Armageddon Empires [Indiescene]

Some games require a huge buy-in. You need to invest a lot of time learning the system, understanding the interface and reading the documentation over and over. The problem with this, of course, is that the payoff may not be worth it. Beyond the learning curve could be great indie gems like Dwarf Fortress or Dominions 3, but you need to either find a walkthrough or commit to the self-education. Who wants to do that?

This is the dilemma facing Armageddon Empires, a new post-apocalyptic wargame from Cryptic Comet. It’s an old-fashioned game in many ways, most significantly in how you will need to read the freaking manual to get started. There’s not a lot of in-game help for you. There’s not a lot of clarity on when you need to right click and when you need to left click. The drag and drop tool is fussy, too.

But you’ll forget all of this once you master the system. Armageddon Empires is a game of exploration and area control. You explore hexes to uncover enemies and resources. As expected, you spend resources on bringing new units to field, but there’s an original twist here. You can also spend these resources on dice before each turn, high rolls determine who gets to go first. The person who goes first gets more action points. So do you save those green resources to move your hero from your hand or spend them on the chance of points you can use to buy more cards?

This either/or decision making is everywhere in the game, potentially turning the tide of battles by spending “fate points,” making an intimidating game quite intuitive once you get the basics in hand. It helps that the setting is familiar enough to not throw up too many barriers to understanding. Air, artillery, infantry, zombies, cyborgs, etc. Nothing that your standard geek can’t manage.

Armageddon Empires rises above the crowd, though, because it is a surprisingly sophisticated wargame. Your armies will start with a couple of units at most, but eventually you will need to manage their composition carefully. Air strikes will need to be timed to even the odds, all the while costing you precious resources which are rarely in high supply. Like the best strategy titles, Armageddon Empires expects you to balance the needs of the moment with the promises of the future, but it never makes you feel like everything is riding on an early turn or a single fateful decision.

Of course, a large number of you will just give up early in the demo. Those of you that stick around will be treated to one of the best new old strategy games in a while.

Flex your gamer muscles and submit this article to N4G.com.