Developer: Crash Wave Games Inc.
Publisher: Crash Wave Games Inc.
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
Iron Tides – Preview
Even though it’s been quite a few centuries since Vikings have been roaming the seas in the real world, they are still very intriguing to many of us. TV series such as Vikings and The Last Kingdom have proven very popular, and also games like The Banner Saga cover the Viking theme. Iron Tides is also such a game, be it only in early access at this stage. In this strategy RPG, Vikings will be sailing the seas once more.
Vikings have been roaming the seas for many decades, plundering islands and gaining more and more control. As their greed became bigger and bigger, the gods decided to punish them, casting storms upon the oceans that made many a ship shatter on the rocks, only allowing the worthy to survive. Sigurd the Frostborn is one of the few who survived, and soon dares to venture the seas again. From here on, you’ll have to explore the seas, in search of Sigurd, and bring him back to your base, Norhaven. While at sea, you’ll find many shipwrecks, but pirates are on the lookout too, so beware! Overall the story sets a nice atmosphere, but it’s just a bit strange that the introduction makes it seem like Sigurd is still very much alive, while one of the first quests is to find his shipwreck. It’s only a small thing we noticed, but an inconsistency nonetheless.
The color scheme used in this game is quite grim, which immediately adds to the desolate, dangerous atmosphere at sea. The graphics aren’t done badly either, but as the game looks now, there is not a lot of variation in the maps, and certainly not during combat, so there is still some room for improvement there.
Sound wise, the game scores a lot better, as the music creates exactly the right atmosphere while still staying to the background, so you never get the feeling that it’s too much of the same tune. Other than that, there are the sounds of combat itself, and sounds for every click you do, so there is nothing to complain about here.
Iron Tides is a strategy RPG in which you’ll have to complete quests to gain control over the seas. The main quests will help you proceed in the story, but they also provide the more difficult battles. In the side quests, you can train your warriors by gaining more experience, making them stronger for the main quests ahead. In Norhaven, you’ll be able to trade your loot for food, recruit new warriors and improve your ship. For that, you’ll need enough money though, which you can only gain by completing more quests. It’s important to move forward quick enough though, as while you rerun quests, the food supply in the market will get sparse.
While sailing around on the map, more and more tiles of the map will get discovered, and this way you can figure out where to sail next. At shipwrecks, you can often still find some food, some silverware, or warriors, be them dead or alive. You’ll also encounter pirates’ ships or hideouts, and most of the time you’ll have to fight them in order to progress in the story.
In combat, you have four different types of warriors that you can use, all with their unique abilities. Every single warrior has his own skillset, making it quite interesting to find the best warriors for the battle at hand. You’ll have to trod carefully during battle though, as one mistake can have your warriors killed, which means you’ll have to recruit new warriors and start over once again. This can become quite frustrating, as it can be quite a setback, meaning you just can’t move on with the story until your new warriors have leveled up enough. As the game saves automatically, you have no chance to do the battle over once more, which is a bit of a shame, as it means that one mishap can ruin a lot in the group of warriors you recruited so far.
It’s certainly a must to pay a lot of attention to your warriors and their skills. It is quite fun to play around with your warriors’ abilities back in Norhaven, as there are quite a lot of options to explore, and quite a lot of improvements to make. During combat, you’ll also have a range of different attacks at your disposal, so you’ll have to think tactically in order to get the most out of them.
Conclusion
Iron Tides is a game with a lot of potential, as it has a nice story that is backed up with good combat. The graphics look quite nice, and the music adds to the desolate atmosphere the whole game has. The only real downside to the game is that you can’t afford a lot of mishaps, as you’ll get punished quite hard, which can be quite the setback. A definite plus though, is that no two warriors are the same, providing quite interesting gameplay. Overall, we did really like this game, and would certainly recommend you checking it out, if you’re into turn based strategy games.
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