Headquarters: World War II
- April 11, 2024
- Starni Games
- 3h median play time
Get on Steam"Headquarters: World War II" is a turn-based strategy game set during the Battle of Normandy. The combat system is deceptively simple yet offers depth with unit positioning, directional cover, terrain bonuses, and destructible environments. Players can choose their side, form their force, and level up units with heroes and headquarters skills. Join the discord for more information.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features great graphics and a well-designed user interface, making it visually appealing and easy to navigate.
- It offers a satisfying turn-based tactical experience with engaging mechanics, allowing players to utilize different units strategically.
- The game has a lot of potential for future expansions and DLC, with a solid foundation that many players find enjoyable.
- The AI is often criticized for being passive and lacking tactical depth, making battles less challenging and engaging.
- There are numerous bugs and performance issues, including crashes and frame rate drops, which detract from the overall experience.
- The campaign is considered sparse with limited replay value, and some players feel the game is overpriced for the content currently available.
- story122 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 85 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The game's story is structured around a series of tactical missions that reflect historical World War II events, with campaigns for the USA, UK, and Germany. While some players appreciate the thematic elements and the ability to upgrade units between missions, others criticize the lack of replay value, mission variety, and the frustrating mechanics that can lead to unexpected enemy spawns. Overall, the narrative experience is mixed, with some finding it engaging and others feeling it lacks depth and excitement.
“I'm currently playing the British campaign and the missions follow what really happened historically very well.”
“Played a few missions of the American campaign so far and the translation of historical WWII combat to this turn-based system works really well.”
“So far, the campaign missions are really thematic, and I expect a lot of replay value with different factions playable for each campaign.”
“Not only is there little content, there is absolutely no replay value and the way missions are formatted often create situations where enemies will just spawn in front of you.”
“Today I was playing a USA mission and several German tanks just spawned in a field all facing my exhausted troops halfway through my turn and I had nothing available to even survive the next turn, so I quit because they could just return fire if I attacked and overwatch if I retreated.”
“I fell in love with the demo campaign mission but found that most of the full campaign missions lacking the same excitement.”
- graphics82 mentions
- 49 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their detail and aesthetic appeal, with many reviewers noting that they enhance the overall atmosphere. However, some players criticize the graphics for being overly prioritized at the expense of gameplay mechanics, leading to issues like slow animations and performance problems. While the visuals are often described as stunning, there are also mentions of technical flaws such as shading issues and frame drops that detract from the experience.
“The unit graphics are detailed and look extra great when the small cutscenes trigger when a unit attacks or kills.”
“Great graphics, the textures and maps look amazing even with a grid-based system (I prefer free movement but it's fine).”
“The graphics, campaign, and diverse maps all provide an exceptional experience.”
“They only got a 3 for graphics... otherwise straight sh*t.”
“It could be the fact that you can't seem to zoom out far enough or that the pretty graphics don't convey information such as line of sight very well.”
“There are oddly long load times, specifically the editor takes about 120+ seconds to load (even on a gaming rig) and there is some clunkiness with FPS and graphics that just makes the game feel very unpolished.”
- gameplay44 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
Gameplay in this title is characterized by interesting mechanics and scenarios, appealing particularly to fans of tactical strategy games. While the turn-based system offers unique features and a rewarding setup process, some players find the mechanics clunky and difficult to grasp initially, with certain elements needing further polish. Overall, the game shows promise with its detailed models and improved graphics, though some mechanics, like indirect fire, may feel unbalanced.
“Interesting play mechanics and scenarios.”
“I like the mechanics of this game a lot and there are some features not seen before in turn-based strategy games.”
“Successfully setting up your turn order is very rewarding and saves unit lives; scout unit mechanics make scouting important, plus you get limited mid-battle heals and airstrikes and fun abilities.”
“Mechanics are a bit wonky though, as indirect fire is so good and there are some occasions when AT guns seem to be able to fire at wild angles.”
“I played the demo of Headquarters: WWII at Nextfest and wasn't really feeling it during the tutorial because the mechanics felt a bit clunky and rigid.”
“Gameplay is hard to grasp from the get-go, especially with the aforementioned issues.”
- replayability12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the build variety and thematic campaign missions that suggest potential for replaying with different factions, others criticize the limited content and mission design that detracts from replay value. Many reviewers estimate that the game offers around 10 to 20 hours of gameplay, but express skepticism about returning after completing the campaign.
“There is quite a bit of build variety here and overall this would probably help with replayability.”
“So far, the campaign missions are really thematic, and I expect a lot of replay value with different factions playable for each campaign.”
“Definitely a 20-hour single player experience with enough options to add replayability for die-hards.”
“Not only is there little content, there is absolutely no replay value and the way missions are formatted often create situations where enemies will just spawn in front of you.”
“Limited replay value, unlikely to get you more than 10 hours once you beat the campaign.”
“It also takes away any replay value.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with users reporting numerous bugs, crashes, and performance issues that detract from the overall experience. Many feel that the design choices, particularly regarding zoom mechanics, contribute to these performance problems, leading to a perception that the game is poorly optimized and not worth its current price. Additionally, the impact of unit losses on performance further complicates gameplay.
“Unlike pg/pzc, unit facing is important, and when you suffer losses to a unit, it degrades in performance.”
“However, I don't think it's currently worth its price, due to some bugs, crashes, performance, and balancing issues.”
“The game seems very poorly optimized.”
“The developers picked a very odd design decision with zoom, which I suspect is linked to performance issues.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been criticized for numerous glitches and a lack of polish, leading to a perception of sloppy development. While some players appreciate the gameplay experience, the recurring bugs significantly detract from overall enjoyment.
“Too many glitches to ignore... sloppy game development... the devs just seemed to have walked away from it.”
“A bit of buggy jank here and there perhaps, but the kind of WWII TBS I've wanted to play for years!”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's graphics significantly enhance the overall atmosphere, particularly evoking a strong World War II feel. However, some players find the movement animations to be a hindrance, often opting to cancel them to maintain gameplay pace.
“Great feel and WWII atmosphere!”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, diminishing the impact of their actions and overall enjoyment.
“It's just tedious and makes your actual actions less impactful.”
“It's just tedious and makes your actual actions less impactful.”
- music2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music aspect of the game has garnered attention due to the interesting pricing of the soundtrack bundle, which costs the same as the game without it, suggesting that the soundtrack is considered a valuable addition. However, specific opinions on the quality or impact of the music itself are not provided in the reviews.
“Fun fact: the cost of the bundle with the soundtrack costs the same as without it.”
“Fun fact: the cost of the bundle with the soundtrack costs the same as without it.”
