Against the Storm, the Warcraft-like city-building game, first launched in early access on Steam in November 2022 and received continuous bi-weekly updates.
There have been several major additions since its release, including the introduction of the Fox species as well as an overhaul of the game's world map. It left early access on Dec. 8, 2023, and was nominated for "Best Strategy/Simulation Game" at the 27th D.I.C.E. awards that were held earlier this year.
Against the Storm Sells 1 Million Copies on Steam
(Photo : Eremite Games / Screenshot taken from Steam)
The game's developer, Eremite Games, released the title's 1.2 patch recently and is currently working through the game's initial roadmap which includes an expansion set to release later this year. The team behind the game also attended the Game Developers Conference last week and gave a post-mortem talk on how Against the Storm came to life.
The title itself mixes seemingly incompatible genres and incorporates player feedback as well as alternative ways of managing an indie studio. The co-founder of Eremite Games, Lukasz Korzanowski, said that it was reassuring that such a small and relatively unknown studio like theirs was able to thrive on Steam, according to GamesPress.
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One of the reasons that Against the Storm is so popular among players is that it breaks the norm of city builders where the kingdom they are building will last a long time. In this title, the cities that players build will not last long because they simply cannot.
The game is set in a strange fantasy realm where a magical catastrophe has resulted in a world that is on the brink of annihilation due to hurricanes and rainstorms. The cities that players build will be doomed from the start and they will have to manage a group of settlers who can either be humans, lizards, or beavers.
Surviving Through Dangerous Weather Phenomenon
They will contend with the elements and also the demands of an increasingly impatient queen as they dive deeper into the game to gather resources to build their way further into the world. The title also enjoys an "Overwhelmingly Positive" review summary on Steam with more than 21,000 reviews, said PCGamer.
On top of moving from settlement to settlement, the player must have a certain number of reputation points to have victory in each area. Every single point that is gained removes an impatience point as the latter increases slowly over time and significantly increases when settlers leave or die.
Players may feel like in the beginning, their only job is to survive in the face of chaos and live through the dangers of the weather phenomenon. They can gain reputation points by filling orders, completing glade events, or keeping their settlers happy and content.
However, all of these tasks require resources that players are never guaranteed to acquire or have or have the ability to craft. The game also features complicated resource pipelines that are a mainstay of city builder games.
But the randomness of Against the Storm plays an enormous factor, particularly in its journey from "easy to learn" to "difficult to master" among fans of the genre, according to Eurogamer.
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