The Storm Guard: Darkness is Coming

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The Storm Guard is a challenging turn-based roguelike role-playing game inspired by the Night’s Watch in the Game of Thrones.

You assume the role of the Lord Commander of the Storm Guard leading the order during difficult times. An ancient dragon and its minions have returned, threatening the realm of men. While in your base, you must recruit, train and develop a team of heroes in their quest to restore peace. Make smart decisions during the random events you will run into and battle countless different creatures ranging from mere goblins to huge abominable creatures like wyverns, golems, ogres and worse. On the tactical combat map, put the skills you have learned to the test to defeat powerful opponents.

Your chances in battle not only depend on your tactical decisions but also on your preparation. Assemble well-rounded teams and pick from dozens of different skills to creature unique synergies between your team members that work for you and your preferred playstyle.

  • Rich turn-based combat with a wide range of interesting mechanics, including numerous conditions (bleeding, burning, weakened, blind, crippled, ...), knockdowns, shouts, buffs, enchantments, and hexes.
  • Interesting combat mechanics that allow flanking, tying up, disengaging, and smart combinations of skills.
  • Numerous playable hero classes to pick from to add to your team with dozens of unique abilities to specialize in.
  • Challenging encounters against close to 40 different creature types each with their own abilities. Ever since the Ancient Dragon returned, Orks, Giants, Undead and Mystic Creatures roam the realm of men causing death and destruction.
  • Defeat intelligent monsters that collaborate, heal and buff their allies and have their own strategy on how to put your heroes to the grave.
  • Use your gold wisely on the strategy layer to invest into skill development, equipment, consumables or additional heroes.
  • Rest in town to recover from injuries that reduce your constitution or gain morale boosts by exceptional performance in battle.
  • Classic RPG/roguelike features like permadeath, procedural dungeons, and random events result in high replayability.
More information.
 
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Hmm, I notice on the Steam page that this game, and Ember too, is listed as running only on Windows 7. Are we supposed to take this literally? I'm a bit leery of such things because I just bought a game I couldn't run on Windows 10 from GOG; didn't notice that Windows 10 wasn't listed as a supported OS. I can't believe that would be true for a new release on Steam, but you never know.
 
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Hmm, I notice on the Steam page that this game, and Ember too, is listed as running only on Windows 7. Are we supposed to take this literally? I'm a bit leery of such things because I just bought a game I couldn't run on Windows 10 from GOG; didn't notice that Windows 10 wasn't listed as a supported OS. I can't believe that would be true for a new release on Steam, but you never know.

Well, Steam lets you get a refund for games that you've played for less than 2 hours, don't they? In Ember's case I imagine it was just an oversight as I doubt a new Windows game wouldn't support the most recent OS.

I believe GOG also offers refunds if you're unable to get a game running.
 
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I have this game wish listed on Steam. Will wait for a few patches I think. Anyone here have a decent amount of play time with Storm Guard?
 
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sitting right on the edge of buying this one, just need a push...
 
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I've played it for awhile. I like the game, but it does feel a bit repetitive sometimes. While it does do some things better then Darkest Dungeon (it's closest inspiration), overall I don't feel it's quite as good yet. It doesn't really have a good flow to it once you get into the mid game, and it's lacking a certain amount of polish. The main strength is probably the different classes, which have a reasonable amount of depth to them and some real decisions to make between the different skills.

Anyway my review is probably coming off harsher than it should. I do like the game, but if your thinking of waiting for a few more patches, that might not be the worst thing.
 
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Discovering the game, about 15H, started 3rd week of the campaign, max level characters are still level 3, 10 heroes and 3 soldiers, about 15 missions done so about 220 text events and about 70 combats. So it's a superficial point of view because I probably haven't seen much of the full campaign.

After Elex all games was boring or not fun enough to keep me in and I tried play like 20. And then finally one clicked, this one. I bet I'll just speak to a wall as I did for Super Dungeon Tactics, but ok why not.

The comparison with Darkest Dungeon is unfair, even if many comments highlight it's the closest:
- Darkest Dungeon use flat 2D, flat 2D combats with party in a line, was a very successful Kickstater made by a full (small) team with a high starting budget and obvious ambitions.
- SGDC uses true "realistic" 3D obviously costing a lot more, but also combats on a grid, flat and only few obstacles but it's still another level with movements, ranges, AOE, backstabbing system, AOO system, many effects related to movements and positions. Also it seems be a one man project (certainly with occasional hires or friends) and probably a first project so it's wiser not be too ambitious for first project of an indie dev.

So it's a huge difference of budgets and ambitions, and make a direct comparison is naive. SGDC is a true indie game, if you don't play such low budget indie games, skip it obviously. It's no AAA game, the 3D isn't at same level, and the storytelling vocals are ok but not fully pro and it will require some time to get used to them. Also the writing is ok but nothing noteworthy, events are cool but it's just a solid job.

This clarified, it's the typical game not having a massive amount of features but a fair amount well tuned, and a true gameplay designed and tuned. At least now, I don't know at release because I bought it like 2/3 month after release and totally forgot it.

The base management is focused on your heroes management with a few additional features like a base/town panic level, taxes at end of week, base tasks to collect food/money/xp/lower panic, improving your base is done by achieving some missions with a reward related to unlock base improvement and then pay them.

There are various type of missions, base patrols, special events, threats to manage, some are keys in campaign progression and/or base progression. Some don't have any time limit, but many have either a precise time limit either have a sort of time limit because they increase panic each day.

Missions are series of text events linked on a grid map, they can involve get more gold/consumable/food, learn a new skill/spell, manage reputation level with the 3 factions (human, dwarf, elf), shop events, sometimes find a new recruit. Some will involve a combat depending of choice during the event, some no combat at all, some a forced combat you can only flee, some events offer a clear optional combat. During a mission you manage rations and consumables, and a global management characters constitution.

Roster management and combats are the core of the gameplay, and they are the deeper elements. Everything cost gold so you need choose between consumable, equipments, learn or upgrade skills/spells, recruit new heroes, some rare base improvement to pay.

Also there's 3 rests slots to restore a general fatigue level from missions and base tasks, and character constitution.

That's the main aspects, it seems to be a struggle against time, with campaign progressing along time and your roster to improve fast enough to follow this progression. There's 3 difficulty levels I'm trying Normal, the middle difficulty.

The combats are only on a grid, there's a few obstacles but it's minor, it's mainly flat. Some special combats have a special feature but usually it's two teams, your heroes/soldiers and enemies, and you need kill them all. I saw some variations, one requested kill a specific unit before a number of turn, another requested kill a specific unit, one involved two waves coming to party. But the variations are mainly coming from enemies constantly evolving, I doubt that despite the 70 combats already done any single was against the same group. When enemies are scaled up to campaign progression, most often it will bring to enemies some new skill/spell/passive ability plus the speed/hp/damages changed.

But despite this constant diversity and that I'm only at beginning of 3rd week, for sure it's plenty combats and many combats will involve a similar strategy approach mainly influenced by party composition and current skills available. So yeah sometimes if you chain too many combats they could feel similar, but they won't behave the same and some new enemies units or skills really change some aspect and need some adaptation.

Overall the combats are better than many similar because there's a sophisticated design of skills, around attack of opportunity and area controlled, backstabbing, buff and debuff, movements. But it's just a flat grid, so combat area is basic. One depth aspect is you can play any action of any character in order you want, and there are multiple synergy mechanism to exploit, this adds a depth layout.

For me those party turn based combats are better than those of many party TB games, but those other games don't use that many combats and that can make a difference. Also it's good but not among the best turn based party combats but my own list of those tops isn't long.

Manage the roster is interesting, and definitely the glue for the campaign. Manage the base is very minimal and cool more for the mood. Overall, it's very fun, but it's low cost indie production and amount of content, and I suspect the design of campaign is too extended, but I can say only by playing more if not a full campaign.
 
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So I have progressed into the game (end of 3rd week), an in my point of view I have reach a new phase.

At first it's many new stuff, heroes and even soldiers are cool, you discover many event, many new classes and skills, there a constant stream of new enemies, combats and manage heroes is fun, more. It's very fun.

Then the flow of new enemies slow down, events are from a pool you have already seen beside few special stuff, you realize most combats are just in an arena. For me it was still fun but I noticed the repetitive aspects, and play sessions time lowered.

Then and it certainly depend of how well you managed it and the number of heroes that died, but at a point you realize the campaign pressure rise and you struggle to follow, you are slightly overloaded by the pressure increase, almost any single combat become a struggle starting with the comment "ho no that's not possible, they exaggerated" and you beat it anyway, some combats look like a wall you retry them multiple time and finally beat them. Then all combats are fun because you need exploit resources, often obstacles that was insignificant become tools you start exploit, you need react to battle events and put more care at each round and choose carefully your order of actions at each turn, you put more care in managing constitution along a mission so it's another element to manage in combats. Until one wall either make you give up a mission or accept sacrifice some heroes, but the campaign continues an so on.

So past a point of the game (for me it was end of 2nd week or the 3rd week), when the difficulty haven't been lowered to avoid discourage too many players, the game shows its real face. I's great, it's like a Fantasy XCOM with cheap budget but polished gameplay. Normal in Storm Guard looks to me like Veteran in XCOM, eventually I'll restart at Easy that should be like Normal in XCOM.

The game isn't exempt of flaws, and is clear indie budget on many aspects, but something seem have went wrong. For once Early Access didn't last years but 6 months and added many elements including 3 new classes, I even noticed that the Attack of opportunity Gameplay have probably been tuned with some players comment and it's the most sophisticated and interesting AOO+Backstabbing gameplay I ever seen.

I found exactly one review on sites, only a few preview for Early Access start, zero let's play, only 2/3 starts attempt giving up quickly during first game week (probably not enough views or thumb up), there's a bit more video presenting the game but I gave up check them. From what I see of this game it looks wrong.
 
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I reach 4rth week but not without troubles. I can't (yet) continue play at Normal difficulty and not use save at any point (you can't during a combat but you can at each mission step) and use heavily load back. But as it's, for me, a good challenge and then very fun, I continue that way and I'll see.

I had a special mission that was going to be cancelled because of day timeout, but also end of week so taxes was two days later, with panic level 20+ from 3 missions to do more than 20% taxes lost. Two was adding a static panic of 10 and a third 2 panic each day.

I had too choose between doing two panic missions or one and the special mission. Special mission was level 4 and providing a bonus to stamina cost from doing missions. When panic missions was all level 3.

Stamina is a sort of general fatigue level, I think last XCoM2 extension uses a similar system. It's not influencing statistics of combats but you have to manage it with tasks and missions costing stamina and rest restoring it. Constitution is another layout of global management, both during a mission and overall. This one has a strong influence in combats as bellow 100 it lower Hp level for example 90 means the character starts combat with 90% of HP.

So I took some risks in missions choice to try the special level 4 mission. I succeed reach the final step and final combat achieving the mission, but after 4 reload, I gave up try find how beat the combat. So gave up and failed the mission. At least a few events or even combats along the mission still bring a few stuff. When the panic mission would have save 10% taxes but it's just 60 gold, so the deal was probably favorable despite the mission failed.

Next mission to reach 4rth weak was obviously do a panic mission removing 10 panic.
 
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Just for the quote I'm now close to day 40 and I'm lagging. Eventually my roster size is/was too large. Each character requires a lot of gold for training and equipment so too many characters is a problem.

I already have a character level 6 but he is far to be fully trained and equipped. I have many characters level 5 but many are weakly trained and equipped and only few very well trained.

I came back to a soft permadeath play, and it worked a few weeks, but I lost 6 heroes and it's not insignificant. Then after a party wipe out, "soft" took all its meaning, I loaded back. :)

Overall it's a lot of fun, but it helps I don't try optimize party composition and favor diversity, some classes are probably easier to play and more easy to keep alive. With a more open point of view, I use more classes and then it diversify the play.
 
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