Strategy & Tactics: Dark Ages
- August 4, 2017
- HeroLabs
- 435h median play time
Get on Steam"Strategy & Tactics: Dark Ages" is a turn-based strategy game set in the medieval era. Players must choose one of several civilizations and lead them through battles, technological advancements, and political intrigue to achieve dominance. The game features tactical combat, historical events, and a variety of units and technologies to explore.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a good concept with interesting mechanics and potential for fun gameplay.
- Artworks and visuals are appealing, contributing to an enjoyable aesthetic experience.
- The progression system with glory points allows for unit upgrades and adds a layer of strategy.
- The game is plagued by frequent crashes and bugs, making it frustrating to play.
- Combat is automated and lacks depth, reducing the tactical engagement players expect from a strategy game.
- The tutorial is poorly designed, leaving players confused about game mechanics and objectives.
- gameplay18 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay is primarily designed for smartphones, featuring simple mechanics that often lead to an easy experience, especially due to a lackluster AI. While the game has potential with interesting mechanics and appealing visuals, it suffers from minimal content, repetitive grinding, and poorly developed battle mechanics, resulting in a lack of depth and player engagement. Overall, the gameplay feels more akin to a basic board game than a fully realized strategy experience, leaving many players disappointed.
“The UI, the game mechanics, everything was designed to be used primarily on a smartphone.”
“This game has huge potential and interesting mechanics.”
“Addicting gameplay”
“Since the AI is not capable of managing the economy and, in general, is quite dumb, the gameplay is very easy.”
“Apart from the glitches and crashes, the game mechanics don't make much sense. There is no real information about troop types/advantages or why the force that suddenly invaded from nowhere right in the middle of your stronghold, which was garrisoned with troops, can defeat you even though they have half the attack points and don't look like they should have any real advantage.”
“This game, although sold as fully released, is abandoned; only 9 scenarios available (including the tutorial scenario), no editor, minimal battle mechanics, and few different types of units. Don't buy it; in a standard free game demo, there is far more content than in this half-finished game.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 70 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their beautiful artwork, interesting unit designs, and well-crafted maps, contributing to an engaging visual experience. However, some users express a desire for more graphical settings and updates to enhance gameplay, as they feel the current graphics, while appealing, do not compensate for gameplay shortcomings. Overall, the art style is appreciated, but there are calls for improvements in both graphics options and gameplay mechanics.
“On the bright side, the artworks are pretty, the units are cool, the scenarios are interesting.”
“Faithful adaptation of history with nice graphics, awesome and epic wars.”
“Great hand-drawn artwork.”
“The game lacks any graphics settings, only allowing for resolution adjustments.”
“I like the game very much, and I would absolutely support more with money as long as I see some sort of update to the gameplay, maybe the graphics.”
- grinding9 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is heavily criticized, with players noting that it requires an excessive amount of time—around 200-300 hours—to complete just 10 levels, primarily due to the need for "glory points" for upgrades. Many find the gameplay tedious and unbalanced, often resorting to "cheesy" tactics to cope with the long scenarios and frequent crashes. Overall, the grinding is seen as a significant drawback that detracts from the game's potential enjoyment.
“This is a grinding game.”
“Otherwise to beat this entire game (which is only roughly 10 levels/maps) it will take you around 200-300 hours of grinding.”
“Furthermore, the upgrades that you can do require a lot of 'glory points' (given by winning scenario goals) and this makes it very grindy if you opt for upgrades.”
- story9 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game's story is criticized for its lack of depth and coherence, with many players noting that the missions feel disjointed and scripted, leading to a sense of confusion and frustration. While some appreciate the unique challenges of each mission, the overall narrative is seen as minimal and poorly integrated, detracting from the overall experience. Additionally, the game's instructions are deemed inadequate, further complicating the player's engagement with the story.
“Honestly, very good board game - every mission feels unique and poses its own challenges.”
“Story... don't get me started... let's say I was playing a scenario where I was leading an English nobleman feuding with another... not only was most of the map occupied by French neutrals (that remain neutral until you attack them, and otherwise just move troops aimlessly around their lands... slowing down the AI turns), but suddenly I am attacked in the back by a Mongolian horde... that is just bonkers and shows the lack of polish this game received before release.”
“Nearly no real story.”
“Story... don't get me started... let's say I was playing a scenario where I was leading an English nobleman feuding with another. Not only was most of the map occupied by French neutrals (who remain neutral until you attack them and otherwise just move troops aimlessly around their lands, slowing down the AI turns), but suddenly I am attacked in the back by a Mongolian horde. That is just bonkers and shows the lack of polish this game received before release.”
“The game features a small number of scenarios (eight); while the missions have plentiful secondary objectives that add some replay value, the general plan in each is fairly scripted based on the fixed starting conditions.”
- stability8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is plagued by numerous bugs and frequent crashes, significantly impacting the overall experience. While players have identified some causes for these issues, stability remains a major concern, with glitches affecting gameplay mechanics and user interface. Despite its potential, the game's stability issues hinder enjoyment and strategic depth.
“It's very buggy, but I figured out what causes crashes for the most part.”
“A fun strategy game, but it's buggy and crashes all the time.”
“Buggy as heck and crashes even just when attempting to change screen resolution.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game offers decent replayability through its glory points system, allowing players to retain skilled generals for future scenarios, and features secondary objectives that enhance replay value. However, the limited number of scenarios and scripted mission plans may restrict long-term engagement. Overall, it provides a reasonable challenge and replayability for its price.
“This game delivers some fun and challenge while providing a reasonable challenge and replayability for the price.”
“The game features a small number of scenarios (eight); while the missions have plentiful secondary objectives that add some replay value, the general plan in each is fairly scripted based on the fixed starting conditions.”
“Replayability is decent; you have the armory to upgrade units and the pantheon where you can retain favorite generals.”
“What makes this game quite replayable once you beat all the scenarios is that you can choose and spend your glory points to keep highly skilled generals and use them again in other scenarios.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a compelling dark fantasy aesthetic, enhancing the overall experience with its immersive and atmospheric elements. Players appreciate the blend of sandbox and strategy mechanics that contribute to a rich and engaging environment.
“The dark atmosphere is really cool!”
“This game creates an immersive environment that pulls you into its dark fantasy world.”
“The atmospheric elements enhance the gameplay, making every moment feel intense and engaging.”
- music2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for being splendid and well-suited to the overall experience, enhancing the artistic elements despite some criticism of the gameplay.
“The music in this game is fantastic and perfectly complements the overall experience.”
“Good music that suits the game.”
“The soundtrack is engaging and enhances the atmosphere of the game.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The optimization of roads in the game is minimal, as they primarily provide only slight performance boosts to specific units without significantly impacting gameplay.
“In fact, roads don’t do anything outside of providing minor boosts to certain unit performances.”
“The optimization in this game feels lacking, as many features seem underdeveloped and ineffective.”
“I often find myself frustrated with the optimization, as it seems like the game struggles to run smoothly even on high-end hardware.”
