Recent reviews by WDI

A modern revisit on the Catacomb Abyss games of old. It is a fun blast from the past!

Just an awesome game!

AI still as bad as before.

Another pretty but shallow Warhammer game

Multiplayer is not in a great state with balance completely out of whack. Once you understand the mechanics (which are needlessly convoluted) the best path to build is really obvious. Complexity is not depth.

Also not having a replay system for a 2019 RTS is just not responsible.

Not interested in single player so havent checked it out.

• Single player ( Campaign )
  
  Campaign is really like TW Warhammer 1 with some added quirks. The fact that you dont need to autoresolve your way to world domination is appreciated and much needed. The world in itself is large and varied providing a nice change from Warhammer 1.
  
  It is hindered by a clunky interface which constantly frustrates the player. Everything is slow: moving an army, recruiting reinforcements, building a province, waiting during turns. And when you are done waiting you have the advisor blabbing in your ears or a warning of a skink engineer sabotaging some walls in the middle of nowhere for 20 turns straight.
  
  Game mechanics wise, this game is quite old. There are a number of mechanics to hinder player expansion (mainly unrest/warbands; skavens have food to limit them). Armies have an incredible high upkeep: having 2 full high tier armies with 4 provinces is quite a challenge. There are no strategic decisions to make in building either. Everything is simple; put the tier 3-5 buildings in province capitals, the rest is gold+growth+walls.
  
  Next to that, AI players are literally playing a game on their own, with seemingly unlimited funds or disreguard to unrest. I especially like seeing a 1 province high elf AI player fielding a full high tier army while I was stuggling to maintain 1 and a half. I dont mind seeing AI cheating or having bonuses, but at least they could have done it more elegantly. This is Civ6 level of cheating.
  
  Which is a shame as the battles are really good; well at least some of them. When you got to the point where you can take down fortified settlements, then it becomes a chore. Autoresolve dont give you good results so you are forced to chain siege battles, which make the battles quite irritating.
  
  
• Single player ( Battles )
  
  Battles are really the best selling point of Warhammer2. The 4 races really shine on the battlefield with some impressive monsters ( phoenixes, abominations ). In single player you can slow down time to have some impressive view of the battle field.
  
  As with previous TW game the interface is a total mess. Units are barely controllable; for instance if you have a group of 3 ranged units and you want to focus fire a target and group mode is up, each unit will target a different unit for no reason. You have to remove group mode ( which removes the control group ) and issue the aim order again. Shift+right click drag mode is a really neat addition which I would like to see in other RTS/strategy game.
  
  When viewing the battlefield from above it starts to get messy with no real usefull information communicated to the player. You cant distinguish infantry units from up high, and losing sight of your leader is a common problem. There are some usefull information on the unit card in itself but again not on the main view. The "strategic" view (TAB) is completely useless.
  
  
• Multiplayer
  
  I didnt expect much as it is basically the same as Warhammer1; i am sure we will see some cool mods eventually but for now ranked is in the same state. As they are no constraints on the number of elite units you can take in your army, it just becomes a massive cheese fest where the real strategy is trying to anticipate what flavor of cheese yourr opponent likes and trying to counter it during your army construction phase. Did I say cheees enough? It is not the game for RTS players.
  
  I havent experienced some real balance breaking bugs/units, but knowing CA i am sure there are some hidden somewhere.

Ruse was innovative for its time, and the first Wargame (European Escalation) had glimpses of greatness despite its flaws. Back to the third installment Wargame: Red Dragon is just dull and dry. There are more thoughtful strategic games out there (even if they are less pretty) and more exciting tactical ones.

I will revisit this review when this game is out of beta, hoping new maps and contents can shake things up.

An under rated game. Definitively worth it for turn based strategists.

Flee. Ubisoft is happily ruining another franchise