Summary
Settings of all kinds can be perfectly suitable as they are, whether they be a tame fantastical woodland or a typical city. However, these environments can sometimes blur and become nothing more than a necessary background. Harsher environments,such as desertsor frozen wastelands, can offer a more immersive and tactile setting for players, grounding the overall experience.
World War 2, for example, can immediately settle a player into the experience when handled tastefully. However, WW2 as a setting can, more recently, feel a little stale due to how often it tends to be used. In the spirit of variety, these games all feature more original settings that are relatively far from reality.
This story-driven,relatively linear RPGfeatures strategic turn-based combat and a beautifully-realized post-apocalyptic setting. The game takes place on a “post-human Earth” inhabited by Mutants, who also double as the game’s protagonists.
Throughout the game, players adventure across a variety of overgrown urban environments and woodlands, competing with a cast of challenging enemies and slowly discovering more about the game’s post-apocalyptic world. Combat is turn-based and tactical, but players can use stealth mechanics to set up the perfect ambush beforehand, adding an extra layer of strategy to the experience.
Relic Entertainment’sDawn Of Waris perhaps one of the studio’s best games to date. Set in the deep and storied world ofWarhammer 40,000,Dawn Of Waris a real-time strategy game that makes full use of its source material. The variety of factions to play and immersive campaigns, heightened by talented voice acting, are particular stand-outs.
Dawn Of Waralso features a squad-based system that offers a unique gameplay style, making it a distinctive experience for both beginners and veterans of the real-time strategy genre.Winter Assaultwas an expansion toDawn Of Warthat added a variety of story missions set in the harsh and snowy environments of Lorn V, an ice world.
Darkest Dungeonis a tacticalturn-based strategy gamethat revolves around managing a party of four heroes in a class-based RPG system, battling through a variety of unforgiving dungeons in a brutally unforgiving rogue-like structure. The game features a stark, Gothic, hand-drawn art-style that perfectly encapsulates its brutal gameplay, painting a vivid picture of its harsh world.
The ever-dwindling light of the torch must constantly be cared for, as to not fall into complete, panic-inducing darkness, and keeping the dungeon illuminated is just one of the many things that players must manage. Stress, environmental hazards, and the vicious, Lovecraft-inspired enemies themselves bring a constant sense of dread to the overall experience.
Desperation, violence, and strategic combat are plentiful in the post-apocalyptic, frozen-over world ofWasteland 3,a deep CRPGwith a variety of endings. The dark, chilly environments are dense with atmosphere, offering up a beautifully realized depiction of a frozen Colorado.
Each violent encounter inWasteland 3’sharsh, icy world is played out with tactical turn-based combat. The squad-based mechanics, alternate endings, and colorful characters are all great strengths ofWasteland 3, but its evocative, freezing Colorado setting is one of its most prominent features.
Complete and utter freedom isKenshi’sgreatest promise, one that it fulfills by plonking players down in the middle of a harsh and unforgiving desert wasteland withlittle to no guidance. Players are fragile inKenshi, and anything can kill them in its take-no-prisoners world. Actually, that’s somewhat inaccurate, as players can and will often be taken prisoner and enslaved by one of the game’s most infamous factions.
Players can approachKenshifrom all manner of directions, and the game allows players to explore and interact with its world freely. Base-building, stealth, trading, and simply exploring are all par for the course inKenshi. The strategy comes along with the game’s squad-based mechanics and real-time-with-pause combat in which players micromanage multiple units at a time in encounters that can vary drastically in scale.
Taking place on the sparkling, melange-dusted sands of Arrakis (otherwise known as Dune),Dune: Spice Warsis a real-time4X strategy gamethat makes the best of its evocative science-fiction setting. From the variety of playable factions, each featuring their own thematic strengths and weaknesses, to the inclusion of spice harvesting and the iconic sandworms,Dune: Spice Warsis a tremendously immersive experience that’s perfect for fans of the classic novels.
The multitude of victory conditions and myriad paths to each of them is one ofDune: Spice Wars’most notable features. Meanwhile, the brilliant faction variety and the diversity of gameplay options within each of their tool-sets gives the game its replay value. It’s no surprise thatDune: Spice Warsis, like the “spice melange” of its source material, massively addictive, especially once players have learned its intricacies.Dune: Spice Warswas developed by Shiro Games, developers of the Norse-inspired strategy game,Northgard.Their aptitude for design is on full display here.
