PC Preview Code Provided by Hooded Horse
City builders are games that encourage careful planning and a methodical approach to solving problems. Roguelites are games that requires a player to roll with the punches and react to uncertain situations. A roguelite city builder? How would that work? As it turns out, rather well.
Published by Hooded Horse, Eremite Games’ title Against The Storm tests not only your ability to build a functioning settlement, but to handle the ups-and-downs of the RNG in a world where your fledgling village is constantly on a knife edge between the warring forces of a ruined world.
Gameplay
As a city builder, your main goal in the game is to build small settlements, branching out from the Smouldering Citadel into the uncharted wilds. The roguelike aspect brings a twist of uncertainty to each attempt. Conditions will change, with different starting rules dictating your approach.
The crux of the gameplay of Against The Storm is trying to strike a delicate balance in the face of the two major forces of the world. Most immediately, you have the Queen. Your work on a settlement will be constantly on a timer, as the Queen’s Impatience slowly rises the longer you spend. A bar along the bottom of the screen marks the countdown to the monarch’s wrath. Completing orders from the Queen decreases the bar, and will come with rewards. These rewards come in the form of new options for buildings. The buildings awarded are a selection of somewhat-randomised choices, of which you can pick one. Expanding quickly and pursuing goals are important for keeping in favour with your superiors, however expanding too far and too fast can awaken the other major power, the forest.
Nature itself is a huge factor in this world. As you cut down trees, appoint woodcutters, break into groves and do other things that involve plundering the natural resources of the forest, its hostility grows. There are ways to keep this under control, such as building more hearths, however, failing to reign it in will result in massive debuffs on your settlement.
With these two oppositional pulls working on you, Against The Storm becomes a game about trying to balance your orders with not pushing the land around you too far. This is no easy task, especially when you have different peoples to care for. Your villages are made of several different creatures. Initially, you have the Humans, the buck-toothed Beavers, and the big, scaly Lizards. All these creatures have different jobs they’re skilled at, and different jobs they enjoy. Lizards, for example, are skilled hunters, though what they really like are jobs like working kilns, as its keeps their cold blood warm. Failing to adequately maintain a species’ needs will result in them beginning to desert the settlement, which is bad times all round.
If you fail, it is not the end of the world. Each village is simply one round in a larger game, and you can keep attempting to settle once more, this compensates for the issues of RNG, and prevents things from feeling too harsh or unfair.
Expectations
Currently in beta, the game is very much playable, though some of the larger-scale mechanics and goals are still at a fairly unrefined stage. The story is very intriguing, though as of yet doesn’t have a lot elaborated on beyond the beginning.
The UI is in flux through progressive updates, and while my initial thoughts were it was a little hard to read, an update arrived during the playing period that seemed to improve on this. Eremite Games appear to be steadily improving upon their work and taking community feedback heavily into account, which is always nice to see.
Verdict
Against The Storm is a deceptively ambitious game, combining two genres in a very interesting way. It is something that will not have a universal appeal. Its cute graphics and endearing rainy soundtrack hide an iron core of struggle and problem-solving that is not for a quick light-hearted game. The rogue-lite element can make each round a ruthless fight for survival. Supplies will drain away, villagers will die, blight will gnaw away at your vital hearth. Sometimes it will be too much, and your efforts will have been for nothing.
For those who relish a challenge, who enjoy adapting to constant uncertainty, and who enjoy a truly atmospheric experience to accompany their building, Against The Storm can offer hours and hours of variety. Learning to walk the tightrope of the opposing sides feels exceptional, and the random elements mean even seasoned players can look forward to being challenged. If building is your thing, this is certainly one to watch.
