| Against the Storm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Eremite Games |
| Publisher(s) | Hooded Horse |
| Engine | Unity [1] |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | City-building |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Against the Storm is a 2023 city-building video game developed by Eremite Games and published by Hooded Horse. Unlike traditional city-building games, it incorporates elements of roguelike games and has a short playtime with goals players must achieve.
The game is set in a fantasy world eternally ravaged by the "Blightstorm". The only safe haven in this world is the Smoldering City, ruled by the Scorched Queen. Occasionally, the storm subsides and the Scorched Queen sends her viceroys to establish settlements with the purpose of gathering supplies for the Smoldering City until the Blightstorm hits again, destroying all settlements in the process.
When the storm subsides, players are tasked with building villages around the Smoldering City. These villages attempt to push back the forest that corrupts anything in it. Players must gather resources from the forest and craft them into goods, such as food and fuel. The maps, resources, population, and available buildings are all procedurally generated. Each village is given tasks it must complete, which can be complicated by the lack of easy access to required resources. Unhappy villagers may abandon the village. If players maintain villagers' happiness and complete the tasks, they gain reputation. Reputation must reach a certain point before time runs out, and the Queen recalls players to her city. Like modern roguelite games, players retain unlocked abilities, which can be used to make building the next village easier. Once several villages have been built, the forest destroys them, and a new map is generated. [2]
Against the Storm was initially released on early access in October 2021. [3] Publisher Hooded Horse released Against the Storm for Windows on December 8, 2023. [4]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 91/100 [5] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Eurogamer |  [6] |
| PC Gamer (US) | 91/100 [7] |
| PCGamesN | 9/10 [8] |
Against the Storm received "universal acclaim" on Metacritic. [5] The game won Best Design at the Taipei Game Show 2024 [9] and was nominated for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year at the 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. [10] The game had sold over a million copies on Steam as of May, 2024. [11] [12] [13]
Eurogamer gave the game a perfect score and described it as a "rare gem" and "one of the most novel and well-crafted city builders". [6] PC Gamer described the game as "one of the most clever, engaging, and endearing strategy games", and particularly liked how the game's premise upended traditional genre tropes for a city-building game. [7] PCGamesN said it has "a brilliant mix of roguelike, strategy, and small-scale city building". [8]
Rock Paper Shotgun praised its combination of city-building and roguelite elements, which they found surprisingly compatible. They also enjoyed how the cities have definite goals for success and a brief playing time of about an hour, unlike traditional city-building games. They concluded that it is "one of this year’s best" and designated it a "Bestest Best". [2] Ars Technica likened it to a "rogue-ultralite" for its coziness and praised the depth, strategic options, and replayability. [14] Sports Illustrated praised what they felt was "a unique blend of genres" and said it condenses the best parts of city-building games into a short and addictive experience. [15]
Europa Universalis IV is a 2013 grand strategy video game in the Europa Universalis series, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to Europa Universalis III (2007). The game was released on 13 August 2013 for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It is a strategy game where players can control a nation from the Late Middle Ages following the Battle of Varna (1444), the final crusade, to the Napoleonic era with the timeline finishing on 2 January 1821 to coincide with the death of Napoleon on 5 May 1821. Players navigate their nations with conducting trade, administration, diplomacy, colonization, and warfare.
Stellaris is a 4X grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. In Stellaris, players take control of an interstellar civilization on the galactic stage and are tasked with exploring, colonizing, and managing their region of the galaxy, encountering other civilizations that they can then engage in diplomacy, trade, or warfare with. A large part of the game involves dealing with both scripted and emergent events, through which new empires alter the balance of power, powerful crises threaten the galaxy, or event chains tell the story of forgotten empires. It was released worldwide for Windows, macOS, and Linux on May 9, 2016, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as Stellaris: Console Edition on February 26, 2019.
Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The mobile and Nintendo Switch port was published by Aspyr Media. The latest entry into the Civilization series, it was released on Windows and macOS in October 2016, with later ports for Linux in February 2017, iOS in December 2017, Nintendo Switch in November 2018, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2019, and Android in 2020.
Risk of Rain 2 is a roguelike third-person shooter developed by Hopoo Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. A sequel to 2013's Risk of Rain, it was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2019 before fully releasing in August 2020 with a release for Stadia coming a month later.
Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building game developed by the American indie studio Mega Crit and published by Humble Bundle. The game was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in late 2017, with an official release in January 2019. It was released for PlayStation 4 in May 2019, for Nintendo Switch in June 2019 and for Xbox One in August 2019. An iOS version was released in June 2020, with an Android version released in February 2021.
Frostpunk is a city-building survival game developed and published by 11 bit studios. Players take on the role of a leader in an alternate history late 19th century, in which they must build and maintain a city during a worldwide volcanic winter, managing resources, making choices on how to survive, and exploring the area outside their city for survivors, resources, or other useful items. The game features several scenarios to undertake, each with their own stories and different challenges.
Streets of Rogue is a roguelite video game developed by Matt Dabrowski and published by tinyBuild for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It was initially launched in early access during 2017, and was fully released on July 12, 2019.
A roguelike deck-building game is a hybrid genre of video games that combines the nature of deck-building card games with procedural-generated randomness from roguelike games.
Noita is a platform roguelike game developed by Nolla Games. Players control a witch that can collect and cast spells in order to defeat enemies named after Finnish mythological creatures. The main game leads the player down a cave ending in a boss fight, although the game contains much more secret and supplementary content. It was released in early access for Microsoft Windows on 24 September 2019. Noita left early access as the 1.0 version was released on 15 October 2020.
Dorfromantik is a strategy-puzzle video game developed and published by Toukana Interactive. In the game, players place hexagonal tiles of various biomes to create an idyllic landscape. The game was released in March 2021 for Windows via early access and had its full release on April 28, 2022. A version for Nintendo Switch was released on September 29, 2022.
The Persistence is a survival horror video game developed and published by Firesprite. Originally released for the virtual reality headset PlayStation VR in July 2018, the game was released for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One in May 2020. An Enhanced version of the game was released for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S in June 2021.
Star Renegades is a tactical role-playing game developed by Massive Damage and published in 2020 by Raw Fury. It combines influences from JRPGs and roguelite games.
Tainted Grail: Conquest is a roguelike deck-building game developed by Questline and published in 2021 by Awaken Realms. Players control an adventurer who attempts to stop a curse that is infecting their land.
Stacklands is a card-based Construction and management simulation video game developed and published by indie developer Sokpop Collective. It was released for Microsoft Windows and macOS on 31 March 2022. In this game, the player stacks cards to craft resources, build structures, and fight creatures.
Aquatico is an underwater city-building video game released on January 12, 2023, and developed by Digital Reef Games and published by Overseer Games.
Brotato is a 2023 top-down arena shooter roguelite video game created by French independent developer Thomas Gervraud under the studio name Blobfish. It was first released via Steam early access in 2022, during which it sold over one million copies. Brotato received positive reviews from critics and players, and it was later ported to multiple platforms.
Cobalt Core is a sci-fi roguelike deck-building game released in November 2023 for Nintendo Switch and Windows, developed by Rocket Rat Games and published by Brace Yourself Games. It follows a group of anthropomorphic animals trapped in a time loop, fighting various enemy spacecrafts in an attempt to discover the origin of the loop and escape it.
Infection Free Zone is a post-apocalyptic survival city-building game developed by Jutsu Games and published by Games Operators for Windows. It was released for early access on April 11, 2024.
