Against the Storm looks charming and cosy, but it's actually the best and most fiendish city builder I've played in years

Comments

• Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  This is a great game. They’ve managed to pull off a roguelike citybuilder; a genre combination that one would think would not work. Great visuals and atmosphere too.

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  • Starayo@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I didn’t think I would like it because I like colony sims and city builders where I’m just playing the same map for extended periods, but I gave it a try on game pass and ended up playing hundreds of hours. It’s something special.

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    • Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It really is special. I initially tried it out because I liked the aesthetic and the map setup/setting; small fantasy colony surrounded by impenetrable forest in a post-apocalyptic world. I was really skeptical about the roguelike x citybuilder hybrid as I like long city-builder sessions with huge maps and elaborate city designs, but they pulled it off perfectly.

      I have 100+ hours. I did stop playing after the one of the early access builds made some changes that undermined by core strategy, but that’s a personal thing. Really need to try out the DLC and start from scratch.

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    • Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’m in like the opposite camp… But I’ve never been able to get past the initial learning curve of the game. Something has never clicked with this one for me

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    • Mad_Punda@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Same!!

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  • Jaderick@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I played it when it came out and it was great. I loved the campaign setup. I need to get back into it with that new DLC

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  • fishbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It also runs quite well and looks great on medium and low settings. I can run it on high on my 2060 quite easily, but I don’t feel like I need to cause the artstyle works so well.

    Might not be a big deal for others, but I love when games look good while taking very little computer resources.

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• Ashtear@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I had an intense love affair with this one earlier in the year that fizzled out quickly once the credits rolled. Solid game, but the only thing that keeps it from being in my collection of 1000-hour games is that it’s a little too dense for my taste. Keeping track of what builds what (and which build I had currently unlocked) was taking up a smidge more brain power than I’d like once the difficulty started demanding it. By the end I’d started layering in how to evaluate cornerstones, the best way to do trade, map modifiers, and it became too much. Ironically, I’d probably get there just by putting more time into the game but it’ll just feel like work.

  One of those “almost there” games for me.

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  • Carighan@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Was this before all the QoL updates around saveable production controls and easily seeing which builds what?

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    • Ashtear@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Looks like it was October, so I’m guessing after? The production controls did help once I figured them out but I realized once I was digging through the UI every time I was making a building or cornerstone decision I wasn’t getting into the flow state I wanted.

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  • delitomatoes@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Are there even credits? The game doesn’t end right? No story mode per se

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    • Ashtear@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They showed up

      minor spoiler maybe?

      after the fourth seal. From what I gather, yeah, there’s no ending/story mode or anything.

      ---

      After the credit roll I took it as a sign I wasn’t getting much more lore or more Aunt Lori. I’d buy a DLC just for more Aunt Lori.

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• GriffinClaw@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Is there a way to play without having to give wine/beer to your colonists?

  I bought this game day cause I LOVE the concept, but as a personal rule I stay away from all things alcohol. Even the virtual concept of handing out beer felt awful. Had to drop the game eventually.

  If anyone knows wether its possible to win a round without touching the virtual drink, please let me know. Good town building games are so damn rare :(

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  • rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Beer was part of the daily diet in the history (e.g Egyptians). You can pretend it’s the same here.

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    • GriffinClaw@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Huh, that could work. Thank you!

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  • False@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It’s possible (and common) to run without alcohol, but in some cases you’d be handicapping yourself.

    Guess you couldn’t get into Frostpunj either if doing objectionable things in a game is a showstopper for you.

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    • GriffinClaw@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Nah, I actually did manage to win that one. No taverns :)

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  • Yareckt@lemmynsfw.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It’s possible to win a round without producing any. You might get some as a random drop. Alcohol and it’s production buildings will also pop up as a takable option and by not taking it ever the game will be harder. Meaning the game will punish you by being harder for ignoring it. You can also forbid your colonists from drinking it except in some very rare scenarios where you could just abandon a run/town. So basically you can avoid it but it’s always gonna be in your face. Feel free to ask if you want more info :)

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    • GriffinClaw@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Thanks for the intel. Gonna spin it up again, see how far I can take it.

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  • rigatti@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Mind if I ask your reasoning for this?

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    • GriffinClaw@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Just a personal tick.

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  • Elevator7009sAlt@ani.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Damn, imagine downvoting someone for asking how they can play the game according to their personal preference.

    I usually don’t advertise my personal aversion to alcohol specifically because I’m not interested in getting backlash for it like you did. It would be understandable if you were being judgmental about those who do drink, but you were not doing that. I like to keep it out of my life too, and I do the same in games when I can, so you’re not alone.

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    • GriffinClaw@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Thank you

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• fishbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Great game. First got recommended it here (I saw the game before but didn’t really pay much attention to it) and I love it so much. I’ve always stayed away from city builders cause I feel like they turn into something I don’t really care for as the game goes on, but the short scale rogue lite nature of this works incredibly well for me.

  I really like that settlements are inherently temporary and that the game throws a lot of wrenches at me. It’s a good reminder to try and strive for flexibility rather than optimization. Settlements don’t have to be perfect (and likely won’t be), they just have to work well enough to get to the next.

  They’ve also added a ton of content and quality of life stuff since I last played a few patches ago. The UI still has some issues, but auto loading saved production limits and the overlay keys for buildings and workers make it so much easier to see what’s going on at a macro level.

  Tip for new players: after you get your bearing in game (maybe 1 or 2 settlements), take some time to just go through and check out the overlays. You can easily do stuff like move workers around or see and adjust recipes of all buildings on your map at once. I only just found those options and it’s a godsend compared to menu diving.

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• Varyag@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Just picked this one up since it was cheap.and I’ve been wanting to play a village management game in a while. Holy crap this game is amazing. I spent 6 hours on it un the first day alone. I love how the roguelike format keeps it always engaging and direct, without meandering about trying to figure out what I want to do. It has clear goals, needs to be met, and multiple ways to reach those goals. I usually like playing RTS games in short bursts of Skirmishes, and this feels very similar. Trying different strategies with different buildings and terrains.

  I was also looking at Timberborn (funny how both games have postapocalyptic sentient beavers) and Farthest Frontier, but I think I’ll be busy with AtS for a while until I get to try those two. And I’ll never need to even consider giving Ubisoft my money for Anno ever again.

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  • Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Timberborn is also really good, the water dynamics really makes the game stand out compared to other town/colony builders.

    They’ve also added much needed improvements to water dynamics (aqueducts).

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    • murmelade@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I absolutely loved AtS but couldn’t get past the tutorial… Felt too janky but it’s in early access so I guess I’ll give it another shot when they smooth things out for release.

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• Carighan@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I agree, easily the city builder I sunk the most hours into in the last 10+ years compared to all other ones combined.

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