During the last Steam Next Fest, I was absolutely enamoured with one of the demos I tried: a rogue-lite citybuilder titled Against the Storm.
You can read my first impressions of the game in this post: Steam Next Fest — first impressions of several demos (part two)
If you don't fancy clicking, this is what I had to say about it:
I'm really enjoying this one! It's not just a citybuilder like I thought it was, but it's a proper colony sim as well. I need to build, keep my villagers happy and their resolve high, all while completing things at a decent pace so as not to offend the Queen.
It's really good. This one is going on my wish list! Hell, I might even buy this one at full price once it's released. I'm enjoying it that much. I heartily recommend this one and if you have time you should totally check out this demo while it's available during NEXT FEST.
Today it launched on Steam. It's in early access and I don't even care. (I know right; that's huge for me!) I bought it within 10 minutes of its release time, downloaded it, and played it for 3 hours solid.
When I first opened it, I noticed something spiffy — the game had kept all of my progress from the demo I had tried during Next Fest!
I'm sure a lot of people would like that feature, but for me, I reset my progress and started from the start again, re-doing the tutorial, re-learning things now that I was actually playing the game and not the demo.
When I played during Next Fest, I just completed the tutorials then turned the game off, not wanting to dive right into a demo of all things.
Turns out that after you complete the tutorials, you come across The Smoldering City...
A lot of people get this confused, but there is a difference between rogue-like and rogue-lite games. In rogue-likes you die, you try again, you die, you try again; you get nothing except the satisfaction of achievement once you reach your goal. In rogue-lites, you unlock perks and things that help you as you progress. Most people play rogue-lites but mistakenly call them rogue-likes. THIS game is a rogue-lite.
The Smoldering City? This is where we unlock our perks!
Before you can actually start going through the perk tree, you need to spend the resources acquired through the tutorial on the very bottom rung of the tree to unlock its use.
You unlock these resources when you finish a settlement. I'm not yet sure if that means successfully completing a map, or if you get a lesser amount of resources if you fail a map.
And now it's time to actually play the game as it was intended.
The tutorial was very easy — it was a tutorial! Teaching you how to play the game! — the game itself is a lot more difficult.
We start out by choosing a tile for our next settlement. When you hover over the tiles you can see small bits of information. For example, the one that I've chosen has more of a chance to find fertile ground for farms in the secret glades we build towards.
Now that I've chosen my tile, I get to make some choices as we embark upon this new colony creation.
I can choose which peoples will be coming with me. I choose the first option which gives me guaranteed beavers. I need those guys! They're the best at wood related activities like deforestation. xD
I also grab some resources with which to keep my settlement momentarily appeased while we get situated and start faming items for ourselves, set my difficulty to the easiest because I'm a brand new noob, and them embarked upon our journey!
Starting my first settlement with the knowledge delivered upon me from the tutorials, I quickly built some shelter for my people and got a woodcutter's hut started as soon as possible. We need wood to keep the hearth going and we need to get to all of those cloudy bits on the map: the secret glades!
In the secret glades can be useful resources, people, abandoned tools for us to take over and use for our own gains, and also great evil. The map I have just rolled is surrounded by great evil on all corners except the bottom left... sooooo, we start clearing from the bottom left. xD
Every so often, as you play, the Queen will send her raven out to you and allow you a perk. In the tutorial, these perks were tailored to you... in the actual game, these perks are randomised and add to the rogue-lite experience.
You may get something useful, or something not particularly useful at all, or something that won't become useful until you get more established.
In the tutorial, the "orders" you received were also tailored to you... now they've become randomised also. When you "pick" your order, you will get given a choice, andddddd.... you may be able to do them, or you may have to wait until you're more established before you can fulfil them.
Luckily for me, one of the orders I rolled was simply to discover two glades so I was able to keep the Queen's impatience at bay for a little longer whilst I worked towards the harder orders, like delivering packs of provisions when I didn't even have enough provisions for myself just yet. xD
Once you get past the tutorial, you are delivered into a challenging game where you feel the pressure to complete things for the Queen and for the greater good, and hope that your colony will understand the sacrifices you make in order to reach those lofty goals.
The Queen wants beer for the people of her city? Then sorry, colonists, we can't build a meat smokehouse for ourselves right now. We have brewing to do. 🍻 She's getting too impatient! We need to do it now!
I am still absolutely enamoured with this game. It's an early access game, yes, but it feels so polished, it feels complete.
The devs have included a roadmap with their future plans:
But honestly, I find myself quite content with how the game already is. This is a game worthy of playing and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys city builders, colony builders, and rogue-lites.
Who'da thunk a city builder could also be a rogue-lite?
Who'da thunk an early access title could feel so fantastic!?
You can find it on the Steam Store behind these blue words.
Until next time! 😁😄😃
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 