot of tactical battles and after a while, even in your first playthrough, it will start to get repetitive and the strategic layer doesn't have enough to keep you involved.

So what is good about it?

The tactical battles (especially with mods like OverTheTop) feel good. Defending from a massive attack or trying to plan a coordinated assault will keep you occupied for decent while. They really give you a great view at how destructive WW1 could be, and watching thousands upon thousands of troops get scythed down when your artillery ends sooner than you wanted or grinding through tens of trench melees is very epic. You will drop A LOT of artillery down, and watching the enemy line erupt in fire and smoke as your drop that artillery is just awesome. When you do finally put it all together and watch as your flamethrowers and grenadiers just wreck enemy trenchlines under the cover of a perfectly planned and coordinated artillery assault brings a massive feeling of reward. It's one of the only WW1 games that does the tactical level like this and it honestly works very well for the first 10-25 hours.

The strategic layer is not difficult to learn and it has enough to keep you going for a playthrough. The tech tree feels reasonable and done well. It's not like trying to learn a Paradox game, so if you are new to strategy games I think it's approachable and isn't extremely punishing.

I think the game is good for 1-2 playthroughs, 20-40 hours. If you mod it, potentially a bit more. The price isn't terrible at $35 USD, but it should likely be $20-$25 at this point. If you are looking to scratch that trench warfare itch and want a tactical WW1 game, it's a decent option and I still find myself going back to it occasionally. However I absolutely recommend picking up a few of the mods to extend some of the enjoyment and fix some of the economy balance to prevent the gameplay from getting too stale too soon and add a bit of persistence to the tactical battles so you can bask in the corpse littered fields of your failed assaults or successful defenses.

The game really nails the feel and some of the historical battle scenarios are fun and show where the game tends to shine with its tactical battles. It just needed some extra attention to flesh out the strategic layer and add some weight to the players actions and this game likely would have been far more successful than it was.

I give it a 7/10. It's good enough to get the job done and it doesn't feel like a waste of money, but I think there were some large missed opportunities and balance issues that really hamper the game after the spectacle wears off in the first dozen or so hours.

Update as of 17AUG2024 with Winds of Change paid DLC: Two of my complaints about the game have been completely remedied by the DLC. Winds of Change is very fairly priced and added both an Operation generator which completely adds a massive amount of replayability as well as the new Combat Air Patrol support call-in fixed my issue with the airspace being sets of strike aircraft just flying by each other. Add in that the new air mobile units are fantastic and refreshing to play with, this game officially bumped from a solid RTS to me into a great one, easily a 9/10 for me now. For all of you that like to play SP and against AI, this is the game for you. I love WARNO's Army General mode, but there's only so many times you can play with the AI just funneling tanks down the same road and bottleneck before it gets old. Regiments has really made the AI fun to play against.

Really enjoyed this one.

The big (?) for most people will be the fact the game has no multi-player. I do think there was a missed opportunity to at least add co-op MP, but for all of us mainly SP/AI Stomp players, this game is great. The AI is very responsive and much better than Eugen's AI for WARNO. The Operations are fun to play with a decent amount of replayability. Diverse selection of units and each Regiment feeling pretty unique in how it plays also makes Skirmish with different forces stay interesting.

I think this is for sure one I will come back to often, maybe not dump hours upon hours in it each time, but play it for a match or two every so often. Especially for the small developer and releasing a solid polished game in an age where RTS games are a bit more rare and hit or miss.

Cons -
Sounds. especially things like vehicle engine noises and such up close, the overall fighting seems okay enough, but the sounds could use some improvement.

Lack of a dynamic/random Operation/Co-op. This one hurts replayability a bit, and at least Skirmish with friends to AI Stomp would help as well.

Pros -
A lot of unit/regiment diversity.

Gameplay loop is fun and satisfying.

Fun and challenging AI.

Visuals are good, should run on a lot of systems.

Single Player Focused RTS (not enough of these around)

Operations/Campaign is fun, decent story, and the missions feel just the right length with a lot of diversity in styles.

Skirmish is fun to hop into and is satisfying.

AH64 Apache.

No paid DLC upon launch.


8.5/10 from me. It slightly misses the 9/10 because of the cons, while few of them, that extra umph from Co-op or a Operation generator hurts the "sink tons of hours into this" factor, and the sounds just feel lackluster when you zoom in to enjoy some of the chaos of combat. Well worth the cost, well worth a few hours, and very interested to see where they take the game from here.

One final thing I would like to see, the air call ins to maybe have an "air superiority" one. It sometimes feels weird to just have my aircraft just flying by theirs, maybe a zone call in for some fighters as an additional AA option. I could have missed something similar in my playthrough, but it was something I did notice.

I do recommend this, but with a caveat. It feels much more like a puzzle game rather than a choose your own adventure game. My first playthrough (Noble/Judge) I did the typical choose your own adventure style. Especially when it came to the Peace Time chapters I fell into a very railroaded experience where a lot of my choices were limited due to having 2 skills nearly maxed (I have a pretty solid pattern to what I was deciding) but also having those skills maxed didn't do anything for me either.

My second playthrough of the Noble/Judge line, knowing how the mechanics worked, it felt much more like a puzzle game, balancing skills and choices not by if I'd really do them, but because I wanted to store that willpower, instead of max skills build up all the skills pretty evenly, and make sure I wasn't doing anything absolutely devastating to my character. I don't think at all in my two playthroughs I ever had any options that required or were changed due to a skill being maxed, so it seemed better to keep them all around that 10-14 range and build them up evenly while using willpower when needed. This ended up in me having a lot more narrative options and a "better" ending. The problem was, I had more options open, but to keep those options going I had to usually pick something I didn't want to do because it buffed my skill I needed to build up more instead of something cooler for the story.

This doesn't make it not fun though. I enjoyed the style and story, I do like how some things are punishing and you have some hard decisions to make, I just wish there was more change or reward for maxing a certain skill out, instead my first playthrough while fun and very involving with the story, by the end of it I was in multiple areas where I only had 1 option to pick and it snowballs into okay because I couldn't pick that option and get that destiny then this next one I'm stuck with just this option, and it spirals a bit. It was just as fun going back and trying to build the "perfect" character to get a better ending.

So I do recommend it, it is fun, the story is good, I plan on plaything the other paths too and even if they aren't as good I got good fun out of the noble/judge line, I just thing it's really more of a puzzle game trying to make the right character balance and such rather than a choose your own adventure, because if you go for the more roleplay experience you'll find yourself really railroaded into certain options. Hopefully some of this is addressed later on, maybe with some more special options if you have certain skills maxed or like an outcome might be changed (ie. if you suffer a lesser death in a duel with a 12 valor, then maybe with a maxed 20 valor you get beaten up but don't take the lesser death) because currently maxing things out just really doesn't do anything for you.

This game is a pure gem. In a time where Total War: Brittania came out, this game (well half of it) is set in the same time period. You play as either the Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, German Knights, or Polish during 2 time periods of history. Think of basically Company of Heroes but with all melee and medieval style combat. Now you are probably wondering, that sounds weird, and is totally different from the massive scale warfare Total War has. Well it is, but it is GREAT. The combat is satifying and brutal, you feel like a melee is going on and there is a struggle to survive. Peasants fleeing in terror as you raid an enemy village will get cut down brutally while your men throw torches onto their cottages and churches. The war-cries of your warriors as they charge and the clash they make when their shields and weapons make contact with the enemy will make you feel like you are there leading your own warband. In my opinion, it feels better for this time period than Total War. More up close and personal conflict.


Moving on. The game is new. I already saw mainly some small graphical bugs like longships being half underwater during a cutscene, but I assume these will be fixed. The voice acting will vary to really well done to almost not trying. But so far? That really is it. The stratagy is a tad Rock-Paper-Scissors type, but it is fun, and proper hiding/positioning can change these odds. The biggest thing (and this could be my strategic oversight) is the Archers are great when upgraded at harrassing enemies, but they really don't have a good role. They either do tons of friendly fire shooting in a melee or end up just shooting other enemy archers. Theres not enough time before a charge to get a good volley or two off. But with elite status they are great to hide in a bush and set fire to undefended enemy buildings.

Ultimately, this game is really awesome and a total change in pace than most RTS games of its type, where Company of Heroes and most RTS games being WW2 dominated it is a breath of fresh air. The biggest thing is come into it with no expectations, this game hit me really quickly since I din't even know it existed till mere hours ago. I highly highly highly recommend it.

Short and sweet review. Played for quite a while now, had my doubts about the launch but it is a solid game that will fill your 40k shooter itch. Need some polish but the core game itself is fun to keep me coming back.

One of the better FPS games of the last few years. A realistic take on the Eastern front with a little bit of a progression system thrown in to keep it interesting (if you do not like that there are servers without it) rifles typically kill in one shot, guns are accurate, SMGs are deadly but sometimes hard to control, everything just feels good in this game. Learn and practice on some bots early on then jump into a full 64 slot server of all human players and you will just love it.

I love Company of Heroes 2, the first game will always have a place in my heart as an amazing RTS and I still play it all the time, but this really was a fresh update on the series. It is not some extreme tactical realistic RTS but neither is the first one (ex. troops standing right next to eachother in the open point blank and still miss) if you are looking for that then go for the Blitzkreig mod, but for what this game offers you get your money's worth. I do see the occasional balancing issue but this game is still in early phases in a few months to a year I think it will be just as acclaimed as the first one. The winter combat is great and the blizzards can offer some peace and rebuilding or for others a chance to reclaim some territories without a shot fired. The summer fighting is fun as well with colorful landscapes that you turn to burned out rubble, the campaign is not the best in terms of story but it still had me mildly interested and the missions were decent but the first game is still better on that but the multiplayer is great. The commanders are a nice addition along with the bulletins they can give you even a small edge on the battlefield which is nice. The tank skins are cool to see, I would love to see infantry skins as well but I doubt that will happen. Just the game overall is great for a RTS, if you want realism buy the first and download blitzkreig instead but if you want a good RTS on the Eastern Front then go for this.

War of the Roses is a great game, I can understand why some people don't like it compared to Chivalry, but I prefer a game with a learning curve and less action more thinking. It does take a while to get it right and I'm still far from perfect but every time I play whether it is on a duel server, team deathmatch, or assault, I find a extremely enjoyable time. The class customization is pretty cool and learning to counter every weapon and move takes some patience but when you finally get it and can take down poleaxe people with ease or dodging a quick stabbing daggerman you get a great sense of accomplishment. For the people who are F2P I strongly recommend the buy, for people who haven't tried it at least give it a go and if its not your thing try out Chivalry, but I will always endorse this game more than Chivalry for its combat system (reminds me of Mount & Blade) and everything else it has to offer.