Siege Survival: Gloria Victis

It’s not easy to survive in a medieval town under siege. Sometimes you’ll have to eat a rat, sometimes you won’t have anything to drink - and it all works surprisingly well in this new survival strategy game.

Siege Survival: Gloria Victus is a good game overall, with some minor flaws here and there. It's not a game for everyone, despite having multiple and entertaining modes.

Siege Survival’s focus is on realism and the complexity of the management: it’s a good game, but it needs some expertise in the genre to be fully appreciated.

Skillful adaptation of setting and a fresh take on certain mechanics help Siege Survival stand out among other survival strategies. Too bad that the team didn’t find a solution to the basic problem of the genre: as soon as you figure out the right tactic, there will be no challenge left in the game. [Issue#253, p.58]

The strength of Gloria Victis: Siege Survival comes from an unusual mix of strategy, stealth, and narrative. The game is polished, quite pretty, with a clean interface, lacks bugs, and offers multiple options for setting the difficulty level. Siege Survival may be a small game, but it has a heart.

Siege Survival: Gloria Victis is a thoroughly brutal mix of simulation and roguelike. It’s only for those who want an unforgiving experience and are happy to labour not for a glorious kingdom, but for one more day of desperate survival. If you want a darker simulation title then you’ll find Siege Survival: Gloria Victis is gritty enough to clear a snowed-in driveway in Antarctica.

This Gloria Victis spin-off is literally a This War of Mine gone medieval. It’s a tale of a bunch of civilians trying to survive a war, and many gameplay mechanics were clearly inspired by the 11 bit studios game. I really liked the fresh concept of helping to defend the stronghold by supporting soldiers with resources instead of actually participating in battles, but awful enemy AI and dull story made it impossible for me to truly enjoy the experience. [08/2021, p.40]

Siege Survival: Gloria Victis is a good game with beautiful storytelling. However, it can be annoying in some matters.

I would recommend Siege Survival: Gloria Victis to players who like difficult management games and muddy depressing fantasy. I know you guys are out there. I’m one of those people. And despite my many criticisms of the game, I intend to keep playing it after this review has gone live. That’s not necessarily always the case! But there is a spark of something at the core of Siege Survival: Gloria Victis. It’s a puzzle, and if I can just line all the pieces up, I know I’ll feel the satisfaction of solving a difficult gaming challenge. But I will not be able to help imagining the game this could have been; brighter, sleeker, and more imaginative.

Variety in stories and settings could have gone a long way to making Siege Survival Gloria Victis a more compelling game. As it stands, while those who enjoy a mix of strategy and deliberately melancholy narrative threads may find it engaging for a while, it’s all a bit too uneven to really recommend.