Version as of time writing: v.1.56

State of the Game: Re-release thus marking it as Early Access

Disclaimer: The opinion in this post is highly personal, thus subjective. I always recommend checking the game for yourself, watching gameplay videos of it and the likes.

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While playing: I am in love with this game. Maybe it is the nostalgia, since i played this game a long time ago. I enjoy it even to this day! I’m thankful to the team for bringing back my ‘childhood’ to steam and even updating and working on it!

Plot: There is a story revolving around the four clans: 1. Wolf, 2. Dragon, 3. Lotus, 4. Rat Snake. You get put in different roles, depending on the mission and if it is the Winter of the Wolf DLC (put into this version) or not. I won’t spoil, but it’s just a pleasant story.

Dialogue: Story is transmitted through gameplay and talking between characters in small ‘cutscenes’. It’s a hardcoded dialogue, so don’t worry to make any wrong choices (looking at you Shepherd!)

Gameplay: You build your worker huts and get them to gather rice and water. Those are the two basic resources you need for everything. Then there is also your ‘manpower’ and ying-yang-points, as well as horses. Basically you build facilities, train units and destroy enemies.

Genre: RTS

Competition: Since Battle Realms was close to being forgotten, i would say there isn’t any immediate competition. If you want to look for some tho, just hit RTS into steam and look at what you’ll find.

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---{Graphics}---
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Pixelparty

Notes: Remember the first release date: 2001. Winter of the Wolf followed in the year after. It holds up for its generation.

Art Style: Alternative Timeline between Stone age and 1000 bc? Depends on the faction.

---{Animations and Effects}---
☐ So beautiful and realistic
☑ Great
☐ Decent
☐ Have seen better
☐ Kinda laggy, unpolished or a plain hindrance
☐ No animations or effects would have done a better job

---{Audio}---
☐ Better than reality / Made me dance
☐ Very good / I want to hear more
☑ Good / accompanies the environment and action well
☐ Decent. Didn’t kill me but could have been better
☐ Bad
☐ I died. Autistic screeching = game sound.

Notes: Accentuates the environment and fights very well. The audio variance isn’t that big or uber clear on the ears, but also no earr*pe. For the time it was released, it is very well manufactured.

---{Difficulity}---
☐ 1-Click-Pony
☐ Easy
☑ Medium (have to use your brain)
☐ Hard (difficult to master)
☐ Really Hard
☐ Dark Souls (get gud)
☐ Hell

Notes: It was easier back in the days. With the re-release, you get new mechanics added by the team, which heightens the complexion of the fights and stops you from just zerging your way with one type of unit.

---{Gameplay Loop / Grind}---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Leaderboards / Achievement hunters / Ranklords
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ Use all of your spare time
☐ Give up on Job, Family, Friends, Pets, Kids and Future

---{Story}---
☐ Story go boom. No seriously. Nothing here.
☐ Floating Text and Audio signals. Nothing more, nothing less.
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely crafted. Love for detail is seen.
☐ Impressively Immersive. I AM THE HERO or VILLAIN!

---{Average Round Length}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee (~5 Minutes)
☐ Short (7-8 Minutes)
☐ Average (10-15 Minutes)
☐ Long (16-30 Minutes)
☑ What is time to you? (31+ Minutes)
☐ To dust (1– 3 hours)

---{Average Game Time}---
☐ Too Short (1-2 hours)
☐ Quite Short (3-4 hours)
☐ Getting there (5-6 hours)
☑ Just fine (7-8 hours)
☐ Well done (9-10 hours)
☐ Don’t pressure me (11-20 hours)
☐ Holy F*ck there is so much to do (21+ hours)
☐ ROME WAS BUILD FASTER (35+ hours)

---{Bugs}---
☑ Never heard of any
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ It’s a mystery why this game is running
☐ It doesn’t run
☐ (Only in MP) Very much exploitable

---{Price}---
☐ It’s free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ Worth but wait for a discount
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money or donate it to me

---{Replay value}---
☑ YES! ALWAYS!
☑ Campaign / Story around three times
☐ Two times is okay
☐ Just once
☐ Not even once
☐ OH GOD WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS

Summary: I am in love anew. Thanks for bringing this gem back. Yes this review is highly subjective by nostalgia, but even if you leave that aside, it’s a solid game with interesting story and mechanics. New people can also get in since you only need too resources and have a high variation of units for each aspect of the game.

Final verdict: Nostalgic wet dream. Would howl again (9/10)