Against the Storm is Eremite Games' latest city-builder roguelike, featuring randomly generated maps, traditional RTS elements, and an expansive meta-progression system. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Against The Storm Review Overview
Against The Storm Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Perfectly Marries Two Genres Highly Accessible to City-Builder Novices Well-paced Meta Progression |
Massive Time Sink It Gets Visually Cluttered at Times |
Against The Storm Overall Score - 90/100
This game is a sleeper hit and one that really came out of the storm swinging. It dared to combine two genres that had no business being together, taking the best each had to offer and doing away with their downsides. Against The Storm is ingenuity and creative game design manifest. If it wasn't part city-builder, this game would be among the roguelike genre's greatest.
Against The Storm Story - 7/10
Against The Storm's story is uniquely compelling for a city-builder, as most games from the genre usually dump compelling narratives to focus on gameplay. The world-building is on point, but a little too much is left vague for the casual player to pick up without sinking tens of hours into the game.
Against The Storm Gameplay - 10/10
This game took every good thing the roguelike genre can offer and tempered it with the pacing and complexity of a city-builder. Its fairly paced meta-progression is enhanced greatly by its steady and addicting gameplay loop. Every decision feels like it matters and every move gets you closer to your goal. This is a truly sublime experience, one you'd be remiss to ignore.
Against The Storm Visuals - 9/10
Against The Storm is heavily stylized for a city-builder, but it strangely works well with its roguelike parts. It's a mesmerizing cross between World of Warcraft's neo-pagan design, the heavily outlined characters of a children's storybook, and the calculated majesty of an oil painting. One would expect it to be a hot mess, but strangely works. The only thing keeping this game from a perfect visual score is its consistency, as the switch from blocky 3D architecture to 2D Renaissance paintings can be a bit jarring at times.
Against The Storm Audio - 9/10
Against The Storm's audio is actually quite good for a city-builder, and not just for its music, but its voice acting too. The music never goes stale, despite the long sessions you'd undoubtedly pull to get to the next outpost. And the titular storm is the icing on the cake, giving you ear-tingles from the constant ASMR.
Against The Storm Value for Money - 10/10
Don't let the modest price tag fool you, this game is a dense cube of content that you're gonna spend tens, if not hundreds, of hours on. Every single leg of the journey is its own city to build, meaning each "run" is comprised of several city-builder games stacked on top of each other. And that's not even considering the amount of randomness that can happen in between. Much like a nomadic viceroy trudging through the infinite forests of an unending deluge, you're in for the long haul, and there's always something new for you to find along the way.
Against The Storm Review: A Near-Perfect Storm
What do you get when you combine the vast metagame progression and infinite replayability of a roguelike with the micromanagement and synergistic gameplay of a city-builder? The short answer is Against The Storm. The long answer is the rest of this review.
Against The Storm beautifully married the roguelike and city-builder genres into something truly special - a game that thrives in the best of both worlds, with all the upsides and almost no downsides. It created a game that is wonderfully complex, but not confusingly so; an experience that will keep you hooked for hours on end without ever letting you go; a truly sublime trek through a curious world unblemished by the sunrise. Let’s go through everything that makes this game tick one raindrop at a time, shall we?
Against The Storm at its core is a city-builder, though it goes to great lengths to incorporate the staples of the roguelike genre in its gameplay. Such staples include a vast tech tree that’s unlocked with metagame currency, a loadout system provided at the start of every run, and a series of boons and bundles given periodically in the middle of every city-building segment. No two runs will ever be the same, boosting the game’s replayability skyward and keeping even the most hardened fans of the genre on their toes.
That isn’t to say that this game is for veterans only; quite the contrary, in fact. This game is a good gateway to both the RTS and city-builder genres, as it incentivizes high-level play instead of requiring it. This lets players learn at their own pace, making it more accessible to newbies down the line.
Delving deeper into the specifics of Against The Storm’s gameplay, your main goal is to carry out the Queen’s orders by producing, refining, processing, and foraging resources through your outpost. The Queen has limited patience, however, and taking too long to fulfill her orders will get you sacked from your position as her viceroy. Filling out her orders is no easy feat, especially when both the skies and forests are against you. Constant hostility from the treeline and sleet from up above will lower the resolve of your villagers, making them inefficient and - in extreme cases - rebellious.
With that out of the way, we can discuss how the game presents itself because, by Jove is it something else. Against The Storm has a unique style that’s hard to put down in words. If I were to describe it using other media, my best attempt would be " a cross between World of Warcraft, C.S Lewis, and an old Renaissance painting." Even the game’s UI and audio reflect this, evoking a melancholic, but strangely recalcitrant vibe that makes you want to rage AGAINST THE STORM.
The only nitpick I have against this game is its story. I am a fan of the world it’s trying to build, but it’s just a tad too vague in my opinion. The premise is solid and the throughline between the themes is noticeable, I just think a lot of it will go above your casual player’s head.
Overall, this is a solid game with a strange set of mechanics that shouldn’t go well together but do. Its visuals and audio work together to evoke a sad but rebellious feeling that reflects the game’s themes well. Owing to its vague story, however, this game could only be a near-perfect storm.
Pros of Against The Storm
| Things Against The Storm Got Right |
|---|
| Perfectly Marries Two Genres Highly Accessible to City-Builder Novices Well-paced Meta Progression |
Perfectly Marries Two Genres
As stated before, this game combines two genres that usually have no business together. It’s far from being the first game to do so, but I’m willing to wager that this game’s implementation of the odd pairing is the best among its peers.
There are many ways that the game does so, but I’d like to highlight its combination of RTS time cycles with the roguelike genre’s boon system. Similar to other roguelikes like Hades, Nuclear Throne, and Death Must Die, you gain a boon every now and then, selected from a randomly generated set provided. Instead of gaining EXP or finding the boon, it is given to you at the start of every in-game year, right after the Storm, which is easily the hardest part of every year.
This is accompanied by a selection of citizens and resources (also randomly generated), so you are incentivized to hold out against all odds until the start of the next year. City-builders don’t usually do this, leaving you to get resources on your own. This even extends to the new zones you unlock through woodcutting called "glades", all of which provide a randomly set of events and resources to speed you along.
Highly Accessible to City-Builder Novices
Nothing discourages a novice city-builder more than a difficulty spike. I am happy to report, however, that Against The Storm has no such spike. Everything is paced out well, forcing you to go through a couple of tutorial cities before actually letting you head out by yourself. These tutorial cities are well thought out, allowing the player to learn all the basics without spoiling too much of the game’s true complexity right out of the gate.
Moving forward guides and tutorials are readily accessible in the game’s built-in archives. The UI also tells you how any resource is made, processed, or gathered, what facilities create which materials, and other such tidbits to assist with any stipulations a novice might have. This genre is certainly hard to get into, but there’s no better gateway than Against The Storm.
Well-paced Meta Progression
Meta Progression is a defining feature of the roguelike genre and Against The Storm represents it well with its expansive tech tree. This can sometimes be an afterthought, exemplified by games that give you so much progression per run that there might as well not be a tech tree.
Others give so little that it takes too long for the gameplay loop to pay dividends. Against The Storm balances this well, giving you just enough to progress without pushing you to the end right away.
Cons of Against The Storm
| Things That Against The Storm Can Improve |
|---|
| Massive Time Sink It Gets Visually Cluttered at Times |
Massive Time Sink
You’re gonna be here for a while, there’s just no getting around it. This is the truth of the genre, especially for games that let you pause the progression of time to plan. The first two tutorial missions will take you a couple of hours to finish and your first real run will take twice that long. Expect every run after that to be longer.
While this isn’t a bad thing per se, not everyone has the time, patience, or attention span to play for that long. Taking a breather is always an option, but losing your momentum after a 2-hour session could be a death sentence for a game like this. If you don’t have the time to spare, maybe this isn’t the game for you.
It Gets Visually Cluttered at Times
I like this game’s visuals but too much of a good thing will eventually turn bad. Aesthetically pleasing as it is, the game can get so cluttered at times, especially during the late game of every outpost when you have thirty-something citizens running around. The similar-looking buildings don’t help with the confusion either, only compounding the disorientation the rain particles give you. It probably won’t induce a stroke, but if you’re easily distracted, you may want to sit this one out.
Is Against The Storm Worth It?
Absolutely, This Game's Practically A Steal!
On all fronts, yes, this game is worth its price, and then some. $15 is middling, some might even call it cheap, but this game is anything but. You’re potentially getting hundreds of hours of gameplay for the price of a modest lunch. Even if you’re not too big on the city-builder or roguelike genres, this game is cheap enough that a try probably wouldn’t hurt your wallet. Give it a try, why not?
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
 Steam |
$14.99 |
Against The Storm Overview & Premise
You walk as one of the Queen's many viceroys, tasked with the important duty of overseeing the expansion of her domain and hunting down the end to this endless storm. Many before you have tried and failed, but yours is a journey that might finally see the sun crest the horizon once more. Your outposts, though temporary, bring you one step closer to your goal. Your citizens, though fickle, will be the foundation by which your many cities will flourish.
Will your efforts finally end this frightful torrent, or will you erode away in your fight against the storm?
Against The Storm FAQ
What Happens if I Attack the Trader in Against The Storm?
Attacking the Trader is one way of securing free resources in Against The Storm, but it carries with it a whole list of consequences. Firstly, the Queen's Impatience will rise, bringing you one step closer to losing the run. Secondly, some of your villagers will die at random (the number depends on difficulty). Lastly, you'll get a massive debuff that delays all Trader arrivals to your outpost, with some traders outright refusing to trade afterward.
On the bright side, you'll also get around half of their inventory for free as a result.
What are Some Beginner Tips for Against The Storm?
Against The Storm prides itself in providing a tough, but solvable set of challenges for players to solve. Here are some beginner tips to help you through your first few runs.
Keep Hostility Down During The Storm
Forest Hostility rises during the storm period of every year, causing your villager's resolve to decrease across the board. One way to prevent this from happening is unassigning villagers from your Woodcutter's workplaces. In the meantime, they can serve as spare workers for other buildings or as builders.
Don't Rush Your Orders
Try not to choose your orders until you've weathered your first Storm. This will grant you a cornerstone and let you build up your outpost, increasing your chance of fulfilling them quickly.
Stockpile Resources Before Clearing Dangerous Glades
Dangerous and Forbidden Glades usually have events that require Tools, Sea Marrow, and Coal to complete. Make sure to stockpile these resources before you clear a path to them with your woodcutters.
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Against The Storm Product Information
 |
|
| Title | AGAINST THE STORM |
|---|---|
| Release Date | December 08, 2023 |
| Developer | Eremite Games |
| Publisher | Eremite Games, Hooded Horse |
| Supported Platforms | PC |
| Genre | Survival, Action, Simulation, Roguelike |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | N/A |
| Official Website | Against The Storm Website |
