"The Forest was, we were not. We will not be, the Forest will." - an old Polish saying (translation mine).

I feel like this game is the embodiment of this saying. It's called "Against the Storm", but the Storm is merely what allows the Forest to bear its true fangs against you. Just like the patch of trees that looks lush and inviting during a sunny day fills you with dread when shrouded in the night's darkness.

The Forest doesn't want you here, but the Scorched Queen demands new settlements. The influx of goods is the only thing that keeps the last bastion of civilisation - the Smoldering City - resisting the Blightstorm that comes every 50 years or so. The world has ended everywhere but there; if the City falls, it's truly over. And the Queen herself is the only force that can keep it safe - so whatever she says, no matter how cruel or draconic, goes. And her patience is thin; this is where you come in.

This is a city builder. You're not going to be managing the Smoldering City - that's the Crown's job. Instead, you're a Viceroy: you lead a group of hardy settlers into the Storm-ravaged land, with the purpose of establishing a self-sufficient settlement. But not just one! Once you "win" a settlement, you'll move on (you can continue if you really want to, though).

And you won't be able to just replicate what you've done. This is also a roguelike, sort of. Every "run" (settlement) is going to be different: different race composition, different local conditions, different resources to find, different blueprints you're going to roll, different orders. There's a huge amount of variety, even if it's not as deep as I'd like...

The biggest thing will be the blueprint pool. There's a huge amount of buildings in the game - and all of them have some kind of utility. Yes, all of them: there's no such thing as an objectively bad building (except your starter workshops, they're only there to make sure you have access to basic resources). However, in a given run you'll only be given around 10 of these - and that's piecemeal; you'll get three to get you going, and the rest you get as you progress through the run.

And you can't just select 10 of the same, either. You have to choose one of four that you're given (there are rerolls, thankfully). But the choice is always going to be difficult, because there's a lot to consider. Not only the building has to fit the conditions, it also needs to play nice with your current supply chain.

All buildings broadly fit into three categories. Gathering camps, manufacturing and service. Further away in a map there will be resources that you can't harvest using your initial gathering buildings, so it might be a good idea to use up one of your precious blueprint slots to gain access to those rich resource nodes.

Service buildings provide a passive buff, but more importantly, they allow your people to use advanced resources to fill a service need. Humans and Beavers like to get a drink at the Tavern, Lizards and Frogs like to beat the sh!t outta each other at the Clan Hall, Foxes and Harpies have damaged bodies so they like to receive treatment at the Bathhouse. But of course in order to fulfil these needs you need these advanced resources, in this case ale, training gear and tea respectively (there's more).

But most of the buildings are manufacturing. They process some resources into something else. Be it cooked food, clothing, building materials, refined fuel for your hearth; but the buildings differ by what exactly they can produce, and how efficiently. Sure, you can make skewers in the Furnace, but you'll use less resources if you do it on the Grill, instead.

But... can you even produce the Skewers? All recipes have flexible ingredients so you can adapt, but still: you need protein and non-grain plant matter. Do you have a source, or at least a stockpile of both? Do you even need the Skewers? Sure, cooked food is more efficient so it can stave off starvation should it come to that, but perhaps Porridge would be better? Skewers are liked by Bats, Lizards and Foxes, do you have those in your current setup? What's that, you have Foxes, Humans and Frogs? Yeah, then Porridge is better, since all three of those like Porridge.

But that's a simple setup. Some recipes require more steps in the supply chain. Add to this the fact that you also need to have construciton materials, ways to deal with events, and stuff for export as a source of precious revenue... and I'd say you're getting the picture.

So all of this is, well, to make your people happy. The Forest is oppressive, especially during the Storm, and if their morale drops too low, they'll start leaving. The Queen doesn't want them leaving - it increases her Impatience. Once that reaches a certain number, you're out. But oh, just being nice to your people isn't enough; Impatience grows on its own, too. Thankfully, it can be decreased - by gaining Reputation. It is, in fact, how you win: by getting enough Reputation.

You gain Reputation by completing Orders, dealing with events in a way that pleases the Crown, and keeping your people's morale over a certain high threshold. What makes the last one challenging is that not only they get more decadent as you keep them happy, increasing the threshold, but the Forest. It hates. Every year it hates more. Every new villager, it hates more. Every glade you cut to (mandatory to get resources), it hates more. And the more it hates, the more uneasy your people get. So it becomes harder to keep them happy.

Luckily, the Forest can be placated a little. It hates you, but it hates the Queen even more: the more impatient you make her, the milder its hatred. There are also events and perks that decrease Hostility, giving you breathing room. This is a tightrope: making the Queen happy decreases Impatience, which will in turn increase Hostility, which will decrease morale, which will increase Impatience...

Eh, it's not that bad. You do need to act with purpose, but once you get how the game works, it's challenging but doable. I lost only two games out of fifty-ish. You can set the difficulty and conditions to your liking - there are many levels (including Prestige), and they're further affected by your choice of settlement location. Some make it easier, some harder. Mostly harder.

For example, you might select a location where trees give extra wood. Or where the hostility system scales differently. Or where there's no wood whatsoever but lots of stone, and you need to rely on traders, exports and the black market to get basic resources. Pick what you want! Experimenting is fun, and gives achievements if you're into that.

Damn, this review really got outta hand, so let's wrap it up. The game's incredible - but some things are underdeveloped. It has fantastic lore, but there's no story, and that's such a shame. The Blightrot mechanic is also a bit flat: it's presented as this grand challenge, but it's literally just having a running fire brigate (literal fire, they burn stuff).

I don't know how many people got to the "end" - reforging the Gold Seal gives you the credits - there's no achievement for this one; but there is an achievement for winning on Viceroy difficulty, which is a prerequisite to that, and 18% of players have it, so let's make it 15%. Not that great, but that's probably because of just how much you need to play to get there.

I had lots of fun though, and I'll keep playing. Check out both DLCs too, they really tie the experience together.

Curator Page

its a supply chain game where both the supplies, and the chain are both random. i'm sure if i spent 300 hours or had spreadsheets open i'd have an easier time knowing what things had a higher chance of spawning where, but i dont. this game would be improved so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ much by having a feature that just told you "this blueprint has access to x thing on your map", "this blueprint gathers x thing your y building needs" etc when you make choices.

also a city builder where ur cities dont matter in the slightest and u just make an abomination that holds things in relatively optimal spots cause it doesnt matter in 45 mins anyways.

why are choices locked. why can i not choose to make a choice later after seeing my next options. why do i have to pick NOW and hope that i'll end up getting the other blueprint at some point to make it work. why can i only pick an order right now, why cant i pick my order later after deciding on other orders.

my runs have never felt like i made the correct decision from great understanding, rather that i happened to stumble upon something decent enough to make do.

and the times it doesn't? darn, my buildings didnt end up being what i needed. and i dont know what resources i need. lets open up some no-risk glades to see new areas. darn nothing there. alright ill open this medium risk glade to see if theres anything there. okay ill pick some blueprints that should end up being relatively synergistic with this one slight risk glade i found.

open next risk glade. have absolutely nothing that can solve its problems so im just getting ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by the downsides. like actually go ♥♥♥♥ yourself with that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you aren't clever.

winning the game is just using tools on packages (which u cant make outside of rare tech production line) and u just have to trader them, or lucking into an event that gives victory points u have the stuff for. or resolve by making your people happy. from items YOU CANT GET CAUSE THEY DIDNT SPAWN THE FULLY SUPPLY CHAIN.

trader doesnt have tools? gg. trader doesnt have the thing u didnt roll into to complete this event? gg. map didnt spawn the thing to defeat the event? gg. didnt get all the things you need to supply chain your people's happiness? gg.

i feel like the game is trying to make fun of me by spawning events i cant deal with and buildings i cant use.

meta progression has stuff which helps this, except i get so few resources per run that i dont even want to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bother. triple it and it would make the early game feel so much less ♥♥♥♥.

Just an all around good game.

Frustrating... but that is the point. You want something simple? Go get the SIMS and light someone on fire in the kitchen by giving them no cooking skills whatsoever.

The interface is not intuitive and it will take a bit, but it does make sense. It is a classic strategy (timed) game that makes sense when you get into the groove. Stressful, but relaxing at the same time. Just a classic.