Iron Harvest

76%
Game Brain Score Based on 5,357 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Iron Harvest Game Cover
Iron Harvest captures most of the charm of Scythe and Company of Heroes while lacking some of the stuff that makes the latter so much fun.
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"Iron Harvest is a dieselpunk RTS set in an alternate 1920s, where players control giant mechs in singleplayer, coop, and multiplayer modes. The game features epic battles between traditional and scientific progress, following the end of a great war and the discovery of mysterious war machines."

  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Cloud
  • NVIDIA GeForce NOW
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

76%
Audience ScoreBased on 5,357 reviews
story848 positive mentions
stability119 negative mentions
  • The game features a unique dieselpunk aesthetic set in an alternate history of the 1920s, which is visually stunning and engaging.
  • The campaign offers a compelling story with well-developed characters and a variety of mission types that keep gameplay interesting.
  • The mechanics of unit customization, where infantry can pick up different weapons, add a layer of strategy and depth to the gameplay.
  • The game suffers from significant bugs, including crashes and issues with mission progression, which can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences.
  • Unit pathfinding and AI behavior are often clunky, causing units to ignore commands or take inefficient routes, detracting from the strategic elements of the game.
  • The limited population cap and simplistic base-building mechanics restrict gameplay depth, making it feel repetitive and less engaging over time.
  • story2,228 mentions

    The story of "Iron Harvest" has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its engaging narrative and unique dieselpunk setting, while others criticize it for being clichéd and predictable. The campaign features a variety of mission types, including stealth and hero-centric tasks, which some players find frustrating and poorly executed. Overall, while the story has its strengths, such as character development and emotional moments, it is often overshadowed by gameplay issues and bugs that detract from the overall experience.

    • “The story is captivating for me.”
    • “The campaign has a good story and the mechs/walkers really shine.”
    • “The story is amazing and the gameplay is phenomenal.”
    • “The campaign story was incredibly boring; I genuinely tried to invest myself in it even by enabling native-language by default, but ended up skipping the majority of all cutscenes.”
    • “The story is lackluster at best in terms of storytelling, to the point it leaves a cliffhanger.”
    • “The story is very dumb and shallow, and the missions can be quite tedious, often feeling like a grind.”
  • gameplay1,127 mentions

    The gameplay of Iron Harvest is often compared to that of Company of Heroes, featuring familiar mechanics such as cover systems and squad-based tactics, but many players find it lacking in depth and polish. While the aesthetic and mech designs are praised, the gameplay is criticized for being clunky, slow-paced, and repetitive, with issues in unit pathfinding and AI behavior. Overall, it offers a fun experience for fans of the genre, but it struggles with balance and variety, leaving some players feeling that it doesn't fully meet the expectations set by its inspirations.

    • “Iron Harvest brings some enjoyable mechanics to the RTS genre.”
    • “The gameplay is smooth, and the AI...thank god the AI is actually competent.”
    • “The gameplay is solid, its a combination in between Company of Heroes 1 and Dawn of War 1 which is great and I enjoy it much more than the Company of Heroes 2 gameplay for some reason.”
    • “The gameplay is clunky, and slow.”
    • “The gameplay lacks diversity and depth.”
    • “The gameplay feels shallow and you have to basically just spam the biggest mechs to survive and defeat the enemy.”
  • graphics688 mentions

    The graphics of "Iron Harvest" have received mixed reviews, with many praising its stunning visuals, detailed environments, and unique dieselpunk aesthetic inspired by Jakub Różalski's artwork. While some players find the graphics to be exceptional for an RTS, others criticize performance issues and a lack of optimization, noting that the visuals can feel dated compared to other contemporary titles. Overall, the game's art style and graphical fidelity are highlighted as standout features, though they are sometimes overshadowed by gameplay concerns.

    • “The stunning graphics, captivating narrative, and intense battles make Iron Harvest a must-have for strategy enthusiasts and gaming connoisseurs alike.”
    • “The graphics and artwork are simply stunning and make for an immersive gaming experience.”
    • “The graphics are fantastic and the whole aesthetic of the game is excellent.”
    • “False advertising, legit worse graphics than XCOM 2013.”
    • “The graphics in the campaign are terrible, and the movement is glitchy in cutscenes.”
    • “My biggest disappointment was the graphics quality of the game.”
  • music127 mentions

    The music in "Iron Harvest" is widely praised for its impressive and immersive quality, enhancing the game's atmosphere and emotional depth. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack's ability to complement the gameplay and narrative, with distinct themes for each faction that evoke a sense of drama and excitement. While some players express a desire for more varied or intense battle music, the overall consensus is that the soundtrack significantly elevates the gaming experience.

    • “The musical score, composed with finesse and precision, amplifies the emotions of the battlefield, whether it be the ominous thumping of heavy footsteps or the triumphant crescendos that accompany heroic triumphs.”
    • “The music is absolutely stunning and the alternate history setting is delightful.”
    • “The soundtrack is amazing and the story is exceptional for an RTS game, which have not had the best stories.”
    • “Wish they added the units skill / global power like COH and made the music a bit more unique, like punk metal rock songs from Powerwolf or Sabaton, instead of the opera-style music from WW1/WW2, because this is a mech war, not a WW historical battle.”
    • “I had to turn the music off during the Saxony campaign because I couldn't stand the German folk-inspired music; but that's probably just my taste.”
    • “The gameplay is fun, but for PC, there is a bug where you cannot adjust any settings, such as the volume for the music or graphics, just to name a few.”
  • stability124 mentions

    The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous players reporting frequent bugs, crashes, and glitches that hinder gameplay. While some users find the game enjoyable despite these issues, many describe it as a "buggy mess" that can be unplayable at times, particularly in campaign mode. Overall, the game appears to require substantial polish and optimization before it can be recommended for purchase.

    • “Bug free, interesting setting, well balanced, and with enough single player content to keep you going even if you can't find other people to play with.”
    • “Oh and no glitches or issues throughout the game.”
    • “For me, this game runs great and is visually appealing for an RTS.”
    • “Multiple full game crashes, loss of unit control, weird semi-freezes that lock your controls and units in place.”
    • “The game is so full of bugs, glitches, and just hard crashes that it's become unplayable.”
    • “Too unstable and buggy to recommend, seems like it should still be in early access, with the caveat that this game looks awesome if it was to work.”
  • optimization92 mentions

    The game's optimization has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many players reporting severe performance issues, including significant frame rate drops and stuttering, especially during busy scenes. Despite some users experiencing stable performance on lower-end systems, the overall consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, failing to utilize hardware effectively and often resulting in an unplayable experience. Many reviewers express hope for future patches to address these critical optimization problems.

    • “The game runs on max settings on a low-end PC and has no performance issues as well, all whilst still being an absolutely beautiful experience.”
    • “Performance wise is ok-ish, it's a bit heavier than you'd expect and it could use a little optimization, but the developers are honest on the technical requirements and lowering the details makes it run smoothly enough without losing too much on the overall visual quality.”
    • “With all that said, it runs smoothly, the graphics are great, destruction is awesome and it's a lot of fun.”
    • “The game is poorly optimized, especially the campaign. For no clear reason, it can't maintain any stable frame rate, even if you change the settings. That seems to do nothing, as the game doesn't even refresh or reload when changing from lowest to highest settings; only the resolution changes something at the cost of the game becoming all blurry. People say in skirmishes the game is more stable, but I won't even try because of how poorly it feels to play.”
    • “The performance is abysmal; it is so badly optimized that it doesn't even use your PC to its full potential.”
    • “Game performance is terrible, with huge FPS drops and flickering. This is a joke.”
  • atmosphere60 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its unique dieselpunk and steampunk aesthetic, enhanced by impressive artwork, immersive sound design, and a compelling soundtrack. Players appreciate the game's ability to create a rich, engaging world that feels alive, with well-designed mechs and environments that contribute to the overall experience. Despite some critiques regarding specific elements, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature that effectively draws players into its setting.

    • “The style, artwork, atmosphere, and music are grand and lush!”
    • “The game does a great job of creating an interesting atmosphere that has a distinctive feel that's not just 'blah blah blah steampunk is so quirky'.”
    • “Iron Harvest is a fun and uniquely atmospheric game with creative world-building and design choices.”
    • “Saying it needs to be gritty isn't quite it, but the atmosphere his artwork holds isn't quite there on the maps.”
    • “It ruins the atmosphere if the AI decides to seek cover right on the other side of the sandbags/walls you use as cover, which leads to ridiculous situations.”
    • “But with some weird flow - Rusviet units are out of atmosphere, like they were cut out from Red Alert, despite the fact that on original art by Jacob Rozalski, Rusviet mechs and soldiers are looking adequate, as should look Soviet-alike stuff from the 1920s.”
  • grinding58 mentions

    Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and unchallenging, often requiring significant time investment for achievements that do not enhance skill or enjoyment. Many reviews highlight the repetitive nature of missions, slow unit movement, and poor AI, which contribute to a frustrating experience that detracts from long-term replayability. The lack of variety in units and the enforced mechanics further exacerbate the grind, making the gameplay feel monotonous and unenjoyable.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Sadly, however, the Steam achievements are extremely bad and grindy, and this is where the game really falls short - there are no Steam achievements for completing the game's campaign at all.”
    • “The combination of very slow unit movement, low unit cap, and the AI enemy just endlessly throwing wave after wave at you because of apparently infinite resources makes the campaign way too grindy and boring.”
    • “The campaign is painfully slow and tedious.”
  • replayability46 mentions

    The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players praising the multiplayer and skirmish modes for their depth and variety, while others criticize the limited map selection and lack of engaging content post-campaign. Although there are elements like custom scenarios and asymmetrical mechanics that enhance replay value, many feel that the overall experience lacks the depth and variety needed for sustained engagement. Overall, while there are enjoyable aspects that contribute to replayability, significant improvements are needed to fully realize its potential.

    • “Fully fleshed out campaign (that you can play with friends too!!!), and endless replayability with solo skirmish/world maps and multiplayer matches.”
    • “The different teams or playable characters give the game much-needed replay value.”
    • “With this also comes an impressive amount of replayability with various side objectives and challenges that can be completed within a mission to increase your score and rank.”
    • “Limited map variety: some players may find that the game's map variety is somewhat limited, potentially impacting replayability over time.”
    • “The single player experience is fine but honestly this game lacks the depth of its predecessors in the genre, giving it near zero replayability with both the multiplayer and quick game vs AI being a mix of unbalanced and, to be blunt, unfun.”
    • “But the game needs a lot more for replayability and multiplayer/coop.”
  • humor43 mentions

    The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players noting a mix of intentional and unintentional comedic moments, such as characters speaking in different languages and amusing animations. Many reviews highlight the game's quirky dialogue, funny historical references, and charming character interactions, contributing to a lighthearted gaming experience. Overall, the humor enhances the enjoyment, making it a fun choice for players looking for a blend of strategy and laughs.

    • “I was up late last night playing with a friend and I haven't had that much fun gaming for a while - we were literally laughing out loud!”
    • “Beautiful art style, good level design, and good storytelling with a bunch of intentional and unintentional funny moments.”
    • “It's a funny little game that has steampunk mechs fighting each other, and it gets really ridiculous once it's pure mech-on-mech action.”
    • “The humor in the game often feels forced and falls flat.”
    • “I expected more clever jokes, but most of the humor is just silly and juvenile.”
    • “The attempts at humor are overshadowed by the frustrating gameplay.”
  • emotional26 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its rich lore and character development, which deeply invest players in the characters' journeys, often leading to heartfelt moments and emotional responses. While some reviews criticize the overarching story as boring, many praise the campaign for its touching narrative and well-crafted dialogue that evoke strong feelings. Overall, the game successfully combines humor, emotional stakes, and impactful storytelling, making it a memorable experience for players.

    • “The rich lore, combined with memorable characters and their intertwining destinies, ensures that you become emotionally invested in their journeys.”
    • “The campaign is very well made and very emotional.”
    • “A beautifully written story with heartfelt dialogue gives you more of a summer blockbuster experience than a simple single player campaign.”
    • “This is an example of boring storytelling, gameplay, and game feel all in one!”
    • “I would recommend the game to anyone who enjoys a fun but challenging campaign with quite the boring story.”
    • “Main story: I really do not have much to say, it's a pretty boring story spread out through each faction.”
  • monetization20 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has drawn significant criticism, with many players feeling that the advertising misrepresents the game's depth and quality. Reviewers express frustration over the perception of DLC as cash grabs, suggesting that much of the content should have been included in the base game. Additionally, there are complaints about intrusive prompts for reviews and a general trend towards exploitative monetization practices reminiscent of those seen in mobile games.

    • “It's great to see a developer who cares about their game and doesn't shove microtransactions in your face every 5 seconds.”
    • “The world is great, the mech designs are excellent, and I want strategy games to succeed to show up major publishers who don't like appealing to anyone with an above average attention span because they're more likely to be smart enough to not purchase microtransactions.”
    • “Remember the days when you could earn cool unit skins without having to pay for them with microtransactions?”
    • “The end product fell short, and all of the DLC they are releasing feels too much like a cash grab.”
    • “The DLC seems like it should have been in the base game itself and not as another cash grab.”
    • “I'm really tired of every studio adopting EA's style of monetization as though they have fans that are actual gamers and not gamblers with carpal tunnel.”
  • character development13 mentions

    Character development in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the effort put into the campaign's character arcs and the overall art style, others feel a lack of attachment to the characters and criticize the gameplay as simplistic. The character designs are praised for their quality and creativity, particularly in the steampunk aesthetic, but the overall execution of character development is seen as inconsistent.

    • “Excellent graphics, amazing steampunk art style, and lovely character development.”
    • “The story and character development is excellent.”
    • “Interesting character development for the campaign; you can see that they put some effort into it while playing.”
    • “The beginning was a little slow, but I understand the whole building some character development. However, I have to be honest, I have zero attachment to RTS characters and never liked the hero character aspect of RTS since Warcraft 3.”
    • “Other than the lack of character development and overly simplistic gameplay, it's worth the buy.”
    • “Promising world and character design, but absolute junker game design.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

76% average critic score

Buy Iron Harvest

Play time

13hMedian play time
35hAverage play time
9-30hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 28 analyzed playthroughs

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