Battlefleet Gothic: Armada
UPCOMING GAMES
Dev Session
About the Game
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is the RTS videogame adaptation of Games Workshop’s classic tabletop game, pitting the Chaos, Imperium, Eldar, and Orks against each other in visceral space-battles.
Developed with Unreal Engine 4, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada offers deep management of every ship composing the player’s fleet, both during and between battles. From the fastest frigates to the gigantic, miles-long battleships, the player will customize all aspects of his ships: weaponry, defense and support sub-systems, but also crew, captains, and more… each customization affecting the very performances of the ship and the special abilities available during battle. From battle to battle, the admirals and crew of surviving ships will gain experience and promotions, improving the battle-readiness of the ships for future, bigger and more dangerous battles.
Additionally an extensive multiplayer mode with persistent fleets where up to 4 players can battle simultaneously, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada also features a big story campaign, taking place during the 12th Black Crusade and putting players in the middle of the Gothic War that raged between the Imperium and Abaddon the Despoiler. Players will be at the centre of every fight, commanding fleets of gigantic ships as the Chaos unleash a sequential chain of surprise attacks on Imperium worlds – the start of 20 years of warring in the sector.
- An expansive single-player campaign across the Gothic sector.
- Four factions to command, each one with its own strengths and skills.
- Tactical PVP multiplayer offering infinite replayability.
- A huge array of authentically recreated Battlefleet Gothic ships.
- A real-time strategy experience retaining many of the tactical Battlefleet Gothic elements.
- A plethora of lore-abiding skills to fill the player’s arsenal.
- Upgrade and apply skills at port Maw
Cross-platform play between Steam, GOG and Windows Store.
Game Discussion
Steam User 28
Six years ago I completed this game for the first time, and it took me four years since game 2 came out to convince me that game 2 is better.
If your budget allows it and you like warhammer, get both. When in doubt, get 2. It features 3 (+1 dlc) campaigns and about half a dozen or so more factions. Not to mention that the mechanics are subtantially better. Finally the battles are larger scale as well, with you being able to deploy many more ships at once.
I can see why this game got mixed reviews. The campaign in the beginning can be downright infuriating. Some missions are heavily dependent on RNG as to how difficult your objectives will be. It is simply poor design to lose by a dice's throw in a game like this. The game also has a poor way of explaining what the objective of your next mission will be, leading you to lose the game either because it is a trail-and-error system or you brought the wrong ships for the job. Lastly the AI can be mindbogglingly stupid. Some missions you have to play with AI allies, only to see them charge mindlessly into an armada of heavily armed orc cruisers. On a somewhat humorous side note, this type of behaviour fits the orcs the best and as such AI orcs are actually scary.
But are there reasons to play this game? Yes. If you can stomach losing every now and then, the campaign does open itself up later on. You will get to experience some of the best warhammer cinematics of any game. The gameplay is good, and ramming is by far the best mechanic and you will never get sick of it. Nothing quite like seeing a metropolis sized cathedral slamming into some space junkyard inhabited by orcs.
Leveling ships is fun and there are a lot of upgrades to choose from. Voice acting is good, and you will find this is important as you won't interact with any npcs on a personal basis so it is imperative that all emotion is evoked through sound. Chaos, as a bit of counterpoint, sounds cheesy as hell and sounded like they were voiced by some edgy teenagers using modulators on a boring sunday afternoon.
The second half / final quarter of the campaign can turn into a bit of slog, and it is at this point that the gameplay will really have to carry you through.. What game 1 does better over game 2 is ship customization, though the battles are smaller scale and so is the campaign. This hurts the game in the long run as not only do you have a smaller fleet with fewer factions to pick ships from, you also cannot easily replace ships to test out other types because you will drain resources that way. In addtion, there are limits to how many ships of a certain type you have, for example there are 2 types of battleship and you can only have 1 battleship at any time. You can replace it, but that's extremely costly as you have to apply all of the upgrades and skills again.
Another excellent feature of game 1 is the endless skirmish mode. So much so that the asbsence of it in game 2 is what put me off at first. You can play this mode with every faction. Basically you get to play as an admiral of a faction that you prefer, and you can level him by playing skirmishes. You win resources and have to manage your fleet somewhat similar as in the campaign, and can even do 'elite' challenges facing ever stronger foes the higher you level up. You get to unlock skills, perks and upgrades for your ships and can outfit them as you like.
But ship customization and endless skirmish aside, there isn't much that game 1 does better than game 2. It sort of pains me to say that, because I have had so much fun in the past playing endless skirmish mode. As it stands I will delete the game and probably never play it again.
Steam User 8
NOt bad of a game. THe problem is the that... The DLC's have new races and new ships which is awesome but THEY DO NOT HAVE A CAMPAIGN. God dammit does no one take heed and advice from Dawn of war I and II.
why the huck waste all that energy designing new ships but no campaing...
Steam User 7
Bought it on sale. Have nearly quit at least five times because I've found it very difficult. I have, however, started to get the hang of things, and now that I have, I'm enjoying it much more. When I finish I might challenge myself and take it off easy difficulty. If you're a 40k fan, and enjoy games that make you pull whatever hair you have, (or in my case, don't have), out, give it a go.
Steam User 6
Everything introduced in this game is improved many folds in the sequel. This game is very rough around the edges in some aspects. However, if you are into the setting it is definitely worth playing for the story. If not, go to the second game.
Steam User 10
The game pretends that you're the admiral of a sector fleet... then proceeds to treat you like a thrall on the gun deck who isn't loading the cannons fast enough.
Multiplayer is dead, so can't really speak to it, but single player is.... interesting.
Honestly, it's very tricky, the combat is brutal, and the computer will absolutely punish as badly as it can, even on easy mode, if you make a mistake or misstep. At first it's frustrating, even maddening. But eventually the Stockholm syndrome sets in and you start to enjoy it, losing yourself in the mindless stress of what it must be like to be an Imperial Navy force in a galaxy where everything wants to unalive you the second you let your guard down.
The game feels a little unfinished, probably because it is, but if you want to experience the bizarre stress of ponderous naval combat that's somehow horrifically slow and yet way too fast all at once, add it to your wish list and grab it next time it hits a sale.
Steam User 5
The game felt slow and wonky at first. I blame my expectations. This is not a reel time strategy game, at least not one in the traditional sense. It is slow, methodical, brutal, FUN ship warfare. Once you get a handle on the mechanics, the game is very rewarding.
Steam User 3
In the grim darkness of the far future (BFGA assumes that you’re already familiar with W40K’s particular brand of grim, and though the game is still very much playable if you’re not) you find yourself pushed into a brief tutorial that precedes a sector spanning conflict, told to press a few buttons and then left to work out most of the game-play for yourself.
From then on you might get a few vague hints before a new mission, but the tactical choices are many and the margin for error is grim-darkly small. This can make BFGA a test of patience; bringing the wrong type of ships to a particular type of engagement will see your forces shredded (something that is almost impossible to deduce from the vague pointers before the mission) and given that damaged or destroyed ships take time to be repaired, it's easy to become trapped in a failure loop, forcing some ignominious save-scumming or a campaign restarting. I’m new to this kind of game and it took me two restarts before I figured out all the mechanics on normal difficulty; only start playing if you are familiar with ship-to-ship combat games, or have enough time to sink into riding out the learning curve (or set the game to Easy for your first playthrough).
Having said that, I would recommend BFGA: the game does give you a lot of options on a macro level, letting you choose which missions you go on while having to balance a number of different priorities, and the RTS void combat allows you to micro-manage your battleships on a second by second basis as you outmanoeuvre and out-gun the enemies of man. The campaign is a decent length, the story (full of W40K biliousness) has some twists and surprises to keep you engaged and the thrill of victory is all the sweeter for how much you have to sweat for it.
Now on to the near, but equally grim-dark future of BFGA2!