Wartile (PS4) Review
Release Date: March 24, 2020
Publisher/Developer: Deck13 Interactive GmbH
Platform: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One, previously on PC
Price: $19.99 Base Game, $26.99 Complete Edition, contains 5/5 release of “Hel’s Nightmare” DLC
Wartile’s hitting a bit close to home: the story begins as a mysterious plague spreads across the kingdom, and despite anyone’s best efforts, it is creeping in on your hometown. Inside ramshackle huts, sick people are moaning faintly, as their life force fades away….admittedly reading this after watching the latest Presidential update on the coronavirus quarantine, it felt a little eerie.
Luckily in this world, the plague is more fantastical in nature, as this Norse-inspired world is being besieged by an evil diety bent on world domination (which, if true in the real world, would likely be causing more chaos than it is right now). The game is a unique combination of strategy, with board and card mechanics and a cooldown timer for actions and movement. Positioning is key, and an adept player can sneak in and take a shot at an enemy before they can react if they watch the meters and animations just right.
Wartile plays like a solo board game that fights back. The hex-based structure can be maneuvered through by individual parts or you can use a different button to move your whole group. I really like how you do moving, by picking a piece, holding a button, then releasing on the new place, much like you were picking up a physical piece. I’m not a fan of only using the analog stick, though. During gameplay, the digital buttons don’t have much to do, and I felt a springiness in the analog directional movement that meant I would occasionally get off a tile on release. In a game about positioning just right, this can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Each round starts with some intense staging in what I think is a really neat setting. The main map is before you, with dioramas representing everything you could be doing. It reminds me of my old favorite book series The Indian in the Cupboard, as it’s a physical map with a “bar” that you can go to in order to recruit new players, a board with all the equipment pinned up on it to add to your characters, a warship in which to place your pieces, and the like. It’s really neat, but I feel that console players suffer a bit here as well. I think the experience as a whole is designed for mouse and keyboard. In this menu, L2 and R2 move between panels, L1 and R1 in sub menus, and the analog stick inside, with the D-pad relegated to tips and ideas. There were several times at the start that I simply tried to pick up one item only to be thrown to another menu because I wasn’t keeping track of how movement worked; a similar menu with a mouse would be amazingly easy to navigate. Further pushing the idea that this is a PC game is the small fonts that I occasionally had to move toward the TV just to read. Small things, like trying to buy an item but getting no reaction from the machine until I realize that the price is higher than my available gold, because of the excess of tiny stats pervading the screen. Once I know, it’s easier. But no tutorial on how this works translated to trial by fire.
The excessive details are a mine of excitement for anyone who loves to optimize their characters. Each piece of equipment changes stats to great effect, cards you collect turn into new abilities, and each map requires a different attack strategy. I was getting slammed on a particular map until I dug deep into these menus and immediately mopped the floor with my adversaries.
I really loved the cooldown/timing based board game stylings, but I did find certain ways to cheese the system. You get five options for cards that cycle through as you play. I had only one healing card, and several trap cards. I found myself dropping traps randomly and cycling back to the healing card quickly. Sometimes objectives were confusing, such as “find the labratory” that happens to be on the corner of the map behind a waterfall. I killed everything on the field and had to search around, which was a lesson in tedium. Sometimes, the “move all” option didn’t work as well as it could, as pieces would get caught around corners and have to be manually moved.
Wartile’s aesthetics, story, and strategy depth outclass the faults I’ve found with it. A haunting narrator tells the tale as you progress in the story, maps are varied and unique, and the game offers several levels of challenge for each map, gaining unique rewards on a harder playthrough. The controls take some getting used to (and I wish there was better use of the D-Pad, or pray tell if there’s mouse support!) but are manageable once accustomed to. Wartile is best played on a clear screen close to overcome the tiny text. While it may have had a tough transition to consoles, Wartile is a fresh take on the strategy genre that makes you feel like you’re simultaneously controlling a wonderful diorama playset and a thriving Norse universe.
Pros:
-Aesthetics and story are immersive, like a virtual “Indian in the Cupboard” Nordic adventure
-Wonderful combination of action and strategy with board movement freedom and “cooldown” effects
-Excellent single-player board game with deep RPG like customizations and leveling
-Super-detailed customization of character stats and abilities
-If you plan on buying the game go for the Complete Edition, a great value compared to buying individually
Cons:
-Difficult transition to controller with confusing button patterns to navigate in both staging and battle
-Tiny text not optimal for couch play
-Occasional objectives are vague for mystery and puzzle’s sake, end up being lessons in tedium
Special thanks to Deck13 Interactive GmbH for providing a code for review!