the main game loop is definitely fun, but the roguelite aspect of it made me stop after 30h, i'd say among all the roguelite games i played, its up there on the grindiness for me
i think it has to do with the slow rolling, busy work nature of management game in general, and the fact that you just simply win in lower difficulties. Basically until it gets more difficult, you just repeat the runs for the metaprogression, the management you do in a run makes it feels longer than it actually is, after a while, i just looked at the progression tree and noped out
I have been playing Against the storm for some time and I am super impressed how great and consistent the work to early access version was done. Developers are giving this game a lot of love. Really hope the launch will gather some extra success to the studio.
yeah i totally agree how hardworking the devs are, and they kept communicating with their audience. They perfectly managed the early access phase and improved the game which i already thought to myself why this game is on early access at first place :Pp
300 hours in and I'm still loving it! Glad to see you cover this amazing gem of a game! Definitely worth for its price, even now so with the ongoing sale.
@@qasderfful I hate to break it to you but different people get different things out of different games. In a city builder, I love the optimisation puzzle to make it as efficient as possible with the least amount of resources. The aesthetics and "player expression" as you call it is entirely secondary. It has the downside though that after you figure out an "optimal" path, there really isn't anything left in the game to engage me. I like the rougelite version because it keeps on presenting new puzzles in the same framework.
The game and devs deserves praise or at the very least some attention for this game. It’s the most innovative/creatively designed city builder game I’ve played in years and the satisfaction you get from other city builder games that will take a day or even weeks, you get it in just 1-3 hour sessions in this game. The best part is that the game still has more potential and the progression can still be expanded and improved but they’re already great as it is so far. I appreciate you making this video and hope you continue to give indie games recognition!
Totally agree! For once we don't get a remix/reskin/re-hash of something already done ad nauseam during the last 4 decades. This, alone, makes the game so much worth a look IMO
I like the gameplay loop, but one small criticism I have is the very deliberate meta progression. You really have to fail your way through to increase the bonuses, until you have enough to get through it all. Likely takes most people over 100 hours. A bit too much for me.
@@preppen78 I'm not sure what you meant by "fail your way through". I'm 65+ hours in and I've only failed one settlement so far and that was me fucking up big time from a forbidden glade event I thought my workers were working on, turns out they weren't and it exploded killing several villagers and massive impatience gained. I started my first cycle on settler difficulty and moved to Veteran on my 3rd cycle I'm now on my 5th cycle about to try Viceroy difficulty if I finish the cycle smoothly.
I think I might know what you mean and I can't blame you for that issue, I think the game can feel unforgiving for new players not because it's hard but because the UI or QoL doesn't do a good job at making it easy for the player to make an *informed* strategy/plan without constantly looking or typing in recipes in the game. I normally start the game by pausing for 5 mins at the beginning and think or even type on notepad at times about all my options and buildings to watch out for depending on the races I have, it has worked quite well for me so far and the game did an amazing job at making sure you actually have a way to win regardless of how unlucky you felt with RNG. And I can see this not being an issue for older/veteran players since I can imagine myself no longer needing that 5 minute planning time at every start once I remember most recipes and buildings, but I do think this is something they could improve more on. We need better UI and a tooltip system that makes it easier to make an informed strategy and not just blindly making plans due to RNG.
@@ryanspinoza6586 No, the difficulty is fine and it's a good game. It can be overwhelming due to all the content and depth of the game, but that's not the main issue (there's a risk of bloat though). My point is the meta game where you have to start over each cycle. You get further and further each time in the meta game before the cycle ends, but due to the progression system where you get better and better bonuses, I assume you won't finish the overall 'meta map' and break the cycle after 100 hours or so. I've not played the game for a while and haven't finished the 'end game' so things may have changed slightly, but I checked with some people who do play the game and the consensus still is that to finish the main map, you need a lot of time.
The interesting thing about this game is how difficult it is, to explain why it's so good! You can try to explain it, but it will always sound strange and complicated. But as soon as you've played it for maybe an hour and got a grasp of the basic mechanics it becomes addictive. There are so many systems that are introduced bit by bit and just work beautifully with each other. It's like every new settlement is a puzzle waiting to be solved because of the procedural generation of the levels. And the best part: It has a pause button that removes the stress, which was always the thing that bothered me in city builder games like Anno...
I guess what you say in the first line is true. I keep hearing on how the game is great from multiple sources for over a year, however anytime I see anything from the game, I don't feel compelled to try it out.
I've been loving Against the Storm since its first launch. It's a great evolution of a city builder and is absolutely unique while also being high quality overall.
Glad you covered this game, it has been a game i come back to fairly often when i just need something chill and atmospheric to play and relax with. Really hope their full launch goes well, the 2 week patch cycle has been going on for a long time and the games has gotten some amazing upgrades over the last year.
I started playing this in early access this year and it quickly became my personal game of the year. So happy to see you covered it! The Devs deserve a ton of success from this incredible game.
Fascinating combination of city builder x roguelike - really addicitive and one of the best learnign curve and difficulty setting to ease you in into more challenge
Best game ever. Seriously. The design is absolutely ingenious, gameplay is fantastic, visuals are awesome, music is beautiful. Almost endlessly replayable. Plus, these developers showed that early access can be a fantastic experience for all involved. I am very, very impressed with this team. Just get the game, it is well worth it.
@@kyuzo26 You are wrong, of course. They clearly dont need to pay someone to sing their praises, just look at all the other comments. I am just an impressed and very happy customer, which is sadly rare when it comes to games.
I've been so hooked on this game for a month now. It gets even better as you get to higher difficulty and unlock so much more. Like you said, I'm not big on city builders, but this has just the parts I liked.
I tried the demo on Steam a few months ago, and now it's on Xbox Game Pass for PC. I was intrigued by the idea of a roguelike city builder and am enjoying it now.
I want to play more city builders, so thanks for the recommendation. I wish there was another channel like yours that focuses on city builders, strategy and business sim games.
I wish you added a little more about opening those places between trees and completing tasks. You will need to decide if you are ready for more challenge with opening bigger "spot" between trees or small or the biggest one. Each type has different tasks with varying difficulties that will reward you different things. Can be materials/building blueprints or more people. On top of that you have to balance between queen impatience, do you wanna open medium spot and reduce queens impatience by medium amount or you wanna risk opening bigger spot but maybe you wont have resources to complete that task? What about task reward? Do you want something that boost your economy now or do you choose something for the long term, like building that opens new recipe with resource you havent found yet but you know its on this map. Game is incredible and i wish it was more popular. Thanks for covering ATS Mort, hope this bring more people to it.
296.2h in and I still love it. So much content has been added during early access. This is the kind of early access that could have been released a long time ago but they always wanted to add features.
This game is amazing! You will easily spend tons of hours and when you end a game you just want to start a new one. It is quite challenging when you raise the prestige level. It is real-time but feels like turn-based as you can pause any time and change things. Really inpressed by this one. No wonder it has like 97% approval on steam.
As somebody who love the late game of city builders, i would be all for this, if there was a main mega city that you build up, only to hit barriers that need settlements to progress.
Been playing this for a while (had to leave it for some time lately due to all the crazy releases this year) and its been one of my fav city builders. Not just because of the vibe, the mechanics etc but because it eliminates the biggest problem I personally have with all city builders, that being fatigue. I just get tired after spending 40 hours on the same city having to micromanage every single production line. This being a roguelite completely eliminates that problem and makes it feel new every time.
Very strong recommendation from me. I'm 180+ hours in and still playing it daily (although the long-form progression is nearly complete, so it's about 200 hours worth of progression currently). It's an absolutely amazing combination of RTS-style management (but no combat) with German-style boardgames. It's sort of a real-time Caylus/Puerto Rico/Tzolkin (and other worker-placement style eurogames), except you're only competing against the time (the Queen's Impatience) rather than other players.
This game has some fantastic UI/UX . On top of all the other wonderful things others have mentioned. Best way of shuffling workers around that I’ve come across
Thanks for the video. Congrats on the advance copy. As always, mad respect for the devs that trust their title to your reviews. Onward to 300k. All glory to the algorithm.
A superb game. I am not that great at city builders cause it seems that I am lacking a long term vision of how my settlement should look like, but this game is not about how your town will look like 5 years (game time) in the future. You need to do specific tasks as fast as possible and it doesn't matter if the settlement looks pretty as long as you can produce the necessary resources to complete the tasks
The Game really suprised me! I played it a fair bit in early access. I ususally get tiered of Citybuilders if the City gets too big, here this problem doesnt exist.
I like this game. It beats me down at the moment. My winning rate at 2nd easiest level is 1 out of 6 rounds won. But I often realize why and it was my strategic approach with not sufficient knowledge or understanding for the most part. I like the atmosphere and the gameplay. Some may feel building one settlement from scratch after the other a bit repetitive, but then again this pioneer phase is more thrilling for me than adding deco to a big functioning city. And the survival part including an impatient queen adds to it as well. I can only recommend this gem, but the player needs to accept some learning curve and have also some resilience to master it. So, it is not for everybody. I believe it is pretty safe to say that players, who like Frostpunk, Timberborn, Anno, and Darkest Dungeon or Hades will probably like this as well.
A key part is the prestige system. After winning on the "hardest" difficulty, you unlock a new one with additional rules and/or restrictions. That way, the game can get a lot harder every time which keeps the challenge alive. On the flipside, this might mean that you eventually run into a difficulty where the game gets too annoying to deal with - which is tough, because it means you don't have any room to develop anymore. This will only happen after a ton of playing time, but it will be the reason why your interest might fizzle out over time (which is always less fulfilling than playing a game to its conclusion - the classic problem of a game with not ending).
That's sort of what drove me up a wall with the game. After a certain point, the prestige difficulty feels like it pushes you to keep raising it, but it also pares down the game to almost oppressive simplicity. Trade? No, you're not going to be doing that, it's too expensive due to the penalties. Opening small glades? Never worth it for the penalties. Event choices? There is no choice, you are going to rush out of the map as fast as possible because it's a ticking time bomb.
I had to go back and look at my receipt... Wasn't last year it went into early access, I first bought in during October 2021. And I don't think I was super early. Either way though, the entire process with these devs has been fantastic!!
Thanks for the video. I wasn't sure what to expect. It sounded like a survival city builder. But from what I see here, it is quite different. Could be worth a try.
that sounds really interesting, I typically don't enjoy city builders because the endless management of ever-growing city is quite boring to me, having it containted into short cycles actually might solve this problem
Early PC gaming for me where a lot of management games. Zoo Tycoon in particular I spent hundreds of hours in. But I was never really goal focused. I just liked slowly building my thing to be the best it could be. I fell from that genre once I started playing RPGs. None of them that come out really capture that same charm for me. This one does look interesting though due to its unique take.
I was originally interested in this game which has an "Overwhelming Positive" review on Steam. But it gave me flashbacks of Pharoah, which caused me RSI in my index finger. :)
I picked this game up like 6 months ago due to the overwhelmingly positive reviews but I haven't started on it yet. Release looks like a good time to do so.
I'm glad you're reviewing this as someone who doesn't normally play these games because that's where I'm at. I've attempted to play highly rated games similar to this like Frostpunk but lost interest fairly quickly so I was skeptical about buying Against the Storm. I'll definitely give it a chance though.
Despite how much the game has changed since March when I started playing, I can consistently beat the game on the hardest difficulty. I'm hoping the 1.0 has something to make me come back, because I still think there actually isn't enough content or difficulty.
I bought Against the Storm, earlier this year. especially as roguelites and city builders are things I love (as well as RPGs). I only never got myself liking this game, especially the time constraints and what I remember have to move on when a place is taking off.
I'd like to see your thoughts on Horizon's Gate. It is an indie RPG made by one guy that I fell in love with a few months ago. It is also currently half off on steam (9.99 instead of 19.99).
I bought the game and I would like to add the devs (only 5 people when the game came out in EA 1 year ago) listen to the community, have been consistent with patches (every 2-3 week time)
I didn't think I'd like this combination either but thought maybe after my experience with Frostpunk, and yeah I'm still not sold on the combination in general. But it doesn't matter because Against the Storm is so good it just doesn't matter the game is just great
I wouldn't say this game is a masterpiece, and it can feel a bit mechanically bloated, but it's a good game. I played it for some 50 hours and might come back to it. It's more of a strategy / decision making game than a city builder.
I like it when you stray away from the CRPGs for a bit. But a game I think might be completely in your wheelhouse despite it not being a CRPG is "last train home". Maybe worth checking out and give the unique game some publicity
i bought it, played it some time and completely forgot about it. I guess I wanted to wait for full release, have to play it again but first Grim Dawn, have to beat it before next dlc.
One problem I have with it that it is often bad to unlock new things, as they are worse than old or more complicated For instance I almost never use the trade routes mechanic but because I have it unlocked it is thrown at me to do. New merchants that have items you don't want now competing with merchants you want, cornerstone that are clearly subpar that are unlocked with achievements that I specifically don't complete precisely because I see the cornerstone being not so good
It's all about tradeoffs. I believe you might want to up the difficulty a bit, there is no "useless" merchant; the ones who have nothing good in stock must be used to exchange goods in order to prepare for when the ones who do come. The whole game is about making your "choose" between very, very bad and slightly worse and try to make it work and survive nevertheless. I never had a scenario where there was no way out due to RNG, but I definitively dug my own grave a few times. And sometimes the stars align and you get to snatch a beautiful, beautiful run despite everything wanting you dead. It gets really, really good at viceroy level 12 and above, you could consider everything before as tutorial.
@@etcher6841 that's kinda my point I remember when I started the game the initial few merchants ALWAYS had at least one thing I would find useful if not very much needed. And trading item A to merchant 1 for item B to then trade it to merchant 2 for item C that you want seems like a really bad idea. 1. how do you know the next mechant will want it 2. you are incuring trade penalty twice Finally I would much prefer to make a choice between useful now, needed later, very powerful much later combined with other things I don't yet have, instead of don't want, have better, uhhh fine I will take this. I just feel like as the game and difficulty progresses it is becoming more difficult to get the tools I need rather than have bigger challenges placed before me, and it's because for every 1 good thing I have since start or mid game, I have unlocked 10 things that are not nearly as good. Leveling up and doing achievements shouldn't make things worse for you. But maybe it just isn't my kind of game
I love the vibrant srt style, the crisp UI and the gameplay concepts. But I can never get over the blockiness of fixed-grid city builders. I enjoy games like Foundation, Noerhgard, Manor Lord and Cities Skylines. If I were inclined to play games where every structure is perfectly aligned with its surroundings I would probably stick to the OG Dune 2 and Warcraft 😢
Against The storm sounds kinda boring. It's not. It's actually very satisfying. I will play it non-stop for a couple weeks, take a break, and come back to it. Always fun.
Against the storm is so great that I made myself stop playing after dumping 100 hours into it so that I could restart from scratch at full release. Anyone on the fence, buy it!
The game is great and have played it in early access. I certainly enjoy city-builders and this is a good game to pass an hour or 2 each day to build a town for the Smouldering City and its Queen. By the way, getting 100% of the Achievements might take you a lot of time here, I am not sure you will enjoy it if you want to 100% complete it.
Already did, bought it a while back on sale. I saw it in a Steam showcase and it looked awesome and has been, there's been a ton of updates since I last played, will definitely have to try it again.
Belated answer: Yes and no. It doesn't have an actual explicit plot outside of what snippets come up in occasional convos with your Aunt Lori, but the descriptions for various events have a lot of scrapbook storytelling and worldbuilding going on.
This game is perfect if you like the early part of most city builders, but get bored by the late game like me.
the main game loop is definitely fun, but the roguelite aspect of it made me stop after 30h, i'd say among all the roguelite games i played, its up there on the grindiness for me
i think it has to do with the slow rolling, busy work nature of management game in general, and the fact that you just simply win in lower difficulties. Basically until it gets more difficult, you just repeat the runs for the metaprogression, the management you do in a run makes it feels longer than it actually is, after a while, i just looked at the progression tree and noped out
@mlzovozlm one of the great thing about AtS is that you decide when it's nothing/too hard and adjust accordingly; did you try that?
yeah, i wish it would dive deeper into a city builder, but not that deep like Anno 1800
@@jhorvat01anno is honestly not that complicated if you’re missing something it tells you
I have been playing Against the storm for some time and I am super impressed how great and consistent the work to early access version was done. Developers are giving this game a lot of love. Really hope the launch will gather some extra success to the studio.
Agreed 100%
+1, impeccable EA story
yeah i totally agree how hardworking the devs are, and they kept communicating with their audience. They perfectly managed the early access phase and improved the game which i already thought to myself why this game is on early access at first place :Pp
300 hours in and I'm still loving it! Glad to see you cover this amazing gem of a game! Definitely worth for its price, even now so with the ongoing sale.
Good to see you checking out my favourite City Builder. I've got all achievements in it, and be warned, some of them are long.
@@qasderffulwhy not both?
@@qasderfful I hate to break it to you but different people get different things out of different games. In a city builder, I love the optimisation puzzle to make it as efficient as possible with the least amount of resources. The aesthetics and "player expression" as you call it is entirely secondary. It has the downside though that after you figure out an "optimal" path, there really isn't anything left in the game to engage me. I like the rougelite version because it keeps on presenting new puzzles in the same framework.
The game and devs deserves praise or at the very least some attention for this game. It’s the most innovative/creatively designed city builder game I’ve played in years and the satisfaction you get from other city builder games that will take a day or even weeks, you get it in just 1-3 hour sessions in this game. The best part is that the game still has more potential and the progression can still be expanded and improved but they’re already great as it is so far.
I appreciate you making this video and hope you continue to give indie games recognition!
Totally agree! For once we don't get a remix/reskin/re-hash of something already done ad nauseam during the last 4 decades. This, alone, makes the game so much worth a look IMO
I like the gameplay loop, but one small criticism I have is the very deliberate meta progression. You really have to fail your way through to increase the bonuses, until you have enough to get through it all. Likely takes most people over 100 hours. A bit too much for me.
@@preppen78 I'm not sure what you meant by "fail your way through". I'm 65+ hours in and I've only failed one settlement so far and that was me fucking up big time from a forbidden glade event I thought my workers were working on, turns out they weren't and it exploded killing several villagers and massive impatience gained. I started my first cycle on settler difficulty and moved to Veteran on my 3rd cycle I'm now on my 5th cycle about to try Viceroy difficulty if I finish the cycle smoothly.
I think I might know what you mean and I can't blame you for that issue, I think the game can feel unforgiving for new players not because it's hard but because the UI or QoL doesn't do a good job at making it easy for the player to make an *informed* strategy/plan without constantly looking or typing in recipes in the game. I normally start the game by pausing for 5 mins at the beginning and think or even type on notepad at times about all my options and buildings to watch out for depending on the races I have, it has worked quite well for me so far and the game did an amazing job at making sure you actually have a way to win regardless of how unlucky you felt with RNG. And I can see this not being an issue for older/veteran players since I can imagine myself no longer needing that 5 minute planning time at every start once I remember most recipes and buildings, but I do think this is something they could improve more on. We need better UI and a tooltip system that makes it easier to make an informed strategy and not just blindly making plans due to RNG.
@@ryanspinoza6586 No, the difficulty is fine and it's a good game. It can be overwhelming due to all the content and depth of the game, but that's not the main issue (there's a risk of bloat though). My point is the meta game where you have to start over each cycle. You get further and further each time in the meta game before the cycle ends, but due to the progression system where you get better and better bonuses, I assume you won't finish the overall 'meta map' and break the cycle after 100 hours or so. I've not played the game for a while and haven't finished the 'end game' so things may have changed slightly, but I checked with some people who do play the game and the consensus still is that to finish the main map, you need a lot of time.
The interesting thing about this game is how difficult it is, to explain why it's so good!
You can try to explain it, but it will always sound strange and complicated.
But as soon as you've played it for maybe an hour and got a grasp of the basic mechanics it becomes addictive.
There are so many systems that are introduced bit by bit and just work beautifully with each other.
It's like every new settlement is a puzzle waiting to be solved because of the procedural generation of the levels.
And the best part: It has a pause button that removes the stress, which was always the thing that bothered me in city builder games like Anno...
I guess what you say in the first line is true. I keep hearing on how the game is great from multiple sources for over a year, however anytime I see anything from the game, I don't feel compelled to try it out.
Been playing this for around half a year now. I love the Warcraft 3 aesthetic of the game to be honest.
I've been loving Against the Storm since its first launch. It's a great evolution of a city builder and is absolutely unique while also being high quality overall.
Glad you covered this game, it has been a game i come back to fairly often when i just need something chill and atmospheric to play and relax with. Really hope their full launch goes well, the 2 week patch cycle has been going on for a long time and the games has gotten some amazing upgrades over the last year.
I started playing this in early access this year and it quickly became my personal game of the year. So happy to see you covered it! The Devs deserve a ton of success from this incredible game.
Fascinating combination of city builder x roguelike - really addicitive and one of the best learnign curve and difficulty setting to ease you in into more challenge
Best game ever. Seriously. The design is absolutely ingenious, gameplay is fantastic, visuals are awesome, music is beautiful. Almost endlessly replayable. Plus, these developers showed that early access can be a fantastic experience for all involved. I am very, very impressed with this team.
Just get the game, it is well worth it.
Listen to this guy y'all
something tells me this guy works for the company
@@kyuzo26 You are wrong, of course. They clearly dont need to pay someone to sing their praises, just look at all the other comments. I am just an impressed and very happy customer, which is sadly rare when it comes to games.
Never thought you'd cover this game, but so glad you did!
I've been so hooked on this game for a month now. It gets even better as you get to higher difficulty and unlock so much more.
Like you said, I'm not big on city builders, but this has just the parts I liked.
I tried the demo on Steam a few months ago, and now it's on Xbox Game Pass for PC. I was intrigued by the idea of a roguelike city builder and am enjoying it now.
I want to play more city builders, so thanks for the recommendation. I wish there was another channel like yours that focuses on city builders, strategy and business sim games.
Fantastic game, been having this for over a year and the amount of updates it received is staggering, devs doing a great job!
I wish you added a little more about opening those places between trees and completing tasks. You will need to decide if you are ready for more challenge with opening bigger "spot" between trees or small or the biggest one. Each type has different tasks with varying difficulties that will reward you different things. Can be materials/building blueprints or more people. On top of that you have to balance between queen impatience, do you wanna open medium spot and reduce queens impatience by medium amount or you wanna risk opening bigger spot but maybe you wont have resources to complete that task? What about task reward? Do you want something that boost your economy now or do you choose something for the long term, like building that opens new recipe with resource you havent found yet but you know its on this map.
Game is incredible and i wish it was more popular.
Thanks for covering ATS Mort, hope this bring more people to it.
296.2h in and I still love it. So much content has been added during early access. This is the kind of early access that could have been released a long time ago but they always wanted to add features.
This game is amazing! You will easily spend tons of hours and when you end a game you just want to start a new one. It is quite challenging when you raise the prestige level. It is real-time but feels like turn-based as you can pause any time and change things. Really inpressed by this one. No wonder it has like 97% approval on steam.
As somebody who love the late game of city builders, i would be all for this, if there was a main mega city that you build up, only to hit barriers that need settlements to progress.
Been playing this for a while (had to leave it for some time lately due to all the crazy releases this year) and its been one of my fav city builders. Not just because of the vibe, the mechanics etc but because it eliminates the biggest problem I personally have with all city builders, that being fatigue. I just get tired after spending 40 hours on the same city having to micromanage every single production line. This being a roguelite completely eliminates that problem and makes it feel new every time.
It's an amazing game. I clocked 50 hours in 4 days just in the early access.
Yeah I got sucked in real bad too... 😅
Very strong recommendation from me. I'm 180+ hours in and still playing it daily (although the long-form progression is nearly complete, so it's about 200 hours worth of progression currently). It's an absolutely amazing combination of RTS-style management (but no combat) with German-style boardgames. It's sort of a real-time Caylus/Puerto Rico/Tzolkin (and other worker-placement style eurogames), except you're only competing against the time (the Queen's Impatience) rather than other players.
This game has some fantastic UI/UX . On top of all the other wonderful things others have mentioned. Best way of shuffling workers around that I’ve come across
This game reminds me of Ixion with the fantasy twist. I put it on my wishlist.
Absolutely love this game, it's so charming and relaxing but with challenging parts if you want it. Gorgeous art style and sound design plus music.
Thanks for the video. Congrats on the advance copy. As always, mad respect for the devs that trust their title to your reviews. Onward to 300k. All glory to the algorithm.
one of my fav games of the year
One of my favorite games of the year, glad you like it mortismal!
A superb game. I am not that great at city builders cause it seems that I am lacking a long term vision of how my settlement should look like, but this game is not about how your town will look like 5 years (game time) in the future. You need to do specific tasks as fast as possible and it doesn't matter if the settlement looks pretty as long as you can produce the necessary resources to complete the tasks
The only game I actually bought on Epic, back when it was exclusive there. Definitely a very good investment. The game is just phenomenal.
From what I've played of it, it's been really enjoyable. I love city builders and this is a nice new/different take
The Game really suprised me! I played it a fair bit in early access. I ususally get tiered of Citybuilders if the City gets too big, here this problem doesnt exist.
I like this game. It beats me down at the moment. My winning rate at 2nd easiest level is 1 out of 6 rounds won. But I often realize why and it was my strategic approach with not sufficient knowledge or understanding for the most part.
I like the atmosphere and the gameplay. Some may feel building one settlement from scratch after the other a bit repetitive, but then again this pioneer phase is more thrilling for me than adding deco to a big functioning city. And the survival part including an impatient queen adds to it as well.
I can only recommend this gem, but the player needs to accept some learning curve and have also some resilience to master it. So, it is not for everybody.
I believe it is pretty safe to say that players, who like Frostpunk, Timberborn, Anno, and Darkest Dungeon or Hades will probably like this as well.
Conveniently, I have been bingeing on Timberborn these past couple of days.
I have the game and I think it’s great! It’s really based on the city start up and doesn’t get old like giant city builders tend to
A key part is the prestige system. After winning on the "hardest" difficulty, you unlock a new one with additional rules and/or restrictions. That way, the game can get a lot harder every time which keeps the challenge alive. On the flipside, this might mean that you eventually run into a difficulty where the game gets too annoying to deal with - which is tough, because it means you don't have any room to develop anymore. This will only happen after a ton of playing time, but it will be the reason why your interest might fizzle out over time (which is always less fulfilling than playing a game to its conclusion - the classic problem of a game with not ending).
That's sort of what drove me up a wall with the game. After a certain point, the prestige difficulty feels like it pushes you to keep raising it, but it also pares down the game to almost oppressive simplicity. Trade? No, you're not going to be doing that, it's too expensive due to the penalties. Opening small glades? Never worth it for the penalties. Event choices? There is no choice, you are going to rush out of the map as fast as possible because it's a ticking time bomb.
I had to go back and look at my receipt... Wasn't last year it went into early access, I first bought in during October 2021. And I don't think I was super early.
Either way though, the entire process with these devs has been fantastic!!
Thanks for the video. I wasn't sure what to expect. It sounded like a survival city builder. But from what I see here, it is quite different. Could be worth a try.
Thanks for dropping the vid. I went ahead and picked this game up on sale on GOG after watching your review.
"...say they resort to cannibalism or they develop how to use nets." That is a pretty wild swing there. I like it.
The universe is absolutely fantastic and very, very, very grim
If WoW SoD wasn’t releasing this week, and Rogue Trader next, I’d definitely be getting this game.
that sounds really interesting, I typically don't enjoy city builders because the endless management of ever-growing city is quite boring to me, having it containted into short cycles actually might solve this problem
would love a video on your game recommendations each year. i legit only look up your reviews before getting games now
Soonish, couple more reviews to do first
It's coming to Game Pass December 8th as well.
Early PC gaming for me where a lot of management games. Zoo Tycoon in particular I spent hundreds of hours in.
But I was never really goal focused. I just liked slowly building my thing to be the best it could be.
I fell from that genre once I started playing RPGs. None of them that come out really capture that same charm for me.
This one does look interesting though due to its unique take.
I kept seeing this pop up as a facebook ad and that alone was enough for me to discount it as shovelware. Turns out it's a pretty great game
Literally bought this last night after sitting on my wishlist for ages.
I love the art direction
I fell completely in love with this game. Thx for the tip
The game is also currently on sale on Steam, im definitely picking it up.
Interesting - wishlisted to keep an eye on. Danke!
I am sooo glad to see this in your channel! The only time I made CZcams videos was for this game.
I have to try this game!! I do love city planners
I was originally interested in this game which has an "Overwhelming Positive" review on Steam. But it gave me flashbacks of Pharoah, which caused me RSI in my index finger. :)
I picked this game up like 6 months ago due to the overwhelmingly positive reviews but I haven't started on it yet. Release looks like a good time to do so.
I'm glad you're reviewing this as someone who doesn't normally play these games because that's where I'm at. I've attempted to play highly rated games similar to this like Frostpunk but lost interest fairly quickly so I was skeptical about buying Against the Storm. I'll definitely give it a chance though.
Despite how much the game has changed since March when I started playing, I can consistently beat the game on the hardest difficulty. I'm hoping the 1.0 has something to make me come back, because I still think there actually isn't enough content or difficulty.
I bought Against the Storm, earlier this year. especially as roguelites and city builders are things I love (as well as RPGs). I only never got myself liking this game, especially the time constraints and what I remember have to move on when a place is taking off.
City builders ❤
Gives me Dungeon Keeper vibes which a game hasn’t done in a while
I'd like to see your thoughts on Horizon's Gate.
It is an indie RPG made by one guy that I fell in love with a few months ago.
It is also currently half off on steam (9.99 instead of 19.99).
I bought the game and I would like to add the devs (only 5 people when the game came out in EA 1 year ago) listen to the community, have been consistent with patches (every 2-3 week time)
I didn't think I'd like this combination either but thought maybe after my experience with Frostpunk, and yeah I'm still not sold on the combination in general. But it doesn't matter because Against the Storm is so good it just doesn't matter the game is just great
i'd like to see you cover this game more. wonder how long it would take you to 100% since there's bunch of difficulties and achievements :D
It`s absolutely amazing
I like the concept might have to wishlist this one
I think the game is perfect. It is achieving everything it is setting out to do.
Hey Mortym, I love the tune that plays in your intro. Is it original for the channel, or is it originally from something else?
It was made for the channel yeah, you dont want to mess with music copyright on CZcams
I wouldn't say this game is a masterpiece, and it can feel a bit mechanically bloated, but it's a good game. I played it for some 50 hours and might come back to it. It's more of a strategy / decision making game than a city builder.
Favorite game of the year so far for me
This video made me buy the game. and it was awesome. thank you bro
So excited this is coming to game pass soon
Game rules. I bought it on EGS way early, pre-Harpies. Have circled back around to it two or three times since that point. Keeps getting better!
I like it when you stray away from the CRPGs for a bit. But a game I think might be completely in your wheelhouse despite it not being a CRPG is "last train home". Maybe worth checking out and give the unique game some publicity
I made a video on it already, no plans to review it currently though
i bought it, played it some time and completely forgot about it. I guess I wanted to wait for full release, have to play it again but first Grim Dawn, have to beat it before next dlc.
One problem I have with it that it is often bad to unlock new things, as they are worse than old or more complicated
For instance I almost never use the trade routes mechanic but because I have it unlocked it is thrown at me to do.
New merchants that have items you don't want now competing with merchants you want, cornerstone that are clearly subpar that are unlocked with achievements that I specifically don't complete precisely because I see the cornerstone being not so good
It's all about tradeoffs. I believe you might want to up the difficulty a bit, there is no "useless" merchant; the ones who have nothing good in stock must be used to exchange goods in order to prepare for when the ones who do come. The whole game is about making your "choose" between very, very bad and slightly worse and try to make it work and survive nevertheless. I never had a scenario where there was no way out due to RNG, but I definitively dug my own grave a few times. And sometimes the stars align and you get to snatch a beautiful, beautiful run despite everything wanting you dead. It gets really, really good at viceroy level 12 and above, you could consider everything before as tutorial.
@@etcher6841 that's kinda my point I remember when I started the game the initial few merchants ALWAYS had at least one thing I would find useful if not very much needed. And trading item A to merchant 1 for item B to then trade it to merchant 2 for item C that you want seems like a really bad idea.
1. how do you know the next mechant will want it
2. you are incuring trade penalty twice
Finally I would much prefer to make a choice between useful now, needed later, very powerful much later combined with other things I don't yet have, instead of don't want, have better, uhhh fine I will take this.
I just feel like as the game and difficulty progresses it is becoming more difficult to get the tools I need rather than have bigger challenges placed before me, and it's because for every 1 good thing I have since start or mid game, I have unlocked 10 things that are not nearly as good.
Leveling up and doing achievements shouldn't make things worse for you.
But maybe it just isn't my kind of game
Reminds me a bit of Timberborn, just jankier.
I love the vibrant srt style, the crisp UI and the gameplay concepts.
But I can never get over the blockiness of fixed-grid city builders. I enjoy games like Foundation, Noerhgard, Manor Lord and Cities Skylines.
If I were inclined to play games where every structure is perfectly aligned with its surroundings I would probably stick to the OG Dune 2 and Warcraft 😢
Looks fun did you ever cover Wartales Ive been playing it with some friends having a blast.
Yes he has. He even included it in his top 5 favorites for that genre.
@@arckmage5218 I'll have to go back and watch that video.
Against The storm sounds kinda boring. It's not. It's actually very satisfying. I will play it non-stop for a couple weeks, take a break, and come back to it. Always fun.
Against the storm is so great that I made myself stop playing after dumping 100 hours into it so that I could restart from scratch at full release. Anyone on the fence, buy it!
The game is great and have played it in early access. I certainly enjoy city-builders and this is a good game to pass an hour or 2 each day to build a town for the Smouldering City and its Queen. By the way, getting 100% of the Achievements might take you a lot of time here, I am not sure you will enjoy it if you want to 100% complete it.
Good show sir
I wish there is a mobile or switch version of this game. my back hurts while playing PC
yes and yes
Gronk!
I love this game so much.
Good review!
This does look fun
This looks good, and it's on gamepass.
This is one of the most addictive games I've played, its so addictive that I had to uninstall it :D
Hey Mortismal you ever thought about making a discord? It'd be nice to have people to talk about crpgs with
Ive thought about it yeah, but I already have a ton to manage as it is
Already did, bought it a while back on sale. I saw it in a Steam showcase and it looked awesome and has been, there's been a ton of updates since I last played, will definitely have to try it again.
For the algorithm!
Seems nice
This game is really fun 😊😊😊😊
How much time does it take to "100%" a roguelike?
Depends, sometimes its not so bad, other times its awful
Does this game have a proper story?
Belated answer: Yes and no. It doesn't have an actual explicit plot outside of what snippets come up in occasional convos with your Aunt Lori, but the descriptions for various events have a lot of scrapbook storytelling and worldbuilding going on.