Champions of Anteria
- August 29, 2016
- Ubisoft Blue Byte - duplicate
A MOBA with an identity crisis or an RTS with too little to offer? Champions of Anteria strikes an odd balance that doesn't quite gel and isn't helped by its numerous problems.
Get on Steam"Champions of Anteria" is a strategy game where players engage in elemental combat using different combinations of Champions' powers to defeat enemies. The game features a vibrant, dynamic world with various environments to explore and conquer. Players can pause the game to strategize and switch between Champions, requiring tactical decision-making for triumph.
PC
Windows
Uplay
Reviews
- The game features a charming art style and humorous dialogue that can be enjoyable for some players.
- The combination of city building and tactical RPG elements offers a unique gameplay experience that can be engaging.
- There are strategic choices to be made in hero selection and skill management, which can add depth to the gameplay.
- The AI is poorly designed, leading to frustrating combat experiences where characters do not respond to commands effectively.
- Gameplay becomes repetitive quickly, with missions feeling tedious and lacking variety, especially due to constant enemy respawns.
- The reliance on Uplay for game access and performance issues, including crashes and bugs, detracts significantly from the overall experience.
- story34 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 74 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The story in the game has been described as lackluster, with many reviewers noting that the humor falls flat compared to the developers' previous title. While the gameplay features interesting tactical choices with a roster of heroes, the narrative feels repetitive and overly reliant on cheap jokes, detracting from the overall experience. Many players expressed a desire for a more engaging and less satirical storyline to enhance the game's appeal.
“The mix of 5 heroes when you can only bring 3 to a mission combined with the craftable turrets and potions makes strategic choices on mission loadouts important.”
“The missions are interesting tactically because you have to choose 3 heroes from 5, decide how to approach the map, and what/when hero abilities and consumables get used.”
“There's a nice variety of missions, although some of them take a few tries before it's clear what you are supposed to do.”
“To be honest, I’d rather have seen a story that was less satire if nothing else to hope for a better overall narrative.”
“The missions quickly feel repetitive.”
“By the end of the first non-tutorial mission, I literally just had her run away from enemies in circles while my other two characters killed them because she had no health left and I couldn't for the life of me get them to attack my tank or mage.”
- gameplay21 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been criticized for its repetitiveness and lack of engagement, with many reviewers likening it to a poorly ported mobile game. The mechanics, including the real-time pause/play feature, are seen as shallow and unnecessary, particularly on normal difficulty. Overall, the gameplay is described as slow, linear, and lacking excitement, leading to a disappointing experience for players.
“The real-time pause/play mechanic was done solidly, if a bit more shallow compared to some of the other ones out there.”
“Gameplay wise, the caravan missions are too linear; some units only spawn when the caravan passes, so you can't do advance cleaning or try to come at them from a different direction.”
“The main reason why Champions of Anteria failed in doing so is probably because, although it offers city building, campaign map strategy, and tactical ARPG gameplay, it does it without adding any spices to make the dish tastier.”
“Gameplay-wise, the game feels like an enhanced mobile game.”
“Gameplay-wise: the caravan missions are too linear (some units only spawn when the caravan passes so you can't do advance cleaning, or try to come at them from a different direction) and the NPC units you sometimes get run around like mad things attracting mobs (hopefully this will get fixed).”
“2/8 for the voice acting of the dude... gameplay is slow and gets boring extremely fast; in fact, there is not much you have to do. It feels like a game designed for mobile that was poorly ported to PC.”
- humor18 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by a mix of charming yet simplistic and cartoony elements, with many humorous dialogues that contribute to its lighthearted tone. While some players appreciate the comedic attempts and find it enjoyable, others feel that the humor often falls flat, resulting in eye-rolling moments and a somewhat forgettable narrative. Overall, the game embraces a playful spirit, though its comedic effectiveness may vary among players.
“Lots of funny dialogues.”
“Humorous tactical fantasy.”
“The humorous dialogues (definitely not a game that pretends to be serious) add a nice touch to the game and the graphics are really pleasant, reminding me of Settlers 7.”
- graphics14 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The graphics are generally praised for their vibrant and colorful art style, reminiscent of Blizzard's aesthetic, and are described as pleasant and entertaining. However, some users find the visuals to be overly cartoony or clichéd, which detracts from their overall enjoyment of the game. While the humorous dialogues and character designs add charm, the graphics alone do not compensate for the perceived dullness of the gameplay.
“Love the visual art style, and the characters are entertaining enough.”
“The humorous dialogues (definitely not a game that pretends to be serious) add a nice touch to the game and the graphics are really pleasant, reminding me of Settlers 7.”
“Cliched but pretty visuals and art style. Cut scenes and writing attempt to inject some humor.”
“Its just extremely dull, despite its lively and colorful visuals and comical characters and narration.”
“The graphics are a bit too cartoony for my taste (a bit twee - I prefer a look more like AOW or HOMM).”
“[Cliched but pretty visuals and art style. Cut scenes and writing attempt to inject some humour. Interesting combination of MOBA and RTS elements with decent bonus objectives and heroes.]”
- replayability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, users note that while there are elements that contribute to replayability, the absence of multiplayer options significantly limits the game's long-term replay value.
“That should make for some replayability.”
“The lack of multiplayer options limits the long-term replayability.”
“Downs: no multiplayer of any description limits the long-term replayability.”
“Downs: no multiplayer of any description limits the long-term replayability.”
- music2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is consistently praised for its fun and engaging soundtrack, effectively enhancing the gameplay experience by matching the right tunes to the right moments.
“Fun soundtrack that always plays the right music for the right moment.”
- character development2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is praised for its charming blend of RTS and MOBA elements, alongside RPG-style progression, allowing players to enhance their heroes while engaging in limited city-building mechanics.
“It's a charming mix of RTS, MOBA-style heroes, RPG character development, and some limited city building.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is severely lacking, with numerous bugs and performance issues that hinder gameplay, such as frequent slowdowns, freezing, and mission-breaking glitches. Players also report flawed action mechanics, poor AI behavior, and significant pathfinding problems, all contributing to a frustrating experience.
“Furthermore, bugs and performance issues were extremely troublesome.”
“[The action side is deeply flawed, with repeating missions, mouse clicks not working, an irritating reliance on health potions, and tactics going out the window when an enemy moves. Ally and enemy AI is atrocious to the point of being game-breaking, with pathfinding issues in particular being a problem. Major performance issues encountered, including regular slowdown or freezing and bugs that prevented mission completion.]”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game frustrating due to poor path-finding for characters, repetitive raid maps, and indistinct progression systems. Additionally, the lackluster real-time strategy elements and the heavy reliance on micro-managing heroes contribute to a tedious experience. Overall, the grinding feels monotonous and uninspired.
“Poor pathfinding for enemies and heroes makes grinding feel frustrating and tedious.”
“The raids are repetitive with similar map layouts, leading to a monotonous grinding experience.”
“The underwhelming progression systems are not distinguishable enough from each other, making the grind feel pointless.”
Critic Reviews
Champions of Anteria Review – Master of None
A MOBA with an identity crisis or an RTS with too little to offer? Champions of Anteria strikes an odd balance that doesn't quite gel and isn't helped by its numerous problems.
50%Champions of Anteria Review
Oh, how great it would be if this had been thought out a little better. Unfortunately, the concept of mixing multiple genres into one is not enough to make the end result fun. The main reason why Champions of Anteria failed in doing so is probably because, although it offers city building, campaign map strategy, and tactical ARPG gameplay, it does it without adding any spices to make the dish tastier, and thus, worthy of seconds.
50%Champions of Anteria Review
Champions of Anteria has some undeniably neat ideas, and I’ll always be more accepting of a game that fails trying something new. The combination of Action RPG and Village Building works well, and the Elements system may be pinched from Divinity: Original Sin but adds a deep strategic slant to both Action and Building and makes both sides far more compelling. Unfortunately while the Building side is simple but fun the Action side is deeply flawed. The controls aren’t precise and sometimes your orders just won’t be received, plus the reliance on health potions makes the whole thing boring. It’s the atrocious AI that stakes the Action side in the heart though, with Special Attacks hitting thin air, allies that refuse to attack unless you directly order them, and pathfinding that will literally have both allies and enemies run around the entire map to get to a point an inch away – and not caring what dangers they’ll inevitably run into. Furthermore bugs and performance issues were extremely troublesome.
65%
