Against the Storm. RNG Builder

[Kaamos_Llama]

Against the Storm on Steam

A dark fantasy city builder where you must rebuild civilization in the face of apocalyptic rains. As the Queen’s Viceroy, lead humans, beavers, lizards, foxes, and harpies to reclaim the wilderness and secure a future for civilization's last survivors.

store.steampowered.com

Against the Storm review

Building doomed cities and loving it.

www.pcgamer.com

The basic idea baked into a city builder is that I'm creating something to last. Every street, every house, every decoration is placed with care to craft cozy neighborhoods and shopping areas where people will live and thrive, theoretically forever. So when Against the Storm presented me with the premise that each of my handmade habitats would be wiped away by a terrible tempest as part of an unavoidable, cataclysmic cycle, I wasn't sure how to feel about it. But what has revealed itself in the puddles left over when the clouds clear is one of the most clever, engaging, and endearing strategy games I've played in years.

Against the Storm

Banished meets Slay the Spire. Against the Storm is a roguelite city builder set in a fantasy world where it never stops raining. You are the Queen's viceroy - a pioneer sent into the wilds to establish and manage new settlements inhabited by beavers, lizards, and humans. Your goal is to...

www.metacritic.com

Eremite Games - Forging strategy games set in uncharted worlds

Creators of Against the Storm roguelite city builder and Shattered Plane turn-based strategy game - fantasy games set in unique worlds.

eremitegames.com

Its also (17/01/2024) on Gamepass if youre on the fence about it.

I've talked about this game a little elsewhere on the forum, but I like it so much I thought I'd make a thread. Currently almost 40 hours in and its still introducing mechanics that force different approaches. Every map has so many randomly generated factors involved that you just have to roll with the punches if you dont happen to roll the right buildings or find the right resource nodes. After about 15 maps I havent had 2 play the same.

It must be incredibly hard to make a game with so much RNG involved that works every time, especially over two layers. I'm a little in awe of the amount of moving parts that all fit together so well. Anyone else out there playing it?

 

[neogunhero]

I’ve definitely had my eye on this on GP. Will give it a try eventually.

 

[Pifanjr]

This sounds perfect for me. I like the idea of city builders, but most of them have no goals beyond just expanding, which usually isn't enough to keep me engaged for very long.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I’ve definitely had my eye on this on GP. Will give it a try eventually.

I played a few hours on Gamepass and saw it on sale over Xmas. Currently sitting at 50 hours total, so no complaints for €20 even if I got bored now.

This sounds perfect for me. I like the idea of city builders, but most of them have no goals beyond just expanding, which usually isn't enough to keep me engaged for very long.

I'd say its channeling Settlers 2, closest thing I can think of. There are levels with limited resources that you have to harvest or mine and continually expand your borders or you run out. Theres no combat or other factions, at least not for me yet. There are farms and other buildings that create resources, but you might not always have access to them.

Its very gamified with the way things work if that sort of thing annoys.

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I'm on my way to my third seal, but I decided to try and go for a second Lead one as I mistakenly thought it would give me more time to try for a higher level one. Turns out once you complete the first of any seal any more dont extend the storm cycle, although they do give you a resource bonus from future campaigns towards upgrading the city, which is the rogue like part giving you bonuses in the levels.

Its worked perfectly for me to up the difficulty both times I finished a seal. Upgrading the capital makes things progressively slightly easier by speeding up villagers and giving you more blueprints to start out with. At veteran level you start to get Blight Rot, another new mechanic to deal with. Its really good at drip feeding the mechanics, although I think I may be dealing with the full game now, only took 50 hours!

One thing to note, I played 3 hours or so on Gamepass and bought it, the save carried over without me having to do anything which was nice.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Another day another way the game forced me to play in a way I hadnt before. Just finished the Silver seal with a map modifier causing added forest hostility for every 10 trees cut down which would have killed resolve. Had to limit my wood cutting which is what I've always leaned on for fuel, rolled a Kiln early to convert wood to more efficient coal, and also luckily found large deposits of Sea Marrow to fuel my hearths while I scrubbed up the resources to fix the seal.

On to Viceroy difficulty and the Gold Seal.