Roguelite city builder ``Against the Storm'' play review that allows you to repeatedly play only the interesting parts of the village development simulation, lead tribes with different strengths and food preferences to face the threat of nature
Everyone enjoys city-building simulation games in different ways, but one of the most enjoyable moments in this genre is the pioneering period, when the city is steadily expanding, increasing its population, and developing it. ' Against the Storm ' is a fantasy-style city construction simulation that combines a game system that allows you to repeatedly play the true value of such a city building game at a good tempo, and roguelite elements that randomly change the nature of the land and the buildings that can be built each time you play. It is delivered. During the early access period, I was curious about the expected work that has been improved every week since its release in November 2022 and has been rated 'overwhelmingly popular', so I actually played it. .
Steam: Against the Storm
·table of contents
◆ 2: 'Accomplishment of directive' and 'Acquisition of fame' for clearing
◆ 3: 'Vacant land event' that you will face as you proceed with the reclamation
◆ 4: Main other elements
◆ 5: Clear the map and start a new map
◆6: Summary
◆ 1: What to do at the start of play
When you play the following movie, you can see how the village is developed with 'Against the Storm' in one shot.
I tried to develop a village with a dark fantasy city builder 'Against the Storm' - YouTube
When you play the game, you start out with a few villagers huddled together in a settlement hidden in an eerie forest.
First, in order to obtain wood, which is the most basic resource, select 'Lumberjack Camp' from the menu below and specify the setting.
After specifying the installation location, the villagers will first carry the construction materials and start construction.
Once the 'Lumberjack's Camp' is complete, assign villagers and appoint them as lumberjacks. In this game, villagers who have free hands construct facilities, and by assigning work at the facility to villagers, it is possible to develop and collect resources.
The basic policy at the beginning of the game is to clear the forest with lumberjacks and to secure food such as mushrooms by assigning personnel to the purple ``herbalist's camp''.
◆ 2: 'Accomplishment of directive' and 'Acquisition of fame' for clearing
While doing so, the icon on the upper right glowed, so click it.
Then, I received a 'command' from the queen who appointed the player to be the governor of this village. The ``command'' has a ``goal (upper red frame)'' to be achieved and a ``reward (lower red frame)'' obtained by clearing it, and the content is determined randomly.
This time, we have selected ``exploration funds'' that prepare 10 ``plates'' obtained by processing wood.
On another occasion, the inhabitants arrived, sent by the Queen as aid. The population composition is also random. This time, we will accept two inhabitants of the race 'lizard' and one inhabitant of the race 'beaver'.
inhabitants increased.
Immediately, I appoint the newly welcomed beaver as a lumberjack.
Then, around the icon of the beaver's face, there was a mark indicating that he was doing a good job. At the time of writing the article, there are 5 types of races in this game, and up to 3 types of villagers live together in one village.
Each race has different specialties, such as ``Humans are good at farming'', ``Lizards are good at livestock raising'', and ``Beavers are good at logging''. I will let you.
In order to carry out the directives, we set up a facility called a 'rough processing plant'. A white arrow pointing to a facility indicates the direction of the facility that produces or collects the material resources. For efficient production, we would like to centralize related facilities as much as possible. However, with the exception of some facilities, most facilities can be moved later, and can be dismantled and all materials used for construction can be recovered when they are no longer needed, so there is no need to think too hard. However, depending on the 'mystery of the forest' described later, materials may be lost when dismantling.
A check mark will appear when you have achieved it, so click it.
Accomplishments increased 'Fame (blue bar)' and decreased 'Queen's Wrath (red bar)'. 'Fame' is literally the player's fame, and if you accumulate it to the maximum, the development of this village will be judged to be successful and the map will be cleared. Conversely, if the 'queen's anger', which increases with the passage of time and the loss of villagers, accumulates to the maximum, it will fail.
There are two ways to earn fame. The first method is to follow the instructions mentioned above. The second is to meet the villagers' demands and gain reputation from them. The needs of villagers differ according to their races: Humans like biscuits, beavers like biscuits and pickles, lizards like dried meat and pickles, and so on.
By producing foods that the villagers like and feeding them, the 'morale' value below the tribe's face icon will increase. And when the morale exceeds a certain level, the face icon will glow blue, increasing your fame. On the other hand, if morale gets too low, they will run away from the village or die, earning the Queen's wrath.
The races of the residents who come, the commands they give, the food they get, etc. are determined at random, so depending on the situation, you can choose a style that emphasizes making the villagers happy and gaining fame, or fulfilling the commands to become the queen. The quickest way to clear the game is to decide whether you want to aim for a style that attracts people's attention, or whether you want to aim for both.
◆ 3: 'Vacant land event' that you will face as you proceed with the reclamation
The lumberjack will basically cut down trees in order from the nearest one, but you can also specify which trees to cut down first. If you clear the forest with a lumberjack, you may encounter a 'Vacant Land Event'.
Vacant land events are risky, but there are many things to be gained, so I would like to actively participate. Below you can see one of them in action.
After discovering a 'big camp' where the survivors are living a self-sufficient life, I will immediately assign the residents of my village and order an 'investigation'. Each event has two solutions, and in this event you can choose to welcome residents to the village or send them to the Queen and receive funds in return, but this time I decided to welcome them to the village.
As I watched, the inhabitants brought the village food into the camp.
And I'm persuading you to join the pioneer village.
Events take time, so double speed and fast forward to completion.
Upon completion, the camp disappeared and the villagers increased. Especially at the beginning of the game, you need more manpower, so increasing the number of villagers will be a great help.
Other glade events include Forgotten Burial Grounds, where the Curse of the Dead wipes out the village's funds if left alone.
Newly added in the April 28, 2023
Vacant land also has other goods that can be used to obtain a large amount of food, so development will be accelerated if you let the woodcutter proceed with logging as soon as the villagers are free.
However, if the demolition fails, there are dangerous events such as 'smoldering machines' that explode and destroy surrounding facilities and kill residents, so the timing of opening vacant lots is important.
◆ 4: Main other elements
As your reputation increases, you will earn reputation bonuses.
Fame bonus allows you to choose 1 of 3 random new facility blueprints. Advanced goods and food can only be produced by acquiring blueprints and building advanced facilities, so the reputation bonus you earn will have a great impact on your subsequent developments and strategies.
If you build a facility called 'Trading Post', traveling merchants will visit regularly.
As mentioned above, you can't always produce what you need, so you can solve the lack of supplies by selling your surplus supplies to the merchant and buying the ones you don't have.
As time passes in the game, the seasons change, shifting to 'rainy season' and 'dry season'. This provides map-specific benefits.
On the other hand, a 'storm' will come that will lower the morale of the villagers and cause various problems.
These special effects, 'Mystery of the Forest', differ for each map, but you can check them at the start of the game, so it will be easier to take countermeasures if you read them.
Once the storm has passed and the season has come full circle, you'll receive Keystones with various benefits. Which 'Keystone' appears is also random, and can range from a little help to something that makes playing much easier.
◆ 5: Clear the map and start a new map
Once you have earned the fame required to successfully clear the map, you will be able to clear the map and receive experience points and rewards. After that, you can return to the world map, and you can choose to continue playing in that village, although there are no rewards. To advance the game, click 'Return to World Map' here.
This is the world map, and 'XILAS' is the map that I cleared earlier. The main purpose of this game is to use this completed settlement as a foothold to further expand the territory.
Players can be upgraded in the 'Smoldering City' ruled by the Queen.
Upgrades include things that slow down the Queen's wrath buildup and things that increase the number of facilities you can build from the start.
In addition, there are several biomes on the map, such as the strange mushroom forest 'Marshland' that you cleared earlier, the green 'Royal Woodland', and the 'Scarlet Orchard' where the pioneers are blocked by metallic trees. There are different resources and food that are easy to obtain.
After colonizing several times, a 'bright storm' arrives and resets the world map. And then the development of new settlements begins.
◆6: Summary
The biggest feature of 'Against the Storm' is that you can complete a settlement at a good pace and start the next settlement in about 1-2 hours per map. This eliminates the sluggish period of ``the automation is completed and there is nothing to do until it is cleared'', which is common in city builders, so it is a game system that allows you to repeatedly play only the most rewarding times. Also, there is always a lot to do with directives and events, so you don't have to worry about getting lost in what to do.
Difficulty levels range from ``Settlers'' where you can hardly get stuck, to ``Prestige (up to 20)'' where everything can collapse with one misjudgment, so beginners to advanced players can enjoy it.
However, the fact that there are always some events and tasks means that there is not much time to breathe, so people who like to slowly look at the completed city and the activities of the residents may feel ``a little too busy''. sex too. The graphics of the facilities and the movements of the villagers are detailed, so I felt that sometimes it would be nice to continue and observe the settlements carefully without returning to the world map.
The PC version of 'Against the Storm' is sold on Steam, and the price is 3980 yen including tax. It has been announced that there is a possibility of raising the price when the early access period ends, so it is recommended to check it early if you are interested.
Steam: Against the Storm
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