Against The Storm; a great mash-up of genres

In my last post I declared my love for “Dad Games” and I think the City Builder is right up there in the list of Dad Game types. However Rouge-Likes are the exact opposite. Yet recently I was recommended Against The Storm by a friend and since it was on Xbox Game Pass for PC I gave it a shot. Dear gods has it got its hooks into me.

A quick history lesson.

For those of you who are unaware of the genres, a city-builder is as it sounds; you build a city with limited resources with the goal usually being to grow the city. You will often have to manage things like budgets, supply chains, people & resources. Some examples of this would be games like the Cities Skylines, Steam World Build & The Anno series.

The rouge-like gets its name from a game that was originally released back in the 1980’s where you had to go through dungeons floor by floor to get the prize at the bottom. Then you had to get back out the way you came. As you go deeper the enemies get tougher. As you go along you find items, weapons and gain experience to level up so you become stronger. Where the more modern genre differs from rouge is the “run” mechanics found in games like where when you die you can spend points on upgrades to permanently improve you character.

Build, Move on, Build again.

I am a fan of the first but not the second. I have found the run-die-run again mechanic of rouge-likes to not be very rewarding. This game has changed that.

In Against The Storm you set out to build a settlement. You have a limited number of buildings you can make at the start. As you gain points by completing events or challenges you get to select from a random pick of blueprints. Couple that with the randomly generated nature of the maps, the random perks you can buy or earn over time and the game demands of you a deep knowledge of its economy.

This is because you need to keep the morale up of your different citizens. They have different wants and achieving that can be impossible depending on the map. For example I have played multiple maps where I could not get a source of plant fibres. This means making cloth becomes challenging and in turn making clothes (one of the basic morale boosting items) is downright impossible.

You cannot be a one trick pony.

You are forced to take risks by expanding your domain and opening glades which are covered by a fog. They are labelled in terms of challenge but that’s all you get. Most of them have some kind of issue to deal with. You have time to make a decision and gather materials but after a while something bad will happen. This can vary from simple things like minor morale loss to straight up killing citizens! You are given 2 choices for any of these scenarios and you need to weigh up the pros and cons of each. Some are simple but others can be a real pain on timing.

When you get the required number of victory points for the map you get currency to spend on upgrades. These can unlock permanent blueprints, improvement in citizen stats or new mechanics. These upgrades are locked behind additional currencies and experience point requirements. This incentivises you to seek out points of interest on the world map which add additional challenge to the next city you are about to make.

A small nit-pick.

If I had a problem with the game it would be the trade mechanics. Amber, the games currency, is exceptionally powerful. With it you have access to more materials, buildings, perks and allows you to re-roll random selections. I have only played on the lower difficulties currently but I have amassed a kings ransom multiple times. The only balance you have here is the speed at which traders arrive and what they bring.

Absolutely loved it!

I have loved my time with Against The Storm so far. For the first time I have enjoyed the various challenges and issues you get from a rouge-like.

If you are looking for a game that will challenge how you go about the city builder genre each time you play and forces you to to vary your approach I would recommend you give it a go.

I have been playing it on Xbox Game Pass for PC but it is also available on Steam too. There is also a demo available.