Recent reviews by CultOfAlan

I want to love this game I really do but it is simply INFURIATING.

On top of some real polish and bug problems (I actually spotted a 0 used instead of a O in one of the game menus and controls often glitch out).

But it is the in-game combat that completely breaks any semblance of logic.
Have 5 armies in range of a battle? No, sorry but you have to fight a battle one army on one army.
Have a stack of units on a fortress tile? Sorry, you don't get control of that tile in the battle because the AI is attacking another army.
The attacker has an absolutely gigantic advantage in every battle also - as their ranged units will invariably take out your ranged units before they even get started.
this would all be liveable if it wasn't for the fact that the AI cheats units in at a ridiculous rate. I've won 5 battles in a row against an AI with just one city remaining and they immediately have 5 full stacks within one or two turns.

The narration is fun, the visuals are great, and there are some wonderful ideas.
But these issues make it a game that simply is not worth your time or money.

I really wanted to give this game a thumbs up as the RTS genre has been missing a base building RTS and the general production quality of the artwork etc is solid for an indie product.

However. I can't really recommend this game.
Whilst the modular upgrade system is innovative and invokes the same feeling as the systems you made in Alpha Centauri it leaves a set of problems. Firstly; there's no reason to use a weapon other than rockets. They're objectively better than all other weapons. Secondly; in multiplayer you either have to be max ranked or hope that your opponent has a similar tech level than you - otherwise it's a bloodbath.

The single player campaign is a real let down also. Because you are almost always playing against multiple AI opponents with a higher tech level than you there is literally only one tactic in each mission: rushing. None of the levels are innovative and because the mission criteria is usually "annihilate you opponent" timed missions are frustrating as you can lose because you're still hunting for that last harvester unit.
There's also an element that missions with something that you need to defend often has those things on the other side of the map so you have to fight through the AI's base to get to it meaning that you have to bum rush the AI base regardless.

There's also no balance at all.
It's quite possible lose the first "tutorial" level as your initial tech is so far behind the AI that if you're still getting used to the GUI it can sneak up on you.
On the 5th level the AI gets a unit that has an absurdly high dps, self heals and summons multiple *super weapon* attacks. Meaning that that one unit can defeat your entire army in one attack.
Worse still, because of the way that the tech system awards points - if you've lost a level you have to sit and wait whilst the AI destroys your entire base and units else you don't get awarded those precious tech points.

Overall Forged Battalion has a great soundtrack and has a neat idea behind it - but the balance and overall execution of the idea turns what could have been a fun little game into a grind with a very repetitive game loop.