The Storm Guard: Darkness is Coming
The Storm Guard is a challenging turn-based roguelike role-playing game inspired by the Night’s Watch in the Game of Thrones.
You assume the role of the Lord Commander of the Storm Guard leading the order during difficult times. An ancient dragon and its minions have returned, threatening the realm of men. While in your base, you must recruit, train and develop a team of heroes in their quest to restore peace. Make smart decisions during the random events you will run into and battle countless different creatures ranging from mere goblins to huge abominable creatures like wyverns, golems, ogres and worse. On the tactical combat map, put the skills you have learned to the test to defeat powerful opponents.
Your chances in battle not only depend on your tactical decisions but also on your preparation. Assemble well-rounded teams and pick from dozens of different skills to creature unique synergies between your team members that work for you and your preferred playstyle.
- Rich turn-based combat with a wide range of interesting mechanics, including numerous conditions (bleeding, burning, weakened, blind, crippled, …), knockdowns, shouts, buffs, enchantments, and hexes.
- Interesting combat mechanics that allow flanking, tying up, disengaging, and smart combinations of skills.
- Numerous playable hero classes to pick from to add to your team with dozens of unique abilities to specialize in.
- Challenging encounters against close to 40 different creature types each with their own abilities. Ever since the Ancient Dragon returned, Orks, Giants, Undead and Mystic Creatures roam the realm of men causing death and destruction.
- Defeat intelligent monsters that collaborate, heal and buff their allies and have their own strategy on how to put your heroes to the grave.
- Use your gold wisely on the strategy layer to invest into skill development, equipment, consumables or additional heroes.
- Rest in town to recover from injuries that reduce your constitution or gain morale boosts by exceptional performance in battle.
- Classic RPG/roguelike features like permadeath, procedural dungeons, and random events result in high replayability.
Steam User 234
Do you know that feeling? Keep playing games, extend your library and hoping for that one game that brings all your gaming wishes together? I have that often. Sometimes I see myself browsing the Steam library for hours just to find that one game that fits all my demands.
Last year I discovered just a few of those hidden gems. I mention Thea: The Awakening because of the small team who managed to freshening a stale genre of countless 4x games around the same fantasy setting and around the same game mechanism. And more recently I discovered, while less complete yet and still in EA, Last Days of Old Earth. Like Thea it has some fresh new ideas and combinations of different genres (card game, tactical battles, turn based strategy) that fits well together.
While browsing a Steam friend's library and wishlist searching for more of these hidden gems I discovered the store front picture of The Storm Guard: Darkness is Coming. I clicked the picture expecting some casual indie title on the same pixelated hex grid like the other thousands of rogue-like, dungeon crawlers etc that reach the Steam store because of fanatic Greenlight clickers.
How wrongly I was when I decide to buy the game despite the ugly, embossed, unalligned font on the store front picture.
Steam must be punished for hiding this game so long from my recommondations and hide it from my store page.
Why they hide a title like this in a cellar beneath thousands of casual tablet games?
So what exactly is this game doing right?
First of all, and that is exactly why I compare it to Thea, the game is made to entertain you.
That is clear from the very first run.
An intro movie a la Blizzard style (when Blizzard was making games instead of pleasing stockholders).
Fully animated artwork with dragons and a story told by a professional narrative.
Next screen. A paper with a short story to make some ambience.
Next screen. A little town with some heroes in front of a questboard. Tooltips all over to tell the player what all those buttons do. In a few minutes you understand how the game works and the town looks like a small town you wish you should visit it yourself in your dreams. Ambience is there. Music is fit totally in the setting and the artwork in Unity engine is high resolution and detailed.
On the right side of the screen you have your hero/unit raster from where you can select a group of heroes you want to start questing. On the left side you can start your first quest within a minute.
The quest generated is different everytime you play. You start on a kind of grid map with a random or procedural generated dungeon where every block you can walk into triggers an encounter. That can bring you some treasure, a monster encounter or just a short little story where you have to make a choice in the end.
This alone already spoil some of the details you can find in this game. While in a few hundred of RPG, TBS games the last twenty years you can find a magic or a healing potion with only one effect, you find a potion with some effects AND some side effects. Why I did not see that in any other game? In turn one and two the potion is doing Y and in turn three and four the potion is doing X. Right.
And so you continue to find so much detail in this game when you start your first turn based battle with your heroes against the monster army.
While in every RPG or TBS game from the last twenty years you see skeletons, 2D skeletons, 3D skeletons, animated, pixels, sprites etc etc in this game you have skeletons as well. But what is different? The skeleton is really a skeleton. It raise from the ground before it even moves. It's animated not only after an attack but it's animated when battle start, when attacking, when defending. It's real! It's not just a statue.
So in the last 300+ TBS games you played you can move from A to B no? In this game you can move from A to B as well. But you can move the way you want because it use waypoints while in a tactical turn based battle. So you can move your unit around an enemy unit and positioning your archer without the AI decide for you that your archer first have to walk in the melee area of the enemy while moving from A to B. Smart.
And so the game use morale and adrenaline. Not just to raise some static stats. No it's used to trigger some real unique traits and abilities. Not only in the battle fought or in the current turn. It's a system used for a whole battle at once. So for the first time you really fight a battle instead of watching it.
Tired of those games you shoot and miss while the AI have a constant critical hit? Here your hit change is always 100%. So again the game is not designed to punish the player but to entertain and to let you play a game. So it's easy then? No it's not. Because there are threats that lowers your hit change, lowers your damage done to enemies and traits that buff you even more or makes you invunarable for attacks. It's just more detailed and entertaining then the last 100 TBS games I played.
So I highly recommend this game. Not only because what I told you above but because all those ideas, original approaches of the genre are settled in a smart, clean and nicelooking playerfriendly UI. Helpfull tips around your run. You can't move or you can't shoot and you don't know why? A small tooltip warns you and even those are fully voice overed.
Besides of that the replay value must be great because of random encounters, everything have voice overs, mouse overs, tips, and detailed info on right click menu's. WSAD keys work normal for moving the map and Q and E for turning and if you don't like it that oldskool way you just use the mouse. Press middle for pan, press left for move the map and right to rotate. This game just does it allright.
Final verdict: The game is some combination between the tactical battles like in XCOM games and campaign progress, character building and dungeon crawling like in Darkest Dungeon.
Steam User 50
So where to start. If you like turn based strategy games in fantasy settings then this could be for you. I see some negative postings and the ones that I read seem to buy games and expect to not have to think. The guy that says that you can't save at anytime - yes you can unless you're in ironman mode, so you played ironman and couldn't save go figure. The guy with disappearing troops - if you give them town assignments some last more than a day, again go figure.
Ok I bought the game based on the review by Cablenexus which really made me curious. Mine will be much shorter as I'm not a great writer.
Pros - The difficulty will scale with your group. No easy ride here. Lots of surprises all through it all the way to the final fight which will test what you've learned. Many classes and a few races, many skills so 2 characters of the same class can be played totally differently with a different skill set. Different skills for different races too, a dwarf warrior will vary greatly from a human, dwarf priest and human will have totally different types of healing. Gear auto upgrades when you get something better, no packs full of gear, gear is rare unless you buy it which you won't because your gold will go to your men and skills. I liked that it wasn't some 8-10 hour play through. I had to restart twice early on because of major mistakes, part of the learning process, but I'd say I probably played 20 hours on my full play through, on EASY. The game is tuff, I played a few hours on normal and my graveyard was filling fast so I went easy which I found enjoyably but not easy. You might think that it is but it ramps up fast after about level 3.. ok other pros - random stuff - like if you help a guy one time that you meet on patrol and he gives you some cash, if you get the same encounter again maybe he attacks you and stuff like that. The story telling is good and the voiceover is done well, but I'll mention it in cons too. The dev is actively updating it too. I didn't encounter a single bug in my 27 hours.
Cons - It can seem very repetitive. There is no autofight so even if you know that you've got a fight won you'll need to fight it until the finish. The voiceover is done very well as I said above but it's used too often, he doesn't need to say something for every hit. You need a in game manual if there isn't one, I didn't notice it so that's why I mention it. Graphics are ok, not the best but it's a one man team and they're decent but those of you that only like the ultimate graphics will not like it.
Suggestions - add more, more of everything. More classes, gear, races, buildings in town, gear, write more quests to help with the feeling of repeating things, more unique encounter areas - you have more than I expected but more would be better, more different looks for the characters, more of everything.. Keep doing what you're doing. Oh achievements and cards are always cool too. Good work Markus.
Ok so basically I don't think that it'll be for everyone but I enjoyed it and I'm happy with it - I paid full price too. I think it's a great little game with loads of potential to be even better. If you like the type of game and look at the screenshot's and videos and it looks good to you then give it a try. I found it addicting and I'll replay it too as it'll never be the same twice with different heroes, skills, etc.
Steam User 14
(Please note majority of my gameplay takes place offline, which Steam does not track)
A must-have for fans of tactical turn-based games.
The Storm Guard appears deceptively simple, but if you get past the one-man-studio Unity graphics, the production value is rock solid. Not that I find anything to hold against the graphical presentation. It does not have AAA polish (duh), but it is far beyond the "least amount of work required" some failed game attempts implement. In fact, watching your Guard members' appearance change as they slowly accumulate equipment pieces is one of the many small, but thoughtful, additions to the game, and certainly shows the love and care clearly put in this game.
To the point, though - the game is NOT a "story-mode" RPG. The story is pretty generic and serves no other purpose than a window dressing on the real focus of the game - the tactical combat. And boy oh boy does the Storm Guard deliver.
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 strength and weaknesses of each class. Some combination (or just classes in general) are better than others, but the balance between them is mostly preserved well enough that you will can efficiently utilize most of them.
There are more combat skills than you can "equip" for each mission, and figuring out the best combination of them for your personal playstyle is, for me, a large part of enjoyment of the game. Sooner or later you will realize the need for counters specific against particular enemies. It speaks of the intricacy of the combat system that you WILL need to plan ahead to handle any of the enemy archetypes - and there are enough of them that a single cookie-cutter approach, without tactical planning once you hit the map, will result in a party wipe.
Another challenge comes from the more strategic layer of the game. There is a fine balance between improving your characters' skills and equipment and retaining sufficient funds to benefit from random events during missions (or just having enough food early on). Along with timed missions that expire if left unfulfilled, and a "panic" meter that decreases your funding if you fail to keep to your duty of protecting the imaginary kingdom, you end up with having to make constant decisions on priorities. It definitely adds to the "Bad Things™ are coming!" feeling of the game.
As for specific mechanics, you have the full set available. You will recruit new members at the inn. You can assign those that do not go on missions to handle one of four base-specific tasks, or let them rest and recuperate. As soon as you clear appropriate early missions, you will train their skills and buy new pieces of equipment (and the ability to see the gear improve as more model elements are added is a really pleasing touch).
In the end, though, all of it is merely accessory (albeit a very important one) to the core of the game - the tactical combat. And that part is fantastic.
Do yourself a favor and do not skip on this one if you enjoy tactical turn-based games. It is definitely worth the asking price.
Steam User 22
Really enjoying this game so far. It's a lot like Darkest Dungeon, so if you liked that, this is a no-brainer. It's presentation is a bit different, there are no graphics inbetween "rooms". Instead you see a scroll which explains what is happening in each room you enter. If it's a battle, you are then taken to the battle screen, which is grid based, more like Heroes of M&M 2 instead of Darkest Dungeon.
Also like DD, this game has a narrator that guides you as you progress, but again, not quite as well polished as DD.
If you're looking for another game of this type, give this one a shot. $19.99 might be a bit overpriced when compared to DD, but so far I don't regret the purchase.
Steam User 17
TL;DR version:
Great Turn-based Tactical RPG / Squad Building Game
9,(9)/10
Full Version:
Build your party of (up to) 5 characters from 10 different classes and 3 playable races and embark on a mission. Missions present a grid of locations to explore, each location being an encounter - not necessarily a hostile encounter, you are usually given a set of choices via text that can modify the outcome of an encounter, where choosing "Ättack the dwarves" typically means you will fight (and lose reputation with) the dwarves.
Each character has 8 skill slots and prior to starting a mission you can choose which skills (s)he will carry into battle (think Guild Wars). There is a good variety of skills available to each character class, most skills can be upgraded for stronger effects.
Combat itself is really fun, your party/skill set setup really matters, and what you do on the battlefield actually matters too, you can kite melee enemies, you can flank your foes, most of the time you can use a lot of different approaches to handle a particular enemy depending on your party setup. Oh, and you are definitely NOT FORCED to use the typical (and ultra-boring) tank/healer/dps kind of setup, im generally doing pretty well with 4 dps and a hybrid healer/dps (on normal/ironman, which is the highest dificulty in game currently)
Seeing a lot of other reviewers tend to compare this game to Darkest Dungeon (yes, these two games share a lot of similarities) i just have to throw in my 2 cents on the matter.
Combat in SG is far more tactical and depending on what the player actually does on the battlefield. In DD you are basically pitched face to face with your opponent, spam your skills and PRAY to RNGesus and Lady Luck not to miss and not to get a fat Crit in your face. In SG you have a fairly large grid battle map you can use to outmaneuver and outsmart your enemies (the AI in SG is btw quite decent, far better than the AI in many AAA titles). Id say combatwise SG compares DD like Heroes of Might and Magic would compare to Disciples, whoever played those games would instantly know what i mean :P. While there is still RNG - you CAN miss or crit - it is very manageable, and you can eliminate the chances of missing by using certain abilities, flanking or disabling you enemy, or by just having a plan B (which you actually CAN have in SG).
There is no stress and no randomly aquired negative perks in SG.
Town management is more interesting in DD, you cant build or upgrade buildings in SG. In SG you generally spend your gold on buying/upgrading skills and buying gear for your heroes in the armory.
To draw the line, both SG and DD are good games, and probably most ppl that like DD will like SG too and vice-versa. In my opinion however SG is by no means inferior to DD like other reviewers say, and is actually much better in many aspects.
Steam User 15
Very fun turn-based party RPG. If you're looking for a good tactical RPG you should like this one. All of the polish goes in to the classes and turn-based strategies you can deploy with them. Some parts of the game are no-frills, like your view of moving around the dungeons and interactions therein. But the combats have nice graphics, you can fully rotate the camera and zoom in/out of the action. The classes are fun and fairly well balanced. The game rewards strategic thinking, in both the battles and the way you develop your crew. Not a ton of content but it took me about 35 hours to finish the game once so not bad either.
Steam User 10
One question I see a lot is:
Why get this one instead of Battle Brothers or Warbanners?
TSG: Darkness is coming is very different from both.
It focuses on a few heroes, that you cannot really afford to lose (well, you can, and try to grind some new ones instead, but the opponents get stronger over time, and some missions offered unique opportunity that would be missed forever if you failed at the time I played).
Battle Brothers is an open ended "endless" game about minimizing risks, and coping with losses in a way.
Warbanners is about leading a small elite force through a campaign.
TSG: DC is about managing a small group of adventurers, and improving their HQ while facing increasingly dangerous foes.
It is semi open (in that you get a lot of mission opportunities, but there is also an ending). In a way, it feels closer to XCOM (except that I would not recommend playing it ironman at all).
Most of the classes (I say most because I didn't play all of them) have intgeresting abilities and synergies.
Almost all of the battles (all of them maybe?) are 4 vs 4, so it can get a bit old, but the opponents are very varied, and require different approaches to neutralize them.
As you can see on the screenshots, the game uses generic Unity assets, which is a shame, but it is its main weakness.
Overall, I think this game is really good, even if you have a ton of similar games like I do. It really scratches a slightly different itch.