Pawns of War

About

Pawns of War is a single player arcade action adventure game with anime and post-apocalyptic themes. It was developed by FLARE and was released on March 10, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Searching for a ray of salvation inside this nightmare. The year is 2044. There is a war going on in the world between two superpowers. On neutral territory, you will have to guard the base as usual, but suddenly the war catches up with you here. You will have to assemble a squad of different characters, equip them, give them weapons and join the battle. The battle scene is presented in the f…

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85%

Audience ScoreBased on 94 reviews

story10 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

Free to play with no pay-to-win mechanics, offering a budget-friendly alternative inspired by Girls' Frontline.
Enjoyable pixel art and character design with a relaxing and simple gameplay loop that is easy to pick up.
Unique mechanics such as separate characters and weapons combined with multiple classes, and an event mode with a different strategic gameplay style.

High reliance on RNG, especially in event missions, causing frustrating difficulty spikes and repeated retries for perfect outcomes.
Lack of content and story depth currently, making the gameplay feel grindy and somewhat unfinished with limited game modes.
User interface and gameplay mechanics are rough or unclear, including poor explanations for classes, difficult weapon management, and bugs affecting animations and battle UI.

story
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
71%
7%
The story is currently limited and unfinished, mostly serving as a brief introduction with some event-based side campaigns that add intrigue and memorable characters but suffer from uneven difficulty and RNG frustrations. While some players find the narrative interesting and comparable to Girls' Frontline, the overall content is sparse and grind-heavy, with hopes for deeper development and expansion in future updates. The presentation shows potential but remains hindered by bugs and balancing issues that impact the story experience.
- “I am addicted; the story is interesting (event story).”
- “The pixel style is very pretty and pleasant to watch, the story makes you want to follow it, for the main one and the side campaign currently available.”
- “Don't get me wrong, this game is still a work in progress and barely has either a story or content, but thus far it's still a memorable experience with a memorable cast of characters in the current story content.”
- “This game has an amateurish, "student project" feel; it starts out feeling weird, unfinished, and unbalanced, with the actual stage-based story campaign only opening after level 5.”
- “Very unfinished; the actual story currently ends in 5-8 minutes (not counting the added Iraq campaign), plus there are constant snippets of Russian dialogue left in the already barren story.”
- “The main storyline of the game is still a work in progress, with only the introduction currently in place.”
gameplay
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
63%
16%
Gameplay offers a simple, turn-based autobattler experience reminiscent of Girls' Frontline, with some unique event-based mechanics adding strategic variety. However, it can feel grind-heavy and lacks depth or engaging battle mechanics, with occasional reliance on RNG and underexplained systems. Despite its rough early-access feel and limited content, many find the gameplay pleasant and fun, especially when events introduce fresh, more strategic formats.
- “The gameplay of the main game is the classic 9-tile system somewhat similar to Girls' Frontline, but without the tile buff min-maxing, so it's otherwise simplified.”
- “Reminds me of the minigames from Girls' Frontline events with unique gameplay systems somewhat based off of the core gameplay system, like the chocolate factory shenanigans of "Love Bakery" or the card gameplay of "Cartesian Theatre." When you're not using units the game provides to you based off the story for "Locator," you're using your own 3x3 tile of units from your formation from the main game, but on that larger 10x3 grid with more strategy.”
- “Really fun game with simple mechanics, I was not sure if I would like this game at first but it's really fun and engaging.”
- “No sense or semblance of sane gameplay design even for an autobattler and most of the time to kill in the autobattle sections is spent waiting for invulnerability shields to disappear.”
- “There's no index or list of what details are available, from what classes exist to what weapons are about, to transparency in the lootbox mechanics, or a full tutorial (some of what's said aren't or don't seem to be implemented, like going into defense/shield for characters).”
- “Please don't do more RNG-based turns or refine the execution of the mechanics, unless it will 100% not be seen again—it would be nice to be compensated with another way of obtaining the achievement rewards.”
graphics
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
Users appreciate the game's detailed and passionate art style, often noting its animated, Starbound-like aesthetic with a distinct, refined touch. However, graphics quality issues, particularly with readability of ability text and less satisfying battle visuals, detract from the overall experience.
- “This game is really nice, especially the art style it has.”
- “The art style overall reminds me of Starbound but more animated.”
- “The art style was made in great detail and has been worked on with passion; it has a woman's touch to it.”
- “The biggest issue I have is the graphics making reading the text on abilities basically impossible to actually read.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
80%
Grinding in the game mainly involves repetitive battles to level up characters and obtain loot, which some find tedious, especially without an option for instant leveling. However, the process is generally not overly grindy or strenuous, as battles can be automated and progression relies solely on in-game effort without microtransactions.
- “Lack of content besides grinding; it's just endless 'attack 1-9 enemies and get loot.'”
- “My only complaint about the grinding is the leveling system. Just let me level up instantly with an item instead of grinding the characters/guns level through battles.”
- “The only method to gain more progress is by, as usual, grinding/completing missions, but it's not tedious or straining given one can just do these in a few clicks and a battle that can mainly be automated based on one's preparation.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's stability is generally solid and free of major bugs, though some animation issues persist, such as inconsistent footstep speed during movement and combat. These minor glitches slightly detract from the experience but do not significantly impact overall stability.
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor aspect is minimally highlighted, with users suggesting that adding workshop support and alternate sandbox campaigns could introduce more amusing and creative content. Overall, the game’s current humor elements are not prominently noted and might benefit from future updates.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s monetization is fair and free of microtransactions or exploitative practices, with all content obtainable in-game without excessive grinding.
- “There are issues to note, but nothing in it has any bearing towards having microtransactions or other shady stuff (everything can be gotten in-game and not in a tedious way).”