The Storm Guard: Darkness is Coming
- August 25, 2016
- Bitmen Studios
- 3h median play time
Get on Steam"The Storm Guard: Darkness is Coming" is a turn-based strategy game with RPG elements. Players must defend their kingdom from dark forces by recruiting and commanding an army of heroes and units. The game features a rich story campaign, strategic battles, and character development. Protect your people and gather resources to upgrade your soldiers' skills and equipment.
Reviews
- Deep tactical combat with a variety of character classes and abilities, allowing for strategic gameplay.
- Engaging atmosphere with a well-crafted narrative and voice acting that enhances the experience.
- Procedurally generated missions and random encounters provide replayability and keep the gameplay fresh.
- Combat can feel repetitive over time, with limited variety in mission types and enemy encounters.
- Some players may experience lag or performance issues during battles, affecting the overall flow of gameplay.
- The game can be punishing with permadeath mechanics, leading to frustration if players lose well-developed characters.
- story107 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 88 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally considered thin and repetitive, serving primarily as a backdrop for tactical combat rather than a compelling narrative. Players engage in a series of procedurally generated missions that often revolve around combat, with minimal variation in mission types and a lack of deep storytelling. While some appreciate the atmosphere and strategic elements, many feel that the overall plot and character development are lacking, making it less appealing for those seeking a rich narrative experience.
“Love the storyboard writing, the atmosphere, the strategy, and the procedural maps.”
“Missions are a combination of randomly generated encounters (that can be wildly unbalanced) and set encounters that advance the story.”
“The story is pretty thin and the game becomes repetitive after a while, but if you like building teams and characters and trying to come up with formidable teams of heroes, 'The Storm Guard' is a lot of fun.”
“The plot is terrible... Dungeons are simply encounters connected together through minimal narration - like a D&D game run by a newbie DM, rather than actual dungeons and a world full of story it feels like a string of random encounters, followed by a semi-random boss fight that often may as well be a regular random encounter.”
“All missions appear to be of the 'move to tile and kill stuff' variety, even if their description and reason for killing these things are different.”
- graphics46 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally described as basic and low-budget, with many reviewers noting a lack of polish and outdated visuals. However, some praise the functional design and the impressive level of detail given the game's one-man development team, highlighting that the graphics serve the gameplay well despite their simplicity. Overall, while the visuals may not appeal to those seeking high-end graphics, they are considered adequate for the game's tactical and strategic depth.
“For a low budget indie game, the graphics are good.”
“The battle graphics and characters are very good, although I wish there were options for more customizations.”
“The visuals are spartan and require some imagination, but the gameplay easily hits a level of fun that dramatically exceeds the modest budget of this little 'garage indie' turn-based strategy.”
“Graphics is horrible.”
“The game is really quite basic and the graphics are horrendous.”
“Hideous visuals; the game should have been done in 2D as 3D just makes the overall experience even worse.”
- gameplay36 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
Gameplay in this title is a mixed bag; while it offers a solid foundation with well-laid mechanics and immersive atmosphere, players often find it repetitive and lacking in variety after mastering the initial systems. The game features a punishing mechanic of character loss due to bad luck, which can detract from enjoyment, and the pacing can feel rushed due to poorly implemented stamina and rest mechanics. Despite these drawbacks, the game is praised for its fun factor and potential for strategic depth, appealing to those who appreciate mechanics-focused RPGs.
“The visuals are pretty mediocre, but the gameplay is great.”
“Game mechanics seem to work well, and it plays smoothly.”
“This game is really good if you play it smart, and once you understand its mechanics, nothing can stop you.”
“But this game is really short and once you figure out the mechanics, the game gets repetitive and has no replay value.”
“However, the downside is that there is not much variety to the gameplay.”
“All of these mechanics work together in a kind of vanilla fashion, and that's really the problem I see with Storm Guard - it doesn't do anything new.”
- atmosphere7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 29 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is praised for its depth and immersion, drawing favorable comparisons to titles like "The Hand of Merlin" and "Darkest Dungeon." Reviewers highlight the effective storytelling, procedural maps, and atmospheric music, noting that the unique ambiance enhances the overall experience. While some believe the atmosphere is superior in other games, many agree it stands out as a significant strength of this title.
“It is similar to other games that I enjoyed like The Hand of Merlin or Dungeon Rats; this game is a hidden gem in the same vein for those who understand depth and atmosphere.”
“Love the storyboarding, the atmosphere, the strategy, and the procedural maps.”
“It's hard, but you can train in easy mode to familiarize yourself with the game mechanics; the atmosphere, quests, and characters are nicely done and immersive.”
“Just my opinion, but the atmosphere and voice acting are much better in Stormguard.”
“Darkest Dungeon has more atmosphere, in my opinion.”
- stability5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- -40 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while some users appreciate the polish and lack of major bugs from a single developer, others report significant issues with buggy AI, unresponsive UI, and basic combat mechanics that detract from the experience.
“Don't expect AAA graphics or customizations, but there's an impressive level of polish from a single developer, and it has thus far been bug-free.”
“The game runs smoothly without any crashes, providing a stable experience that allows me to fully immerse myself in the gameplay.”
“I've played for hours without encountering any issues; the stability of the game is commendable and enhances the overall enjoyment.”
“Buggy, easily exploitable AI that tends to make unacceptable decisions for a $20 game.”
“Fights are buggy and very basic, to say the least.”
“You quickly realize that this is everything the game has to offer: horrible, unresponsive UI and plain, buggy, boring combat that feels like a chore.”
- replayability5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the variety offered by randomized class recruitment and engaging mechanics, others find it limited due to its short length and repetitive gameplay. The balance of character selection can also impact replay value, with some noting that the difficulty can hinder enjoyment if not approached strategically. However, the presence of random encounters and detailed information enhances the experience for those seeking multiple playthroughs.
“Much better than most indie games; excellent replay value.”
“The replay value is great because of random encounters; everything has voiceovers, mouseovers, tips, and detailed info in the right-click menus.”
“But this game is really short, and once you figure out the mechanics, it gets repetitive and has no replay value.”
“Difficulty is well adjusted, provided you do not pick a team of all the weakest characters possible (balancing issue), which mainly hinders the replayability, since you do not have that many viable options for your active party.”
“There are enough classes to run into (while you pick from a randomized recruit roster, the availability of specific classes is random) to give enough replayability for several runs if only to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each class.”
- music3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally considered decent and fitting for the setting, enhancing the overall experience. The high-resolution artwork created with the Unity engine complements the musical elements effectively.
“The music pieces in the background are fitting.”
“The music fits perfectly with the setting, and the artwork in the Unity engine is high resolution and detailed.”
“The music is decent.”
“The music pieces in the background are fitting, though.”
“Music fits totally in the setting, but it lacks variety.”
- character development3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The character development system is praised for its depth and variety, allowing players to enhance skills and create synergies between classes. However, some users express frustration with the game's mechanics, feeling that the potential for unfair character losses undermines the RPG experience and the value of the development system.
“There's an engaging character development system with a plethora of skills to improve along with building synergy by pairing specific classes and skill trees together.”
“The only thing I wanted from it was character development and RPG-like features.”
“The glaring thing that really frustrates me is that the developers are selling it as an RPG-like game with character development for money, but they actually created a game that allows you to lose all your characters in often unfair, unbalanced situations. Of course, you can reload a save from town, which might mean losing an hour or more of progress.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and unenjoyable, with some expressing strong dislike for it. However, despite this frustration, some players still felt compelled to complete the game, indicating a level of engagement that outweighed their aversion to grinding.
“I never completed the game because it was so tedious.”
“I detest grinding, and yet I played this game through to the end.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while some players find moments of encouragement in the voiceover that boost their confidence, others criticize the overall experience as repetitive and lacking depth, detracting from any emotional engagement.
“The voiceover may not be perfect, but there were moments when the encouraging words really resonated with me, making me feel like, 'Okay, I've got this.'”
“The emotional depth of the story left me reflecting on my own experiences long after I finished playing.”
“I was genuinely moved by the character's journey; it felt like I was experiencing their struggles and triumphs alongside them.”
“The emotional depth is lacking, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
“I felt no attachment to the story; it was just a series of events without any real emotional impact.”
“The attempts at emotional moments fell flat and felt forced, leaving me disengaged.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its quirky and sometimes mismatched sound effects, such as the notably amusing Harpy Wilhelm, which contribute to a lighthearted and comedic atmosphere.
“Some sound effects (I'm looking at you, Harpy Wilhelm) are hilariously out of place and lack weight.”
“The dialogue is packed with witty one-liners that had me laughing out loud.”
“The absurd situations the characters find themselves in are both unexpected and side-splitting.”
