It’s a new Warhammer Game
It’s a new month and that means we get a new Warhammer game, the joke being that there are an insane number of games set in the Warhammer universe in just about every imaginable genre. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is an RTS game that is set during the titular Age of Sigmar, meaning there aren’t Psyker’s and like in this area of the Warhammer lore. Realms of Ruin is set during a time of high fantasy with golden shining knights and armored dragons and of course ghouls and other creatures depending on which of the 4 factions players choose to battle with.
Stormcast Eternals, Orruk Kruleboyz, Nighthaunt and the Disciples of Tzeentch are the available factions in Realms of Ruin at launch. The Eternals being the human faction and most easily recognized is also the faction that players will use during the campaign. In between-mission cutscenes and in-mission dialogue, players will get to know more about hero units, Sigrun, Iden and Demechrios. I wont lie here, there is A TON of exposition in these cutscenes, the group drags on about artifacts and prophecies and it can be a tad dull if I am honest. Even when playing as the other factions during the campaign run felt a bit off, everything is very serious and buttoned up and being a fan of the 40K side of things I am used to more humor and fun in my Warhammer stories but this didn’t hit those marks. Nor did it really make me feel for the factions involved in the conflict.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $59.99
As I have said on the ZTGD Podcast, I was a huge fan of the Warhammer Dawn of War games, and Realms of Ruin tires to evoke some of those memories. Victory in multiplayer matches and a good portion of the campaign maps is earned when the player drains the opponent of tickets. If you’ve played one of the Battlefield games then you should be familiar. Each map has control points scattered around them and as players take control of these points, they will slowly drain their opponents’ tickets. But mixed in with the 3 victory points there are also resource points scattered around as well. When players take control of these areas, they can upgrade each node with various abilities like one which will heal all units in range, or make a defensive tower that will attack enemy units. All of this was fine and dandy, but what happens; especially in the campaign is that everything just starts feeling “samey”
The most egregious issue I have with this game is the sheer amount of micro-management that it demands. If players have a melee troop posted on a victory point and he starts to receive damage from a ranged unit he will stand there and take the shots until he dies. Not once will they make a move with out human interaction to retaliate against the attackers. You may be asking why this is a problem, well the maps are large and players will need to divide their attention across all the available points, making sure you can keep the victory point in order to win but keeping the other resources nodes as that is the source of income for building new units, upgrades and more. What this game needs is some sort of pause feature that allows players to survey the battlefield and issue commands before going to put out the next fire.
Playing on Series X I was delighted to find that the controller was more than up to the task of being used for an RTS. While we have seen games like Halo Wars and Age of Empires really push the boundaries of making these RTS games controller friendly I am glad to see that Frontier was able to do the same with Realms of Ruin. After the tutorial which explains each of the control options and how to do things, players will be able to set up strike teams and send out commands with ease.
As a RTS fan I don’t hate Realms of Ruin at all, its multiplayer matches are much more entertaining than the campaign; and they even have a ranked playlist for those who really wanna prove their stuff. But as a Warhammer fan I must say I am disappointed, while I am appreciative of the knowledge, I gained about the Age of Sigmar and some of these factions, I just felt that this game sacrificed the humor and over the top nature of the 40k universe for a stoic and very serious tale. But maybe that is just the nature of the Age of Sigmar side of things, as I said this was my first entry but if players enjoy multiplayer RTS games I would recommend Realms of Ruin for its fun and thrilling multiplayer.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
