Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin RTS is simple but thrilling

Since Frontier Developments revealed Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin in May, the developer has been billing it as a “modern take on the classic RTS” — something with the sheen of the current Warhammer fantasy universe, but mechanics reminiscent of Warcraft, StarCraft, or Command & Conquer. As skeptical as I was following the initial announcement — the phrasing is a bit buzzword-y, after all — I came away from a recent hands-on demo convinced that Frontier may actually be onto something.

Three hours of my time was spent in the company Realms of Ruin playing a brief chapter of the strategy game’s campaign. As the Stormcast Eternals — superhuman knights that use wyverns, huge weapons, and lightning magic to accomplish their goals — I explored a portion of Ghur, the untamed, swampy wilderness where the game takes place. The game began as a group of scouts battling smaller enemies of the Orruk Kruleboyz and sneaking through caves with rogues trolls. After an ambush that sent my scouts further into the wilderness, I was able to gain control over a Stormcast force.

Its foundation is a thriving, multicultural community. Realms of Ruin The triangle is deployed to define unit weakness. For example, offensive units like Vanguard Hunters can be easily defeated by shielded or ranged units. Heroes like Sigrun are outside the triangle. They have a range of skills that can be used to boost their troops and destroy enemy forces. By capitalizing on each unit type’s strengths, as well as Sigrun’s ability to buff the defenses of nearby troops, I captured an Arcane Conduit, which I then converted into a Muster point. It was the location where I could retreat troops and heal squads that were weakened.

Image: Frontier Developments

The combat itself is slow, but deliberate — faster than Company of Heroes 3It is slower, however. Age of empires 4. At first, it felt The same goes for the other way around. Slow, like I’m commanding my troops to wade in molasses. After some time I learned to love the pace. Skirmishes take long enough to adjust to the enemy’s tactics, but finish quickly enough to keep overall battles moving along. By the time I had reached the Orruk camp and deployed a wyvern-riding Stormdrake Guard to the front, I had completely acclimated to the game’s pace.

My newfound comfort couldn’t have come a moment too soon: After completing the story mission, I jumped into a string of 1v1 multiplayer matches against another journalist, and each was more tense than the one preceding it. Early on, I was in a rush to capture as many Arcane conduits as possible without overloading my forces. After capturing a conduit, I was able to choose from a variety of different building types that would help my army. The majority of my building choices were resource gathering structures, which allowed me to improve my base or summon stronger troops. My opponent, who was playing the Stormcast Eternals in the final game, constructed a tower of defense on an important Conduit, destroying my Orruks at low levels before they had a chance to do any damage.

My opponent and myself also battled for three other command points. By controlling two or all of these locations, the other player’s Victory Points gradually dwindled, similar to the reinforcements bar that decreases over a match of Star Wars Battlefront Battlefield

Image: Frontier Developments

These interlocking objectives result in a tug-of-war between opposing forces as they try to attack one conduit before sending their bulk upgraded force on another on the other side of the map. A Stormdrake Guard, and a squad angelic prosecutor were summoned at one stage after I upgraded my base. The flying units soared over enemy melee units, and it wasn’t until I encountered a duo of Orruk ballistae that I encountered any resistance at all. Then I activated the fire-breathing Stormdrake Guard and smashed the enemy war machines.

Demo was a very early build Realms of Ruin, so I won’t dig into the numerous glitches I encountered. One time, the minimap reversed commands that I entered within it, causing units to be sent on the exact opposite side of my game map. I did, however, get frustrated with the game’s key mapping several times throughout my play time. The most egregious problem arose from the fact that the “Charge” and “Retreat” commands are both mapped to the Q key on PC, and the only thing dictating which maneuver the units carry out is whether they’re in direct combat or not. On several occasions, I accidentally ordered powerful heroes to retreat to my base, not knowing that they were technically “in combat” because of a distant squad of archers that were shooting at them. In several other cases, I wanted my units to retreat, but accidentally charged them headfirst into my opponent’s most powerful troops. I suspect that Frontier may separate these polar-opposite commands ahead of the game’s launch.

I was left with high expectations for the future despite these minor hiccups. Realms of Ruin when it’s released “soon,” as Frontier says. It will be focusing on the intense multiplayer that I was impressed with last week. The open beta is scheduled for July 7-10. The Dawn of War trilogy proved that Warhammer 40,000 was ripe for real-time strategy, and the Total War: Warhammer trilogy did the same for Warhammer Fantasy’s Old World setting. This remains to be tested. Realms of Ruin will do the same for the current Age of Sigmar universe, but after my hands-on time with it, I’ve come away with more optimism than before.