Recent reviews by Nox

Neutral review. Feels way too shallow in scope, story, and gameplay. Just as you start getting invested in the handful of characters highlighted, the game ends. The underlying mystery is surface level at best. Shame, feels like a tech demo of what could be a great game loop. Would love to see a fully fleshed out game of this type with a better plot. Giving it a thumbs up regardless to encourage the dev to work on a sequel.

I'm waiting for my code to compile... the game, but with more belts and fewer bugs.

Great sequel. The gameplay boils down to you trying to figure out what happened in each scene by organizing word puzzles - but there's something about the way Golden Idol presents elements and details that just keeps you craving for more. Highly curated narrative with a unique artstyle that fits well with the investigative gameplay.

A lot of what the game has to offer relies on natural curiosity and willingness to untangle a web of information. You don't have to play the first to enjoy this one, although it is full of references that will make you appreciate the story even more. As you play through the chapters a larger overarching story reveals itself. One of the best narrative focused investigative experiences ever.

Supported the original development during beta in 2011. Game has had a long journey, but the final release was worth the wait. Story treads a fine line between engaging narrative and self-parody with a healthy dose of gaming trope humor. Was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the bosses, especially the latter ones - both in terms of mechanics and animations. Bravo pixel ferret! Didn't expect to see my name in the credits either. Worthy labor of love pick.

Already a very solid game. Plays more like a macro oriented RTS with metaprogression throughout missions. Incentivizes revisiting levels to go for harder secondary objectives. Haven't really explored multiplayer yet, but I'd recommend instead heavy handed challenges against a swarm of AIs - very fun.

I'm a big fan of the RTS genre and will always support fledgling attempts to breath fresh air into it. I've supported this project and others like it - ZeroSpace, Godsworn, Grey Goo in the past, to mention a few. I'm sharing as someone with a decade of experience each in SC1 and SC2. Having this game released to EA, in this state, at this time makes no sense. I'm saddened, but this is a miss.

On fundamentals (i.e. game engine, netcode, overall game direction) experience during the beta was that as unit counts increased moderately, performance took a nose dive. I've also had mixed experiences with the netcode in multiplayer. Now in EA I still feel these problems are present. The delay between actions becomes noticeable in coop after 10min, after 20min it's unplayable. Units become unresponsive even with queued up actions. The proprietary tech to remove lag, feels like a downgrade or hindrance. SC2 a game over a decade old doesn't stutter this badly with maxed supply 8 players on the map. Maybe it's the poorly optimized UE5? Why leverage a high fidelity engine for a fast paced game and then still make it look fairly muddy? The choice of engine and backend of the game may allude to modding opportunities in the future in terms of features and capabilities, but none of that is actually being delivered today.

On gameplay and game identity I see little innovation. Classic design patterns were taken from WC3 and SC2 and fused into an uninteresting experience. Other games often take core RTS recipes and carve out their own identity. Supreme Commander focused on attrition and the frontline tug of war with a high volume of units. Spellforce infused RPG mechanics into the gameplay and had heroes progress with skill trees. I can't tell what next-gen innovation Stormgate is going for. Almost all mechanics are a lesser version of WC3 and SC2: you can find Zerg and Undead in the Infernal faction, but with diluted, low impact mechanics. See white health - an attempt to make another form of health like regen and shields feel unique and drive aspects of the faction around it. This feels too minor and just a thin veneer to allow the balance team to juggle numbers. It reminds me of how Dune or C&C factions were too similar with small tweaks in numbers and a handful of units. Faction asymmetry should be more extreme (see Grey Goo) and define game style more. Vanguard is just a more generic Terran/Human faction with upgrades and abilities that feel uninspiring. There's a certain numbness to the macro, creeps, and objectives. I feel like I'm playing an amateur mod of WC3. The factions have distinct features and artwork, but within each faction everything blends together.

On player control the game advertises itself as addressing beginner frustrations in classic RTS designs, while keeping competitive elements alive - I predict it will leave both core audiences unsatisfied. Hotkey control is now split between local infrastructure (rally points, placements) and global command cards. Streamlining UX order issuance to a global level instead of to individual structures was something other games have attempted, and I see Stormgate committing the same mistakes. It trades some hotkey complexity by introducing other forms of busy work and instead introduces layers of ambiguity and other micromanagement quirks. On top of that there is still plenty of complexity/ambiguity in managing rally points and building construction placements. Beginners will still struggle, whereas competitive players will have to adjust and learn to leverage the quirks. The QoL changes feel minor and make the game/UX feel outdated. Other UI elements like feedback (sounds, alerts, notifications, pings, etc.) in managing macro elements feel missing. Panning feels off. Zoom levels feel off. Spending time tinkering with the settings seems to barely alleviate overall clunkiness.

On design, animation, and other aspects that can be polished down the road - there is a monstrous amount of work. We're probably years from a full release. Take something simple like the Co-op heroes' global spells and compare them to SC2 commanders'. Several of the Vanguard spells are defensive, reactive, with low agency. In contrast SC2 commander global spells or respective unique abilities often dictate the strategy of the commander and are usually flashy, aggressive - they make you want to invest in exploring the meta progression of each ability further. All aspects of the game - campaign, coop, maps, lobbies, feel too anemic - there's so little substance here to build on.

Ask yourself what makes Stormgate leave its mark in the annals of great RTS games? I can't put my finger on anything specific. When you don't take any risks, you won't reap any rewards. I'll be back in a few years to check in again. Godspeed.

Cute, minimalistic rts with tower defense elements infused with skill trees and challenges to enable replayability. Fun in short doses to scratch the rts itch.

I applaud the effort. Looks like a single dev project with some interesting ideas. Good use of AI generated artwork (most likely Midjourney) to give the supply chain management context, character, and flavor.

To the developer:
The UI/UX needs more polish. I found myself often building the network backwards: starting from Revel and adding higher tiers first, then moving outwards to add the lower tier buildings to support the inner network. The UI doesn't make placing the supply chain in reverse order very easy. Following the tree when it branches out a lot to ensure I'm placing all the correct dependencies can get boggled down through the various menus.

Future projects should not only keep in mind the design and gameplay elements but attempt to predict and capture the common actions a player may want to do. Still overall interested in the next endeavor from this dev.

An excellent p&c experience - highly satisfying and atmospheric.

Finally a game to fuel my Jester addiction - never thought it would feel so good to get clowned on 10/10.