Smackin' Demons in the new DOOM Trailer!

I've been spending ALL my gaming time re-playing Against the Storm (my favorite modern strategy game) and checking out some of the features in the "Keepers of the Stone" DLC that I purchased in a sale awhile back.  The major highlight of the DLC is the addition of a new race, the frogs.  The frogs have talents that are geared toward stonecutting and rainwater-based activities.  They are heartier than the obnoxiously weak harpies and their one annoying trait is that they will not live in basic shelter and require frog housing (which requires 4 bricks, so not too expensive as race-specific housing goes).  There are also new special map encounters and zone types.  The coastal grove map features a fun strider port where you can periodically send workers out on special expeditions (which require food for both the strider and the workers) to search for blueprints or crates of goods that range in rarity.  There's also the ashen forest which is geared toward mining and offers up a unique building where you can use a special currency that's rewarded for mining a certain amount of ore.  Using these "thundershards," you can combine two variables (and one penalty that slightly increases the perk) to create a new cornerstone ability--it could be something like for every 4 human villagers increase boot production by 2.  Like pretty much everything in the game, variables change and the quality of your crafted perks can be great or very meh.  I'd recommend checking out the DLC if you haven't (*there were some early gripes about the amount of content in the DLC and it was fleshed out quite a bit and I've found it to be worth the price--plus, I got it on sale).

In smokin' hot news, a new trailer for the upcoming DOOM: The Dark Ages dropped yesterday.  There's plenty of demon smacking and rip/tearing to make every DOOM enthusiast feel a glimmer of demon-slaying lust.  It looks like there are a greater variety of melee tools to increase the amount of hand-to-hand demon punching that you will get to experience.  And, of course, there's even more of the giant robot action that was premiered in the original trailer.  Take a gander at the new trailer:

Unfortunately I will not be playing it because ye olde PC is too long in the tooth to meet the requirements.  I look forward to rip/tearing and punching demons with a fancy shield in the future.  

2024 Gaming Year in Review

I'm a few days late to the typical end of the year reflection posts, but I figured I'd post my Steam Year in Review and do some reflecting/looking forward to 2025 in gaming.  I have sort of a love/hate relationship with the end of the year summation posts/features.  My Spotify Wrapped actually turned out to be semi-normal this year despite the fact that quite a bit of my use is to put on lo-fi/instrumental background music in my classroom.  I know that many parents typically gripe that their Spotify Wrapped is not a good reflection because their kids like to listen to Disney songs on loop.  No one else uses my Steam account, so it's a true reflection of what I played.  Here's the link: Elore_07's Year in Review.

My #1 was a tie between the amazing Against the Storm (a strategy game with some new/intriguing gameplay features that make it different than your 4X or RTS games--you can read my full review here) and my personal favorite silly management game Two Point Hospital.  I generally lean toward RPG's so this was a departure from my general preferences.  I guess I just like managing things.

Unsurprisingly, I was below the average of 15% playtime in "new" titles.  Yeah, I just don't play a ton of "new" games--that's doubly true of triple A's.  I just don't feel like shelling out $70 to play the latest and greatest--if I do truly want to play a new title, I'll wait a few months until the bugs/issues get ironed out and it eventually goes on sale.  This is apparently a bit of a trend--the New York Times wrote an article (you can watch the video here) about how uber-graphics is turning into an expensive and unsustainable aspect of gaming.  I think most gamers just can't afford all the latest and greatest and that gaming (if your goal is to play the newest titles) is an expensive hobby.  Even if you're on console, which is arguably cheaper (*let me stress arguably) than PC gaming, you're going to need a newer console that will probably run you over $500 (plus the cost of games, controllers, etc.).  As my titles show, I (and I think many other gamers) would prefer to re-play the games I enjoy.  I added the "Phantom Liberty" DLC to Cyberpunk 2077 and spent time re-experiencing/experiencing it; I decided to revisit Fallout 4 (because have I really seen everything it has to offer?); I re-played the Ori games because it had been a minute.  Generally, if I am going to buy something "new" it's more likely to be an indie like Balatro.  I would agree with the New York Times reporter--I'd rather a game be enjoyable and something that I want to play than it have the most amazing graphics.

Looking Forward to 2025

There's also plenty in gaming to be looking forward to.  The biggest hubbub in gaming seems to be around the 2025 release of Grand Theft Auto VI.  I'm a GTA fan and have played every game since the PlayStation original (which I only slightly played on my brothers PS).  I don't think PC gamers have much to look forward to on the GTA front--Rockstar has said nothing about a PC version at release and their typical pattern is to release on consoles first and then eventually release a PC version.  I think we could be in for the long haul on that front.  I'll do my best to avoid spoilers and hope that it's not a 5 or 6 year wait.

I was pleasantly surprised by the release of The Witcher IV trailer last month--it sort of seemed to come out of the blue--all I had seen prior to it were vague articles about how it was in full production.  There's a 2025 date at the end of the video, but I don't have high hopes there either.  CD Projekt has a history of delaying full releases (*I mean...most of the time, when they should, with the glaring exception of Cyberpunk) and making a credible effort at releasing games in a mostly good state.  So, I don't expect to see it next year either.  There's already been some typical online grousing about the fact that Ciri is the protagonist in the upcoming game.  It makes me l-o-l a bit because when The Witcher 3 ended there seemed to be a lot of players stating that they thought the next game should feature Ciri.  Sure, there are some legitimate lore/story road bumps to navigate, but her being the next protagonist feels like a good choice to me.  We've had three games of Geralt, so it's time for something new (it seems like a lot of games do three games and then switch main characters) and Ciri's abilities and story offers up the chance to give it a bit of new life.  I do expect to see CD Projekt sprinkling out more gameplay/trailer tidbits throughout the year to keep us interested.

On the hardware front, the 5000 series cards from NVIDIA will undoubtedly drop at some point.  Personally, I'm not in the market for a graphics card that will likely cost well over $1k at the low end and $2k on the high.  I'm curious at whether the prices of 4000 series cards will drop though.  I've been slightly thinking about a new build and it would be nice to see lower GPU prices (and, I'm mildly contemplating an AMD card--I ran nothing but AMD GPU's prior to my current NVIDIA GPU and had a mostly good experience.  I also think ray tracing is a bit overrated and not worth the cost/hype.  Plus, it seems like higher VRAM is becoming more important and NVIDIA GPU's are a bit lacking in that department).

One game I am hyped for is Two Point Museum.  The Two Point games are a personal favorite of mine and I love the relaxing, silly, but fun to play vibes.  There's a March release date and I'm very much looking forward to having it be the top game on my 2025 Year in Review.

Happy New Year to my fellow gamers!  I hope you find something you love to play in 2025 whether that's an indie or a fancy schmancy triple A title.

It Finally Happened!

That's right, I finally did it!  After two failed attempts at the closing the gold seal in Against the Storm, I finally managed to get the lil' mofo done.  (*If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I would refer you to the following--my review of the game Against the Storm and multiple running entries about my life goal of completing the gold seal--all are past entries of this very blog, so scrolleth forth) It was a moment of great triumph...and then the soul crushing reality of that "what now?" feeling.  For now, bask in the glory of my screenshot of the moment I managed to finish the final task to close the seal.

My moment of triumph!

If you haven't done it yet, I would highly recommend grabbing Against the Storm in the current Spring Sale on Steam (it's currently $19.49 which is a great price for a solid game).  Now I've got to figure out what's next in my gaming journey.  Do I try to go for the prestige 5 goal and the next seal in Against the Storm?  Honestly, I think I need a little break from it, so I think I'll shelve that one for now.  Since there is currently a sale on and I get paid in a few days, I've been eyeballing some of the deals.

Do I finally grab the Phantom Liberty DLC for CyberPunk 2077?  I have yet to play it and heard mostly positive things about it.  I'm not sure the $4 price cut is enough for my cheap self though and I generally like to play the big RPG's in one go over the summer.

Another game that I haven't given much thought to is Diablo IV which is currently 50% off ($35).  I played a bit of Diablo III back when it was cool (enough to give myself some light carpal tunnel).  I'm not the type of competitive/hardcore player who grinds out seasonal stuff or would drop any cash on microtransactions, but I do enjoy the utter deluge of loot and messing around with the different classes.  It's mildly tempting.

For now, I think I'm content to simply sit back and relax with some current titles in my library.  I'll save my sale purchases for the summer when I have more time to play.  If you're feeling in the market for a new game, do check out the Spring Sale on Steam.

Being an Utter Failure

Not to drone on about my obsession with conquering the gold seal in Against the Storm, but it has become a life goal for me.  Firstly, I'm shocked that I'm even playing on an upper difficulty level and it makes me feel kind of good, so I've kept hammering away.  Secondly, I've got to give the developers some kudos because it has kept me playing despite the fact that I've basically hit a wall.

Twice now I've made it to the seal--a task that requires you to attain enough seal fragments before you can attempt to close it.  This means playing through multiple settlements, so it takes a chunk of time.  The first time, I was SOOOOO close!  Closing a seal has multiple steps, first you have to actually locate it.  Each glade you open has a weird little beacon that points in the direction of the seal.  Then, it's just a matter of having your woodcutters start hacking away at the forest in that direction until you find it.  In reality, finding it is easy.  Once you've found it, then you have to go through the multi-stage process of closing it.  There are 4 different stages that revolve around accomplishing specific tasks--usually these tasks are built around trade, exploration, or reputation.  The first set is pretty easy to satisfy--generally one of the options is to find and either open or return to the citadel three abandoned caches.  Usually I will have already found them by the time I am at the seal, so it's just a matter of sending scouts to complete the task.  The round two tasks are more difficult--you have three options; build up your trade reputation with three different settlements (by selling them goods through trade routes--honestly, this one isn't too bad); gain reputation through resolve (a bit difficult, especially early on); or gain reputation through completing glade events.  The trade route one is probably the best of your three choices here.  I barely remember the round three tasks, but I know that one of them involves having a certain amount of amber and if you've chosen to trade, you should have enough amber to pick it.  The round 4 tasks are a real doozy....one involves getting the resolve of all three species in your camp to the max; one involves using a ton of rainwater and burning a bunch of blightrot cysts; and the other involves quickly completing two forbidden glade events.

That stupid gold seal is just taunting me!

Besides completing the tasks to close the seal, you also have to contend with the normal storm season, the hostility level debuffs, AND a rotating series of plagues.  These plagues throw another layer of difficulty on top of everything--some of them aren't too bad, but there are a few that suck.  My least favorite plague (I think it's "plague of darkness") extends the storm season by 100% and makes it so you can't sacrifice any fuel.  Generally, I lose a bunch of villagers and build up impatience.  Another particularly brutal one requires you to discover two dangerous or forbidden glades before the end of storm season or else three villagers will die.

I was within a hairs breadth of winning one one seal--I made it to the fourth set of tasks and I generally opt for the one that requires you to burn through 600 rainwater and burn 35 blightrot cysts.  Stupidly, I hadn't been using my rainwater and I just had too much impatience built up to survive through multiple cycles.  (*It's worth noting that the tasks to complete a seal do not change, they are the same every time, so be conscious of that)  Just last night I failed again...but in a much faster and much sadder fashion.  This time I was done in by a bad combination of storm disasters--namely one that dropped two blightrot cysts on my camp for every villager who left.  Pair this one with that stupid plague of darkness and you have a slow moving disaster on your hands.  I had built up so many blightrot cysts that my villagers just couldn't keep up, my hearth got corrupted (which made things even worse because then it kills even more villagers...and adds more blightrot cysts)...so yeah, it was basically an absolute disaster.

Am I going to stop?  Absolutely not!  I am determined to close the gold seal.  It's a bit like banging my head against a wall, but I'm enjoying the challenge.  Wish me luck.

Viceroy Status

My obsession with Against the Storm is continuing.  This is a bit of a surprise to me because I figured that I would eventually hit some kind of wall--either a wall of getting bored or related to the need to continually ramp up the difficulty to progress to the next seal.  Luckily, neither of those things have happened and I was pleasantly surprised when I was successful on my first viceroy settlement.  I managed to win by the skin of my teeth and figured, "hey, I can actually do this!"

A game I'm about to lose.

So, what's the major difference between veteran and viceroy difficulties?  Viceroy bumps the number of negative events related to hostility level up to 4 and the severity of those events is described as "devastating."  Hostility is also multiplied even higher, so it generally doesn't take long before those events start kicking in.  You really have to pay attention because the level jump happens so quickly and you want to be prepared to offset any that have a condition (such as fulfilling the need for housing).

Winning on viceroy difficulty is also harder due to a few other factors.  There are fewer orders from the queen and those orders are often of the more time consuming variety (like using 180 of a certain kind of rainwater).  I've found that winning is much more reliant on a combination of fulfilling as many orders as you can and trying to build as much resolve as you can.  At the lower levels, I felt like resolve was less important and wouldn't have too much of an impact on your ability to win.

My best advice for viceroy success is to always be thinking about the bigger picture.  Finding a good fuel source (namely coal, largely for the fact that it can be sacrificed for -80 hostility per stack when needed--mostly during storm season) should be a priority because wood is precious and runs out quickly once you start using it for other purposes.  Having multiple "hubs" is also something that is almost a requirement on viceroy.  Try to plan for another hearth as soon as you've opened up your first dangerous glade.  When picking blueprints it's also important to be thinking about the many steps to satisfying the needs of as many of your villagers as possible.  It's virtually impossible to make everyone happy, so it's best to consider which needs overlap.  Then you have to consider the prerequisite needs to produce an item (like having the ability to make flour before unlocking cooking structures).  I would also highly recommend trying to get tool manufacturing rolling as soon as you can.  Tools are vital to sending caches to the citadel and can help give you reputation bumps when you really need them.  Using rainwater is basically required, so you also need to be prepared to deal with blightrot during storm season.  I like to try to find an alternate fuel source for manufacturing blight weapons (either sea marrow or oil) because if you do get one particularly nasty event that multiplies the number of blight cysts you get each storm season, it's very easy to burn through your fuel quickly.

I don't know exactly how long I will be able to keep up with the bump in difficulty in Against the Storm, but for now, I'm perfectly content with struggling through each little village.  I feel like my strategy could be better and I've had a lot of difficulty with managing hostility levels.  Hopefully, I can overcome the gold seal this week.

Mediocre Tips from a Mediocre Player

Last week I wrote about the new-ish, fabulous RTS roguelike Against the Storm (read my review here).  It has thoroughly sunk its hooks into me and I've spent ALL of my gaming time trying to "git gud" at it.  I think "gud" is quite a ways off, but I have managed to figure a few things out and have a small amount of success.  I thought I'd share a few nuggets of wisdom from my mediocre success.

Tip #1:  Look for events on the map that offer up a modifier--especially those with a negative modifier.  At first, my gut reaction was to avoid those places like the plague--and on the lower difficulty levels, it's possible to have success while doing that.  As I raised the difficulty level to complete more difficult seals, I ran into the fact that I would get close, but always be 2ish seals short.  Even though playing on the maps with negative modifiers are more difficult and will likely take longer, the upside is that you get offered several choices when you win.  Picking the "royal resupply" option will provide 4-5 seal fragments and can be enough to boost you to having enough to complete the seal.  The one caveat would be to look at the modifier first--not all are created equal and some are easier than others.

One of my veteran settlements.

Tip #2:  Try to find an option for better sources of fuel.  Sure, you can burn wood just fine, but once your economy is rolling, you're going to need that wood for lots of other things.  Look for sea marrow, coal deposits, or build a kiln to start cranking out coal.  Trust me, it's worth it.

Tip #3:  Don't just open every abandoned cache you find!  Pay attention to the requirements for the queen's orders and whether you can use the contents of the cache to help satisfy an order.  You get 1 full reputation point (and other handy bonuses) from completing the queen's orders.  If you can't use the items to satisfy an order, it's generally more worthwhile to send it to the citadel and take the reputation points (remember that small caches reward .5 while medium and large caches give .75).  Keep this especially in mind if you're close to getting enough reputation to unlock new blueprints.

Tip #4:  Get familiar with the different map types.  There's the lush, royal woodland; the slightly creepy marshland; the scarlet forest; and the rare, coral forest.  Each map type has a different type of resources and knowing each biome can help you make better choices when it comes to picking blueprints and cornerstone bonuses.  For example, marshland has a low amount of fertile soil, so it's usually better to pick upgraded options for gathering structures to take advantage of large nodes found in dangerous glades.

Tip #5:  Utilize production limits for basic building supplies.  It's likely you won't be using the most expensive blueprints until later, so there's no reason to just keep cranking out planks, bricks, and fabric.  Do pay attention to needs for the queens orders when placing caps.

Tip #6: Tools are important, so it's a good idea to have a building that can produce them.  Caches can be a nice source of reputation and they take at least 5 tools to open.  Buying them can be expensive (if you have a great trade economy, it's possible).

Tip #7:  Don't be afraid to favor one race when needed.  You don't want to lose villagers due to low resolve, so if it's possible to favor one that is particularly low during storm season, it's worthwhile.  Make sure you're paying attention to the resolve of the other races as they will drop--as long as they stay above 0, it should be fine.  You can then turn the favoring option off when the storm is over.

Tip #8: Pay attention to the negative options during the storm season.  There is one in particular that will give you -10 global resolve if you discover glades during the storm.  I made that mistake on one map and luckily it was toward the end of the storm season and I was able to ride it out, but it could've been rough had it been at the beginning.

I'm not going to brag and pretend like I'm any good at Against the Storm, but I feel like I've at least learned a few things.  I just managed to finish my second seal and once again am having to bump up the difficulty...I'm hoping to keep going as long as I can.  I'm still having quite a good time, despite the challenge (or maybe in spite of it).

RTS Roguelike?

I've failed miserably at my own self-imposed rule about only buying one new game per paycheck. Those sales just pop up and sometimes it's just too good to pass up! After thoroughly building up my fantastic little cult in Cult of the Lamb, I found myself looking for something to play and decided that falling back on ye olde catalog didn't sound too enticing. Luckily, a game on my wishlist popped up a sale notification and I decided "why not?" I'm not big into RTS games, but Against the Storm sounded different and interesting enough that I decided to take the leap. I've gotta say, I'm extremely satisfied with my choice.

What is it?

Steam offers up the following tags: strategy, simulation, base building and city builder. Sure, those work, but it's definitely missing the roguelike or roguelite elements. The basic premise of the gameplay and story is that you are a "viceroy" who has been tasked with building a series of settlements for a kingdom that is plagued by cyclical, devastating storms that periodically wipe out all towns (except for the protected Smoldering City). Your ultimate goal is to reach and fix special magical seals that will eventually end the cycle of storms. That's no easy task though.

The roguelike/roguelite elements come into play due to the fact that no two new settlements are alike. Each new settlement allows you to pick your starting settlers and the gear they will take with them. Once you've picked a location for your new settlement, you are offered up several random blueprints to choose from. These blueprints are totally luck of the draw and you get what you get (although later on you can unlock the ability to pay resources to re-roll them). "Winning" on each map is contingent on a combination of satisfying the queen's orders and keeping your villagers resolve high (basically meeting their complex needs to keep them happy) before the queen loses patience. Like the blueprints, the queens orders are completely random and unlock at different intervals as you play. You have to choose between two and can't re-roll them. Luckily, you can win without satisfying all of her demands if you're able to keep your villagers resolve high.

How long can I expect to play?

I've been playing for 29.5 hours so far and I've barely scratched the surface. You can count on some serious playtime with this one. The roguelike elements make each settlement a new challenge and I haven't been bored for one second. It's great.

Pros:

+Low requirements.  You could definitely play this on a potato PC (give the recommended specs a gander).  I've had zero performance issues--it has run like a charm.

+ Helpful tutorials that are offered up at points that make sense.  You start off with the basic tutorials that introduce the gameplay essentials and then can go off and play a normal settlement.  Once you encounter a new aspect of gameplay, a new tutorial is offered to help you learn how to use it.  I found this refreshing rather than having all aspects of gameplay thrown in at the beginning, not encountered for awhile, and then promptly forgotten to the point where you have to Google it or find a video that explains it.

+ Tons of strategy.  There are constantly different factors that you have to consider.  One of the first is where to make your settlement.  There are several different biomes to choose from and each has its own unique look, special resource bonuses tied it (for example, trees in the marshland biome can sometimes yield leather due to having leathery bark), and specific resources.  For example, the royal woodland biome often has many fields of fertile soil which are good for farming (while finding fertile farmland in the marshland biome is rare).  Once you're more familiar with the biomes and resources that can impact other choices you have to make.

One of my marsh settlements.

The second decision you have to make is which settlers to take for your new settlement.  There are several different races in the game (and two that you can unlock, but I've only unlocked one of them so far)--each race has its own unique needs and abilities.  You start off with three--humans, lizards, and beavers.  As an example of needs and abilities--beavers are good at tasks involving lumber and engineering, so get a bonus if they're assigned to those types of tasks.  They have needs related to the type of complex food they prefer (pickled goods), they need clothing, education, and they enjoy luxury.  Humans and lizards each have their own skills and needs that sometimes overlap and often don't.  The main goal is to meet the needs of your settlers to keep their "resolve" level high.  If their resolve drops too low, they'll leave your settlement.  You also get a certain number of points to pick a set of starting resources for your settlement.

So now you're ready to get rolling in your settlement, but you're not done making decisions.  You're presented with several options for blueprints which will unlock specific production buildings for your settlement.  These are totally random and require some careful consideration.  You have to consider whether you have buildings to produce needed ingredients or to help meet the specific needs of your settlers.  It's always difficult to choose and thanks to the roguelike nature of the gameplay, it's completely possible to get options that don't sync well (like certain production buildings but never the ones that produce the pre-requisite ingredients/goods).  Blueprints will continue to unlock as you make progress in your settlement...but you only get a certain number, so it's important to choose wisely.

...And, you're not even remotely done with choosing.  The queen will present you with a number of "orders" to be fulfilled.  These are also completely random and can be based upon building and satisfying production demands, keeping a certain race happy, exploring the map, satisfying specific needs, or trading/selling goods.  Fulfilling these needs will reduce the queen's impatience and improve your own resolve which unlocks blueprints and helps you get closer to eventually winning.

+Roguelike elements make each settlement feel unique and challenging.

+ Not your typical RTS.  You don't produce military units and march them out to conquer other enemies, but instead have to focus on keeping your settlers happy and playing in a way that meets the demands of the queen.  I found this change of pace refreshing.

+ Multiple difficulty levels and gameplay that gets progressively harder.  I started off on the easiest ("settler") setting to learn the basics of the game.  You can open the first seal on the easiest difficulty, but in order to open the next seal you have to up the difficulty.  I like how this works because it encourages you to improve and try to challenge yourself.  So far, I haven't had much luck in making it to the second seal and I'm sure that you have to do the subsequent seals on even higher difficulty.

Each "cycle" is made up of a certain number of years--for example, after I unlocked the first seal, I'm on a 40 year cycle.  At the end of each "cycle," the storm comes and destroys your settlements and you have to start back at the Smoldering City.  The years are calculated according to how long it takes you to "win" per settlement (for example, if I'm on a 40 year cycle and it takes me 10 years to win per settlement, I'm going to have 4 settlements before I have to re-start--unlocking seals takes a certain number of special resources that are rewarded for each successful settlement.  I'm on the second seal and it takes 12 seals to unlock--each successful settlement rewards 2 seals...so I definitely need to win more quickly if I expect to be able to complete the seal).

+ Unlockable talents.  Each successful settlement you create awards special resources that can be redeemed to improve future settlements.  There are multiple branches to unlock and they might provide small bonuses like a slight increase to global production.  If you fail to unlock a seal within a set cycle, you are awarded other special resources that can unlock even more talents.  Like many roguelikes, these small bonuses give you a slight boosts to help you make progress.

+ Exploration based elements.  Each new settlement starts off with a small uncovered area that is surrounded by trees (of various sort depending on the biome).  You usually have a few nodes of 1-2 resources to start.  In order to find more resources you must build a woodcutters camp and chop your way into the surrounding areas--the map is filled with small glades (that are covered with the fog of war) and larger, "dangerous" glades.  Small glades can contain a small amount of resources (usually a few nodes of 1-2 resources) or a cache of goods or a special event.  Opening caches or completing events gives you two options--often you can send the items to the capital which will help reduce the queen's impatience or you can use resources to open the cache or complete the event which will provide resources for your settlement.  Dangerous glades are larger areas and contain a "dangerous" event that also provides two options for dealing with it and generally must be dealt with quickly or else they will have negative consequences for your settlement.  They also usually have some sort of debuff while they're being completed.  Opening up dangerous glades are worthwhile as they can contain large nodes of resources and usually contain large caches of goods.  There are also the even larger "forbidden glades," which are even more of a gamble.

+ Seasonal conditions that impact villager happiness.  The constant storms that are part of the world become worse during the "storm" season and your villagers happiness will greatly drop during this time.  If it drops too low, villagers will leave your settlement.  This can leave you short of workers and in a bind if you're needing them to meet an order.  Crops on farms are also harvested on a cyclical pattern, so it's important to pay attention to your food level.  Planning around the cycles adds another layer of difficulty.

+ Tons of achievements and your own "home" in the capital with cosmetic elements.  Some achievements will reward items that will appear in your house--it's fun to see your empty home fill up with little items.

+ Nice, soothing music.

Cons:

- The roguelike "luck of the draw" elements can sometimes feel frustrating.  You might wind up with options that don't work well together or orders that require buildings that you never have an option to unlock.  Basically, you have to adapt to whatever the game throws at you.  I will say that it's still possible to be successful even if you have a crappy draw.

- Some players may not like the increasing requirements for difficulty.  You cannot unlock seals on any difficulty and have to use the required level.  This might feel a bit like gating, but with the unlockable "talents," it should be possible for most to be successful.  The gameplay also introduces more complex elements at certain levels (that I have not reached yet).

- Like most RTS games, there are many elements to consider and it can be difficult to remember it all.  I haven't found it totally overwhelming, but it does take a bit to get used to.

- This is a very minor gripe, but I'd like to see a little bit more polish on the animations for the villagers.  One part of villager behavior is that they periodically take breaks where they will travel back to your hearth to eat.  There's no animation for this, so they all just sort of stand clumped around it.  It would also be nice to see them use some of the more cosmetic type of decorations you can put in your settlement--sitting on a bench, for example.  Again, this would be icing on an already great cake.

Recommendation:

Against the Storm is a great RTS and as someone who doesn't play many, I'm very impressed by what I've experienced so far.  The roguelike elements keep everything feeling fresh and you have to stay on your toes to adapt to what the game throws at you.  Even though it lacks a bit of polish, it's a refreshing take on this genre.  It's one that worth full price, for sure.