War Crime Simulator

Wasn't motivated to enter in a review for this game as it felt it would be wasted time but the recent Survey they put out and the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ character limit they included pissed me off enough to finally pull the trigger.

First off the good: The strategic level is amazing. The fame star system, the limit on science and the various other mechanics that affect the strategic layer are fantastic - providing great replay value and enough juice to keep you interested by the potential that game seems to incorporate into everything.

However, after the first couple of games you start to notice things - the AI magically moving armies the instant your army enters an adjacent cell; taking over a city but the user interface is so confusing that it doesn't permit you to raze it but instead forces you to vassalize which they break the subsequent turn.

And that's when you realize that all the work that went into the strategic layer, the tactical layer seems like the biggest waste of time and an afterthought add that realistically ruins the game. The above last minute army move means that you are constantly getting caught out of place; the starting battle UI requires you to to select a DIFFERENT TAB in order to see both the opposing army and any reinforcements they are bringing. Terrain is so vaguely designed that terrain obstacles look like gentle slopes; what looks like a good valley to fight in transforms into you being stuck behind a cliff while the AI rains arrows down from a position that isn't viewable in frustration distilled. The entire combat system is a poor man's chess moves.

It hurts me to be this harsh but considering the work that went into making the strategic layer fun and exciting the tactical layer seems designed for auto resolve - EXCEPT THE AUTO RESOLVE MAKES NO SENSE EITHER. The requirement for success being the tactical layer which is a piece of garbage that you are forced to endure to succeed pretty much brought me to the point where I stopped playing.

Now you could say that I'm inexperienced with Ampitude Studio games but I own a ton of them. Endless Legend, Endless Space, both are great favorites to me - Endless Space being competitive with Stellaris for best 4x.

I'm going to close this out with the game had a ton of potential - the tactical design team should be tarred and feathered for ruining a game that had the potential to unseat Civilization.

An amazingly fun yet deep strategic layer combined with some fun arcade style shooting makes High Fleet a game I highly recommend. Great details has been placed into the animations and sounds; shooting automatic cannons has never been more fun or rewarding!

I feel like this game is the spiritual successor for a game called Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. So much of how this works reminds me of it but in this more streamlined - modern sense. It's perfect. You can play this game fast or slow and there's no recriminations or judgement from the game regarding how you play. Playstyle changes based on your class selection but there's so much sub class choice that you never really notice - save when your style is against what you've chosen. It shouldn't matter, but what if I don't want to use SMGs as an Techie? All in all though, it's a beautiful game, excellent in these modern times when you need a distraction for 15 mins but at the same time something you can just leave as is and resume whenever. +++ from me - but if the devs are listening please subclass weapons as well

Bought this game last week - I've spent around 51 hours in at the time of posting this comment. First thing I'm going to say is the game is buggy - it's difficult to pick up items sometimes, I've fallen through the floor and died randomly and been frustrated at several points which I was expecting considering the state of the game.

I do not recommend buying the game at this time but I would like to state that this game is definitely worth keeping in your scope and picking up once they've ironed out all the problems. The game is a real diamond, obscured by technical rocks that blur and blind people to the potential of the game itself. And they aren't wrong - this game was overhyped by their marketing people and should have redone the entire strategy considering how much they promised versus what was actually delivered. But it has value worth witnessing. It has like Dragon Age 1 level of inter character development for the characters available and that is probably the best praise I could ever give.

In closing - I have 51 hours in after a week and I'm having to slow myself down so I don't burn through the game too fast. Also LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK ON SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC. It's amazing and totally worth it.

For the record:
Turn based strategy veteran; 19 hours into the game.

I've been a warhammer fan for years; never played the actual tabletop game because I like having money but I've sunk a decent amount of cash into the various games over the years and I found that Mechanicus satisfied my name for an accurate portrayal of the franchise in a way that stays true to the grimdark theme and nature of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Gameplay wise it could be harder - I'm playing at the basic level and I'm breaking through most combat with minimal damage and zero casualities. But what draws me to Mechanicus is what draws people to the franchise - it's very dark theme of a future mankind that knows only war.

Through the interactions with the council you draw missions to enter the tombs/dungeons of the planet determined to end the machinations of the Necrons through faith, prayer and flame. You draw up your cohort and do battle against the legions vast to find artifacts, endure waves of enemies and perform countless minor tasks that could make or break your end goal - completing the mission.

During this viscous time you are surrounding by that grim dark future - the rough metal voices bark affirmation or dissention from the council, the blasts of energy weapons and ballistics accompany the shrieking yells of axe blows and claw strikes. A heavy chant fills your speakers as the melodious sounds of a gothic chant mingled with techno accents the tactical map as you arrange your team to combat a very hostile enemy arrayed around you.

This is why you are going to buy this game folks. There are more challenging games out there, sure. But this game is the WH40k universe in a living, breathing dream.

Beautiful. An all around great experience, with a fantastic story and interesting and challenging tactical systems to keep you working hard to advance to the next level.

Wasn't really sure what to expect but it looked enjoyable. When I started the game what I discovered was an amazingly peaceful and soothing game. It's great visuals and audio experience lent towards a immersive artistic journey that I wish went on forever. Well worth the time.