Against the Storm

Never the same game twice, Against the Storm is a rare gem of a city builder that thrives on chaos but exists in perfect balance, evolving with you as you learn and adapt.

Against the Storm is a perfect storm: It’s a unique blend of genres that executes its ideas without any great flaws. Instead of motivating you to play ‘just one more turn,’ it tempts you into building ‘just one more city,’ condensing the thrilling allure of exploration and mechanical intricacy of a city-builder into runs that will fly by as fast as raindrops in a hurricane.

In Against the Storm, Eremite Games has come up with something unique, innovative, the devs went beyond the borders of the genre, leaving behind its restrictions while creating something never seen before and that can create a new genre. The game has excellent playability and a potential to be fun for dozens or hundreds of hours, surprising us every time with something different. In my opinion - the game is close to perfection.

Against the Storm is an engrossing and fun game. Its focus is on moment-to-moment settlement management but with a ton of gameplay ideas that make each new expedition feel unique. I love the unpredictable nature of the glades as well as the many ways to interact with the Queen’s requests and the dangerous ruins. Winning isn’t easy, although it helps a lot to open up city upgrades, but this is the rare game where failure is enjoyable. Against the Storm is compelling from the start, combines lore and mechanics in interesting ways, and offers gamers a lot of depth to explore.

Against the Storm is a well-designed, charming, enthralling roguelike city builder.

Against the Storm offers an fresh setting and motivating gameplay mechanics. Graphically, this indie game can't really keep up with its glossy competitors. However, the great soundtrack, the original characters, the nasty weather and the dangers lurking in the forest create a very unique, mysterious atmosphere.

Against the Storm boasts fast, intense, perfectly balanced and immensely satisfying gameplay that blends multiple genres. Hugely varied elements the game is built of miraculously work together great and make erecting new settlements a fascinating challenge.

A brilliant city-building and management game with a roguelite structure that makes every defeat a lesson for the next game. Essential for fans of the genre, even if it takes a while to understand all its systems and has a somewhat generic presentation.

An unusual strategy with roguelike elements, excellent processing and addictive gameplay will definitely keep you entertained, and thanks to randomly generated content, it will definitely last a long time.

Against the Storm is one of those titles capable of setting a standard, demonstrating how well-implemented design ideas can make a difference.

Against the Storm is one of the biggest surprises of the year. Not only did the developers successfully merge the genres of city-building strategy, roguelite, and survival into a cohesive whole, but they also created an incredibly addictive strategy game that is just complex and challenging enough, highly variable, and deep. Even after dozens of hours, it remains fresh, engaging, and impossible to put down.

Against the Storm is easily my favorite city builder to reach its full release this year. It manages to escape from the sometimes dull lack of progression felt in some other builders, while also providing a lot of depth to sink your teeth into. Because of that, it lives for far longer than most games in the genre can claim. Eremite Games has really built something special here. A very nearly perfect storm.

Against the Storm is a prime example of what can happen when a small team has clear inspiration, passion, and a willingness to collaborate with its players. It’s a brilliant mix of roguelike, strategy, and small-scale city building that will hook you from the jump.

A game that breaks the stereotype of having to perfect city construction. With a high-quality blend of simulation and roguelite elements, it feels like enjoying a single-player game campaign. Constructing cities in various ways each time and achieving goals provide a sense of accomplishment.

A well rounded mix of construction strategy, survival, worker placement and roguelite. Gloomy, without fights, sometimes hectic, always exciting.

Challenging, extremely good and incredibly exciting: For 30 euros, Against the Storm offers more than most full-price strategy games, making it one of the indie hits of 2023.