As a big fan of real-time strategy games since the great Age of Empires franchise launched so many years ago, there haven’t been many of these types of games launching on PC let alone on a console in the past few years. Yes, we have seen games such as Civilization launch on Xbox 360 and games like Europa Universalis dominating the strategy genre for many years now; but gamers like myself really want a challenging yet casual strategy experience one can play and enjoy in between the hectic day to day rat race.
Siegecraft Commander is the latest installment in the real-time strategy series and managed to land on Xbox One this time. I got to play the campaign and although the game offers some multiplayer experiences, I will check those out when the game launches. Siegecraft is set in a mythical world where dragons and magic Tesla towers are a thing. The campaign starts out with the Knights of Freemoi came crashing down in an unknown land thanks to some great driving. The party quickly sets up a base and then realize that there are more to the land they’re exploring than beautiful vistas. The lizard people are the natives and they don’t take too kindly to the would-be invaders.
Gameplay was quite something to get used to. On Xbox One you have to use the joysticks to control a ‘slingshot’ type of building mechanic. Aim where you want your next tower to be and it will shoot over and start building, with an indestructible wall connecting the web of buildings. However, this was not as easy as it sounds, taking several tries to figure out the range at which the building projectiles will reach, and where best to build them. Destroying buildings were out of to question if you happen to build the web that obstructed your knights.
Once you start building the natives would realize what is happening and wave upon wave of militia and flying blimps will come at you. Building efficient spawning structures take some practice with the limited space that is available to you. Protecting those structures takes practice as well since it’s a fine line between control and being overrun by the natives.
Barracks continually spawn soldiers for you, however, they randomly select where they wish to spawn making it quite annoying when the series of barracks you built closer to the enemy spawns nothing while the one on the other side of the map continually spawns soldiers, taking them ages to get to the battlefield. It would have been helpful if there were controls as to where your soldiers would spawn.
Technology advancements are quite interesting, giving you many advantages if you manage to take control of the ‘gold’ and ‘crystal’ zones. Gold gives you the ability to spawn dragons, while the crystals give you the ability to develop Tesla towers and fire towers. One thing I found annoying though is that unlike the mortar towers, these specialized buildings wouldn’t do anything unless specifically tasked to attack making it quite useless in battle. The trebuchet was useful with taking out defensive structures at range while your soldiers continue to advance.
The campaign comes with 9 stages between two civilizations, the invading army Knights of the Freemoi and their narcissistic leader; and the Tribal Lizardmen fighting to regain control of their native land. The game also features a multiplayer option, giving you the chance to take on your friends who might believe they’re much better than you at RTS type games.
For an indie game, it is quite well designed, with the Single player campaign having some funny moments. The gameplay mechanics is quite different and I would have preferred it to have the standard model instead of the slingshot one where you aim and hope you hit the spot. The difficulty is not a problem in this game, with the single-player story campaign being easy enough for even the least experienced of players.
Summary
Siegecraft Commander is a real time strategy game that might not compare to the likes of Halo Wars, but it does hold its own. Gameplay is quite fun, tied with quirky and bright graphics make Siegecraft a gratifying experience worth a playthrough if you’re looking for something that offers something different. The game offers great incentives for targeting certain objectives in the game and rewards good management of structures.
Dreyer was a regular ICXM contributor between 2016–2017, publishing 139 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @dreyer_smit.