The Great War: Western Front

 PC
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 19
  3. Negative: 1 out of 19
  1. COGconnected
    Mar 29, 2023
    72
    Doing its best to make a long-ago conflict come alive, The Great War: Western Front is ambitious and complex. Like the actual war, it requires patience, determination, and the ability to suffer repeated failures to make a small amount of progress. It isn’t so much a hardcore sim that novices can’t decipher it. The problem for me is more with the subject matter, combined with the weight of many systems. Victories never feel jubilant. In World War 1, winning was a matter of losing slightly less than the enemy. History lovers and wargamers will find a lot to enjoy, but for me, playing The Great War: Western Front felt a bit too much like homework and not enough like fun.
  2. GameStar
    Apr 3, 2023
    71
    Quotation forthcoming.
  3. Games.cz
    May 25, 2023
    70
    The Great War: Western Front offers what are undoubtedly the best tactical battles set in World War I we’ve ever seen. It’s original and full of tense atmosphere, even if some might complain about reused battlefields and weaker graphics. There’s balancing to be done and bugs to be squashed, but I’m confident that after a few patches an already fun game will get even better.
  5. Movies Games and Tech
    Apr 24, 2023
    70
    The Great War: Western Front: is a wonderful treat for those who have experience with the RTS genre and an intense interest in history. For those like myself who have no experience with RTS games however, this can be a major struggle to get through and has the potential to be just another game in a backlog that won’t be touched again after the initial hours.
  6. SECTOR.sk
    Apr 17, 2023
    70
    Big thanks to the authors for choosing WW1 which is unique in this genre. The campaign is a bit clunky, but the combat is unique and contains unusual elements and mechanics that you don't normally see in other RTS.
  7. SpazioGames
    Apr 13, 2023
    70
    An interesting strategic game that delves deep in the Great War and its senseless fights.
  8. Wccftech
    Apr 3, 2023
    70
    The Great War: Western Front is an interesting strategy game that delves into its setting for better and worse. Offering various strategic and tactical opportunities provides a lot for strategy game fans. However, the glacially slow pace will undeniably turn some people off, despite being very much due to the World War One setting. If there is one key issue, the AI is almost like a relic of previous games, seemingly not following the same rules as the player. Other issues with pathfinding also feature. However, despite these issues, I can't help but admit the game is compelling.
  9. Gamereactor UK
    Mar 31, 2023
    70
    At the moment there is very little else that competes with The Great War: Western Front and it is probably the best modern interpretation of trench warfare on the gaming market.
  10. Gameblog.fr
    Mar 27, 2023
    70
    The Great War Western Front is a unique game. The game seems to be constantly juggling between historical veracity and the obligation to make it a playful work.
  11. PC Gamer
    Apr 3, 2023
    68
    The Great War: Western Front is a bleak, conservative attempt to capture the brutal battles of World War I.
  12. PCGamesN
    Mar 27, 2023
    60
    Grim-faced dedication to history has produced a rules-heavy RTS that’s rarely fun or strategically rewarding – a highly accurate depiction of the First World War, in other words, and a success in that respect at least.
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  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Mar 27, 2023
    I like Western Front, for sure. Its frustrations detract from a good experience rather than overwriting it, and it's more entertaining than the theme suggests, without feeling glib or shallow. It's a solid go at a difficult niche, blending tactics and strategy well, but is best enjoyed on its own terms, and with perhaps a little more patience than I have.
  2. Vice
    Mar 27, 2023
    The Great War: Western Front is a small game about a big topic that uses clever abstractions to keep things simple to understand and quick to play. It achieves a lot with a couple good ideas, but as the game goes on and it attempts to show how the war evolved even as its stalemate persisted, it needs more ideas and better execution than it brings to the table. Implying more evolution and development than it truly depicts, The Great War: Western Front ends up being a pleasant and convenient wargame but falls short of being a great one.