This isn’t a Game of the Year article, but it could be: from its earliest iteration in Early Access, to its full release now, Against the Storm has become one of my all-time favourites. There are so many points where the concept of a roguelike city builder could wear out – it evades them all with endless, surprising depths. It has become my first choice of what to play when I feel like just playing a game, and despite the time I’ve poured into it, I’m still – with joyful frustration – learning new things about it.
Against the Storm reviewDeveloper: Eremite GamesPublisher: Hooded HorsePlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on PC (Steam, Epic, GOG)
The premise sees you establishing a series of settlements across the map, your attempts lasting as long as it takes each settlement to either become successful, or for the ominous Scorched Queen to lose her patience and deem the settlement lost. You win a settlement when you have a certain number of reputation points – each point gained removing an impatience one – while the impatience gained slowly over time, and rapidly ticked up when settlers leave or die, means you don’t get stuck in a settlement that just won’t take. Either way, mine tend to be resolved within an hour or two – just long enough for a single evening session.
Its elevator pitch is an enticing one: a city builder without any slog, where you don’t wear out your tried-and-tested strategies, where each session is as new and exciting as the one before. It’s a delight to learn that Against the Storm really is all those things – but after spending the better part of a year on it, it feels almost deceptive to say ‘this is what Against the Storm is’. There’s just so much more to it, offering endless depth and complexity – if you want it.
In the beginning, it feels like your only job is to try to survive in the face of chaos. You gain reputation by filling orders, completing glade events or keeping your settlers happy – but these all require resources that there’s simply no guarantee you’ll have, or have the ability to craft. Complicated resource pipelines aren’t new to city builders, of course, but randomness plays an enormous factor in Against the Storm, particularly in its journey from ‘easy to learn’ to ‘difficult to master’.