WARMACHINE: Tactics
Short version: Don’t believe reviews older than March 2015. The game is better, prettier, and more stable than ever before. It still might not be for everybody, but it’s worth a look.
UPDATE: August 2016 - Updated spell effects, all new UI, somewhat improved AI, and generally very attractive and stable performance. This is how the game should have released, and more updates are on the way. I can recommend it still.
Long version:
I’ve been playing since Early Access, but wanted to wait until the last of the Kickstarter DLC was released before writing a review. In the meantime, I’ve watched a nearly unplayably buggy game get lots of fixes and polish from the developers, and now I feel like it would be fair to give it a balanced review. APRIL 25, 2015
– Real player with 205.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Tactical Games.
As a Tabletop/War Gamer in general and especially a Warmachine/Hordes player, someone who followed WMD when it first announced a Warmachine game and a backer of the later Kickstarter-Project I truly hate to say that I can’t recommend this game. The developers had enought time to fix some major bugs or design flaws, but they didn’t. Performance issues are still at hand: if your game kept running for a respectable amount of time without a crash, than that just means a crash is a soon-to-be occasion. Not a “possible” occasion, a crash -will- occure. The UI is quite obnoxious, but usable, and keeps looking like a developing kit.
– Real player with 136.9 hrs in game
SteamCity Chronicles - Rise Of The Rose
Really enjoy this game because it’s very unique and fun to play getting really close to a strategic board game and I would love to see more story on it!
– Real player with 365.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Indie Games.
|
Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
|
Is this game a masterpiece? No. You have to enjoy challenging turn-based battles and the unique Asian steampunk scenario to like this game. You also have to overlook a few… or better quite a few, annoyances in the game design.
The gameplay consists of different battle scenarios. You are presented with a diorama where you can take a look at everything - buildings and characters (your own, civilians and enemies). So the first thing after learning how to move the camera (the dioramas can be watched from all sides, you can move the camera up and down, zoom in and out) should be to carefully study those scenarios and come up with a plan to achieve your mission goals. You do not command large armies, just a few men, including your heroes. There is no fog of war, so you can see the enemy - and his movements - right from the start. The whole game plays a bit like a board game.
– Real player with 20.8 hrs in game
Spellpowder: Uprising
Class Tree
Promote your characters to 18 different character classes. From hard as a rock tank to a devastating spellcaster.
Player Character
Create your own custom character to lead the squad. Select from various fantasy races and backgrounds.
Fantasy steampunk setting
A place where technology meets magic. Explore industrial cities, sacred woodlands, vast seas and cold tundras.
Story and Sandbox modes
Experience uprising in a semi-linear style, as in classic tactical RPG’s or power up your squad trough random missions in sandbox mode.
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy RPG Games.
Ironclad Tactics
I’ve been playing Ironclad Tactics off and on for over a year. Only now, after earning every card, I realize that I forgot to write a review. It’s sort of a Plants VS Zombies game except that it’s Zombies VS Zombies, and the zombies are steampunk mechs.
The pace is realtime, but it moves slow enough to allow some thinking time for your next moves. Most of the challenge comes from building specialized decks to solve the puzzle that each level presents. Your AI opponent will have the upper hand with some new attack or defense and you’ll have to come up with a counter. Most of the time this results in a tense battle of planning, wits, and fortune. When you tweak a deck combo into working just right it feels great! Each new card opens up lots of tactical options and completing challenges for cards feels rewarding.
– Real player with 46.5 hrs in game
I got this game in a bundle and I was so happy that I decided to give it a try - I would easily purchase it individually.
If you enjoy deck-building card game, laning-style gameplay, and the steampunk theme, then you will love this game.
The aesthetics are great - the detail put into the cartoon-style graphics are very nice. The cutscenes are delivered in a comic-book style format, and the art is well done. The music is sounds are also good and add to the atmosphere of the industrial-age setting.
– Real player with 22.4 hrs in game
Lucid Steam
This game is currently a bit rough around the edges, but with a bit of polishing could end up really great!
Right now though, it could use more tooltips to help people understand what’s going on and what effects what.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
SteelPinion
SteelPinion is a steampunk turn based tactical strategy game with a dash of autobattler. Deep fleet customization synergies can be created or disrupted by the modding community. (NOTE: This steampage will be updated frequently as development continues)
An Alternate History
Experience a conspiratorial retelling of history where steampunkery,
chivalry, and explosive elemental weaponry prevails. Procedural spice flavors every encounter with new unknowns in the otherwise hand-crafted environments. Meet three warring factions with distinct technology and heros.
Tactical Battles
Combat in SteelPinion is a mix of well known tactics game genre staples, with a new difficult to implement mechanic - simultaneous turn resolution.
Position your airships well, allowing your best armored angle to withstand opponent’s salvos; all the while exploiting their exposed angle.
The advantage is not always as simple as “get behind and shoot em” since players may have altered an airship to their liking and your dismay!
Unique “Steamflakes”
While we want the game to have a low barrier of entry and will have some preset faction fleet configurations; players are encouraged to branch out mixing faction components and create a strategy that wrecks.
Speaking of which, salvage wreckage from other players and add their components to your own fleet as a reward for your victory.
Don’t worry if you lose, your engineers back at the shipyard can literally work miracles and bring you back from a pile of scraps. (Reminder to hug your nearest engineer buddy… umm on second thought, don’t do that).
Sit Down
Sitting can be exciting when you are customizing individual ships components/subsystems and pilot abilities that work together. Use a deck building approach when designing your fleet for a cozy unrushed experience.
Flip Tables
Hate customizing? Just want to see stuff blow up before putting on your pajamas? Then use player published presets to get by and smash our inferior AI (you’re better than AI right?).
Know Better Than Us
An ole saying “the customer is always right” has conflicting reception. We know that players inevitably will surpass us in playtime, eventually knowing the metagame better. So we want to make absolutely sure that the metagame is always in the hands of the player. A carefully integrated repo will expose public mods, automatically making them available in the game for playtesting and fun - woohoo devOps automation!
Friendly for Kids
That doesn’t mean “made for kids”, however, you can safely play this in front of your favorite young mind without fear. The game’s violence is steampunk machines blowing each-other up. Just like a little boy crashing a tower.
Get bailed out if you’re an underdog
You are admiral, and you should live with the consequences of your bad commands - or not. Get bailed out by allocating more engineers to repair your desolate fleet. Everyone knows that assigning more engineers speeds up delivery time! In the same way, you can order around your lackeys to “just get it done” and they will; there is no punishment for being a bad tactician, but there are rewards for being a good tactician.
The 8 Sins: New Hell Order
Seems like a great game, but i found it very confusing.
– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game
Plaguepunk Justice
Great mix of roguelike and squad based strategy. Unique setting and mechanics for a zombie game. Love the art style and the music is very enjoyable and gives a nice tone. Very polished with no crashes or issues so far. Has that addictive “one more turn/mission”. Glad I found this hidden gem.
– Real player with 10.5 hrs in game
recently got this game on sale, got completely hooked within the first three missions
the style, dialogue, combat, and crafting system are all top notch, 10/10
some of the things that hold the game back in my eyes is the movement, often times passing through another person (or vice versa) can mess up my placement, but to be fair thats just a learning curve
the combat enforces high mobility because of the healing combat, and i think thats really interesting. It makes positioning, resource management, exploration, and map awareness very important. Also requires a little bit of tracking which “patients” you have already treated, etc
– Real player with 8.5 hrs in game
Scarlet Republics
Scarlet Republics is what would happen if Fire Emblem had a love-child with Divinity and a Joe Abercrombie book. It’s a turn-based tactical RPG set in a fantasy world inspired by the Italian Renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci’s imagination
The game is set in the vibrant and treacherous City-states of Corsano, a fantasy world inspired by the Italian renaissance and Leonardo Da Vinci’s imagination. The game tells a mature fantasy story of vengeance and conquest, with plenty of choice, consequence and wit.
KEY FEATURES
-
Turn-Based Tactics - In Scarlet Republics you guide a squad of mercenaries in turn-based combat. The game features 7 unique classes divided over 20 playable characters. It is up to you to pick and mold your squad to suit your playstyle and strategies.
-
Get Creative with Squad-Building - We have built the RPG system to match customization with organic, pseudo-random growths with a focus on squad building and gut-wrenching choices for how to grow your characters. Experimenting with different builds and synergies is a key aspect of creating your perfect mercenary company.
-
Choice and Consequence - How you progress depends entirely upon your decisions. Large parts of the game, including entire battle-maps and quests, are choice specific and it is impossible to see it all in one playthrough.
-
A Living, Breathing World - Inspired by the Mediterranean, the Renaissance and the vineyards and olive groves of Italy and Greece, Corsano is a land of vibrant colors, heady spices, merchant lords, pirates, politics, intrigue and, of course, war.
-
Da Vinci and Tango - The game’s art style is inspired by renaissance art and the sketches of the master Leonardo Da Vinci. The soundtrack mixes classical fantasy with inspirations from tango and flamenco for a dramatic sunset vibe.
Scythe: Digital Edition
I’m a pretty experienced player on the board game, so I know what I’m talking about: this game follow the rules quite well, except for a few mistakes (mill that create meeples WTF?!)
the board is exactly the same as the real game, and even if I felt a bit lost cause there is no infos about your mat type except at the very beginning of the game or somewhere I never found quite easily, it would be nice to have the name of the combo ( example : rusviet patriotic ) all the time, to me this can be quite important as there is some combos that are very OP (Rusviet industrial is already banned wich follow the rules of Jamey Steigmaier, crimea patriotic should follow) but those combos should remain open if you play a non ranked game or with one of your friends )
– Real player with 91.2 hrs in game
Bought this game during steam sale.
I love the board version. Was pretty excited to test the digital version as well. Here is my review and why its pretty meh.
TLDR: good gameplay, terrible netcode/online games. Don’t bother buying the DLC (Invaders from afar) since factions are really bad and you will end playing them a lot more than people without the DLC. A bit expensive for the experience. Worth it for the $8 I paid during the sale.
1. Gameplay 7/10
Its pretty much the same as the board game. Works very well. It can be a bit troublesome at first to get a grisp on how to make a turn, read the boardstate etc but after around 30 games it feels really natural.
– Real player with 60.4 hrs in game