| The Great War: Western Front | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Petroglyph Games |
| Publisher(s) | Frontier Foundry |
| Designer(s) | Chris Becker |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | March 30, 2023 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy, turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The Great War: Western Front is a real-time strategy video game based on the First World War. Developed by Petroglyph Games and published by Frontier Foundry, the game was released in March 2023 for Windows PC.
Players can choose to play as either the Central Powers or the Allied Powers, with both having unique gameplay features and abilities. In the real-time strategy segments of the game, players can spend gold and supplies in order to construct an intricate network of trenches, machine gun nests, artillery batteries, and observation balloons in the set-up phase of each combat engagement. They can place different military units and battalions along the trench. Once a battle has started, improving defense or introducing more units to the battle will cost the player more supplies. A battalion can be commanded and traverse across the no man's land to attack an opponent's trenches. A successful attack allows players to claim ownership of that trench, allowing players to advance forward. [1] As the player progresses, they unlock weapons and technology such as tanks and chemical weapons. There are nine outcomes for each skirmish, ranging from great loss to great victory. [2] If the players fail to advance and has nearly used up most of their resources, they can negotiate for a ceasefire, while the defenders can surrender so as to preserve resources and preventing further casualties. [3]
Players can access a theatre map to view their progress in the overall war. Each region in the Western Front has a certain number of "stars", indicative of how defensible it is. Stars can only be removed from a region once the player has achieved a decisive victory over their opponents. Achieving a minor victory would not aid the player in capturing a region, but it will deplete their opponent's "national will". [4] A region regains its star in each turn if it has not been attacked, but the troops stationed there become fatigued. Players win by capturing all enemy capitals in the theatre map, or completely drain their opponents of their national will. If the player completely depletes their national will by taking heavy casualties in each skirmish, they will lose the game. [1]
The Great War: Western Front is developed by Petroglyph Games, which previously worked on Star Wars: Empire at War and Command & Conquer Remastered Collection . Petroglyph and publisher Frontier Foundry announced the game in August 2022. It was released on March 30, 2023, for Windows PC. [5]
Discussing the game's setting, lead designer Chris Becker described the First World War as "a war of attrition and a battle of inches". As a result, the team worked to ensure that the major goal for the player is to maintain their national will rather than winning each individual battle. Players must be cautious when making tactical decisions, as achieving a victory may comes with a significant drain of their faction's national will. [6] Petroglyph collaborated with Imperial War Museums to ensure that the game was authentic to its setting. According to the team, the game features a "persistent battlefield", as the actions of the players and the destruction caused by previous conflicts are visible when they revisit a battlefield. The in-game weather will change, affecting unit movement and artillery performance. [7] The team hoped that players will develop new strategies through familiarity with the maps, allowing them to achieve victory at a lower cost. [6]
The Great War: Western Front received "mixed or average reviews", according to the review aggregator Metacritic. [8]
Rock Paper Shotgun felt the game captured the atmosphere of the First World War, but criticized the user interface as clunky and difficult to use, leading to strategic missteps, "often I screamed aloud at my men to stay in the fucking trench". [9] PCGamesN praised the realism of the game, but wrote it could make the title frustrating to play, "Real-time battles most often result in frustrating stalemates that accomplish nothing beyond burning supplies and getting a lot of men killed". [10] Vice enjoyed the research and development metagame present in The Great War, "Naturally, the most tactically transformative technologies, like tanks, require a ton of points so they represent several turns' worth of investment, which has a huge opportunity cost".
Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to play. The term "real-time strategy" was coined by Brett Sperry to market Dune II in the early 1990s.
Command & Conquer (C&C) is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise, first developed by Westwood Studios. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself based on Westwood Studios' influential strategy game Dune II and introducing trademarks followed in the rest of the series. This includes full-motion video cutscenes with an ensemble cast to progress the story, as opposed to digitally in-game rendered cutscenes. Westwood Studios was taken over by Electronic Arts in 1998 and closed down in 2003. The studio and some of its members were absorbed into EA Los Angeles, which continued development on the series.
Tactical role-playing games, also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as simulation RPGs, are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical strategy video games. The formats of tactical RPGs are much like traditional tabletop role-playing games and strategy games in appearance, pacing, and rule structure. Likewise, early tabletop role-playing games are descended from skirmish wargames such as Chainmail, which were primarily concerned with combat.
Petroglyph Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Las Vegas. It was founded in 2003 by Joe Bostic, Michael Legg and Steve Tall, programmers formerly of Westwood Studios, after that company was closed down earlier that year.
Star Wars: Empire at War is a 2006 real-time strategy video game developed by Petroglyph Games and published by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Set between Episode III and Episode IV, it focuses on the fledgling struggle between the Empire and the Rebels. It uses Petroglyph's game engine Alamo. In October 2006, an expansion titled Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption was released. On May 31, 2014, online functionality, including network multiplayer and wireless chat, was discontinued after Glu Mobile's purchase of GameSpy and the subsequent shutdown of all game servers. As of September 1, 2017, the multiplayer has been re-enabled on the Steam version with Workshop support added.
Real-time tactics (RTT) is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time, simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics. It is differentiated from real-time strategy gameplay by the lack of classic resource micromanagement and base or unit building, as well as the greater importance of individual units and a focus on complex battlefield tactics.
Strategy is a major video game genre that emphasizes thinking and planning over direct instant action in order to achieve victory. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, as a genre, strategy games are most commonly defined as those with a primary focus on high-level strategy, logistics and resource management. They are also usually divided into two main sub-categories: turn-based and real-time, but there are also many strategy cross/sub-genres that feature additional elements such as tactics, diplomacy, economics and exploration.
Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 is a 2010 single player, real-time strategy video game developed by Ukrainian studio Graviteam and published by Paradox Interactive.
Hearts of Iron IV is a grand strategy computer wargame developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released worldwide on 6 June 2016. It is the sequel to 2009's Hearts of Iron III and the fourth main installment in the Hearts of Iron series. Like previous games in the series, Hearts of Iron IV is a grand strategy wargame that focuses on World War II. The player can control any country in the world, starting either in 1936 or 1939. Players have the option of following a nation's historical path, or leading a non-historical path.
Unity of Command (UoC) is a 2011 turn-based strategy game developed by one man studio 2x2 Games. Unity of Command is an operational-level wargame that spans the entire 1942/43 Stalingrad Campaign on the Eastern Front. Playable from both Axis and Soviet side, it recreates enormous battles of maneuver in a turn-based strategy setting.
8-Bit Armies is a real-time strategy video game developed by Petroglyph Games, which was released on April 22, 2016 for Microsoft Windows and for Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on 21 September 2018.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Paradox Interactive. Planetfall is the fifth Age of Wonders game and a spin-off due to the sci-fi setting. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2019 and later for MacOS.
Steel Division 2 is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Eugen Systems. Released worldwide on 20 June 2019, Steel Division 2, set during Operation Bagration, is the sequel to the 2017 game Steel Division: Normandy 44.
Humankind is a turn-based strategy 4X video game by Amplitude Studios and published by Sega. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Stadia in August 2021, and for macOS in November 2021. It received generally favorable reviews. It was scheduled to release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in November 2022 but was delayed indefinitely due to “unique porting challenges”, eventually releasing in August 2023.
Hell Let Loose is a 2019 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Expression Games and Cover 6 Studios and published by Team17. Players fight in iconic battles of the Western, North African and Eastern Fronts of World War II at the platoon level.
Total War: Warhammer III is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It is part of the Total War series, and the third to be set in Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe. The game was announced on 3 February 2021 and was released on 17 February 2022. It received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for the British Academy Games Award for British Game at the 19th British Academy Games Awards.
Crossfire: Legion is a real-time strategy video game developed by Blackbird Interactive and published by Prime Matter and Smilegate for Windows via early access on May 24, 2022 and in full on December 8, 2022. The game is a strategic take on the Crossfire first-person shooter series. In Crossfire: Legion, players take control over three different factions fighting each other in the near future. Each faction has unique commanders, infantry units, vehicles and airborne units; all of them are upgradeable and can use special abilities.
Company of Heroes 3 is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega for Windows. A sequel to Company of Heroes 2, the game features new mechanics and modes and is set in the Italian and North African theaters of World War II.
Möbius Front '83 is a computer wargame developed and published by Zachtronics. It was released in November 2020.
Cataclismo is an upcoming real-time strategy tower defense video game developed and published by Digital Sun. In the game, the player is tasked with collecting resources and constructing a stronghold using a building system inspired by Lego during daytime, while defending against large hordes of enemies at night. The game is set to be released in July 2024 for Windows PC.