The castle is under attack, no one has buried the bodies, and there are holes in the walls. What will you do? If you’re anything like me, you’ll anxiously mutter “oh no, oh no, oops” as all of your citizens and your castle fall despite your best attempts to save them. Then boot up another game.

Diplomacy is Not an Option is the lovechild of Russian studio Door 407, a group of strategy gamers who wanted to take the best from their favorite games, without any of the downsides. The game is a part city builder, part military strategy, and with just the right amount of tower defense. Diplomacy is Not an Option drops players onto the throne and says “Good luck! Also, there are a lot of bad guys coming your way.“

While the tutorial gives you a basic understanding of the game, stepping into the campaign is a bit tougher. This large difficulty gap is one of the things that made my time with this Early Access title an absolute blast.

Gameplay

Being in charge of a growing city isn’t easy and handling your citizens is just as important, if not more so, than defending that city from the hordes of enemies coming your way. Making sure your citizens are fed, sheltered, and all working can be the difference between enemies crashing like waves against mighty stone walls or breaking through and demolishing everything you’ve built. As you build logging camps, barracks, mines, or another granary to hold all the food your city will need, you are constantly aware of the enemies who are only days away. Needing to gather the resources to build defenses and soldiers and keep expanding the settlement means that there is no time to rest. I felt hurried and each day was important, especially because I only had a few before hordes of enemies were upon me. Having to decide between a new soldier or another builder/gatherer was also an important decision, as losing my soldiers meant I lost those citizens, but holding the line would allow us to fight another day. Your sacrifices are appreciated, random civilians.

While this rush of construction and preparation is definitely stressful, the buildup before the next attack has an almost calming quality to it. The UI is simple and easy to navigate, and watching your city grow from a keep with some citizens up to a sprawling metropolis with gleaming stone walls is so rewarding. Each attack you repulse means more time to build and grow, and the switch between these two gameplay loops was a joy.

The city management was fun, but the most hilarious and tense part is the attacks. After the horde timer is up, a large number of enemies will come from a specific side of the map that you know in advance. Hopefully, you spent that time building walls, archers, catapults, or other units and buildings to help rebuff the assault. With up to 10,000 units able to fit on the screen in massive blobs, watching a literal sea of dark enemies moving towards your small wall is a sobering experience on your first playthrough. It is all made up for once you start casting spells and lobbing rocks at them, throwing hundreds of enemies through the air as you slice and dice their numbers and try to hold them back. Sometimes you succeed, and sometimes you don’t, but watching little bad guys go flying when rocks splash onto them never gets old.

However, even as an Early Access game, Diplomacy is Not an Option kept bringing me back to try again. Even with limited game-modes and a pretty shallow building pool, I found myself playing over and over trying to find the best building methods, the best way to set my walls and artillery, and the best way to bring in the most people and supplies. At the moment, Diplomacy is Not an Option is pretty barebones, and is already a blast. The art style is unique and fun, the gameplay is engaging, and even without a lot of maps and enemies, there is still a lot to love.

Expectations

More. That’s it, I just want more. What Door 407 has done with their flagship game has already checked a lot of my boxes for what I want in a strategy game, and I cannot wait to see where it goes. My only complaint is that the entire game feels shallow. Without some more variety (biomes, enemies, factions) this game will not stick around much longer than the next year or two. However, as an independent developer, it is easy to see the love that was put into this product, and I have faith it will grow and improve throughout the Early Access period. Diplomacy is Not an Option is definitely a love letter to games like Stronghold and Age of Empires, but takes its own path and has a very different feel than either of those games.

Verdict

I definitely enjoyed Diplomacy is Not an Option, and I think it has a bright future ahead of it. As time goes on and there are more updates to the game, I’m sure there will be even more to love and more to play. I would recommend anyone who loves strategy games to pick this one up, but definitely understand it is a work in progress and things will change. We can only hope it retains its upward trajectory because I would hate to see this quirky game crash and burn.

Diplomacy is Not an Option is out in Steam’s Early Access now. Have you played it yet? Let us know your thought in the comments.