As a lifelong fan of RTS games and someone who’s just started getting into the Warhammer scene, I’ve been pretty excited about the upcoming release of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin.
Thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long to dig into the single-player campaign, as developer and publisher, Frontier kindly offered us a hands-on preview of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin’s first three campaign missions.
Frontier is no stranger to creating high-quality RTS games, with incredible games such as The Great War: Western Front and Stranded: Alien Dawn under their belt, I felt pretty confident that the upcoming Warhammer Age of Sigmar title was in good hands.
While the demo version of the game I played didn’t have multiplayer unlocked, the campaign was plenty enough to get an idea of how multiplayer would work. Each map has multiple conquest points, that once captured start to generate resources while draining your opponents.
To win a game, it would seem that you will need to either completely drain your opponent’s score, or destroy their main HQ. Each of these capture points can be used as rally points for your troops. and can even host one of a few upgrades, that can offer perks such as healing your units, defensive weapons, or uncovering parts of the map.
The only thing I would have liked to have seen with these capture points is the ability to build some more defenses, but sadly Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin doesn’t feature building, beyond upgrading these few capture spots, which might be bad news for the city builders among us.
One of the main issues I have with RTS games, with a few exceptions, is the lack of story and quality voice acting. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is one of those exceptions, with impressive cinematics and top-quality voice acting, three missions were enough to leave me hooked and wanting more.
While the first three missions of the campaign didn’t offer much in the way of a challenge, as you would expect from the first few missions of an RTS game, I can easily see how later stages of the campaign, and multiplayer games are going to make players think strategically, and offer a decent challenge.
Speaking of challenges, the enemies aren’t the only thing you need to worry about in Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin. With swamps and mud that can slow down your units, leaving them open to volleys of arrows, you not only need to plan your battles but also your routes.
Everything about Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin feels well thought-out, from the incredible level design to the tug-of-war style gameplay, where having the right balance of units and sound tactics can often be the difference between defeat and victory.
Beyond finding the right balance of units, and capturing and upgrading points on the map, players also have a variety of heroes at their disposal. These heroes all have their own unique spells and abilities that can help shape battles and make the game much more interesting.
Battles are rarely over quickly either, which is a refreshing change of pace, not only does it make the game visually more pleasing, having time to watch your units battle it out, but it also gives you a little time to think about tactics, and how you can change the tide of battle.
It doesn’t matter if you are new to Warhammer games, or a seasoned veteran, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin offers an immersive story, incredible voice acting, and RTS gameplay that really makes you think, all of which is something I have been yearning too see for some time now.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin will be launching on Nov. 17, but for those of you who can’t wait, you can play the demo during the Steam Next Fest from Oct. 9 until Oct. 16, alongside other great games that will be on show, such as the incredible upcoming game, The Thaumaturge.
