Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Warsim: how to build an intriguing game, without an interface, or not?

Today is the time for a small review of Warsim ( currently in beta!).




In Warsim you take the role of a king, with a lot of other kingdom around, in a randomly generated world (races, places, names, faces! all of them are randomly generated) and try to crush your opponents raiding them or also invading they lands.

The game right now is enjoyable and fully playable, with a lot of exploration behind. The main goal for the player at the start is to understand what's happening (of course!) and use gold to upgrade the kingdom, get better troops, hire more troops and manage diplomacy is possible to get rid of all opponents. I really appreciate the mix between a strategy game and a roguelike, because the exploration part (based on luck!) open up new areas, buildings, encounters and enemies. I'll keep on eye on that concept, because is really cool!

The interface is key of this game. I mean, it's based on text, I know. But after the punch in the face, you can smile. In few commands you can control your kingdom, gather all information you need, and attack your enemies. It's funny to see how much information Warsim can build in few turns: mercenaries bands roaming around, demons cults killing your peasants, raiding from other countries, battle in the arena, raising of new champions.. a lot of simulation is behind the scene and keep the game really refreshing and satisfying experience.

One downside, after some time playing with it, it's the game lack a bit of balance and require a lot of input from player: when player decide to attack, at the end of the turn, he can decide which troops to use, but as input, Warsim require every time to type how many of them.. tedius, but can grant an higher degree of control, I suppose!

Try it, could be a strange and new experience! I have to go back to my kingdom, ask some troops to my allies and fight these three-eyed dwarfs keeping raiding my lands and explore some strange sinkhole..

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