Against the Storm review - a perfectly chaotic city builder

This isn't a Game of the Year article, but it could be: from its earliest iteration in Early Access, to its full release now, Against the Storm has become one of my all-time favourites. There are so many points where the concept of a roguelike city builder could wear out - it evades them all with endless, surprising depths. It has become my first choice of what to play when I feel like just playing a game, and despite the time I've poured into it, I'm still - with joyful frustration - learning new things about it.

The premise sees you establishing a series of settlements across the map, your attempts lasting as long as it takes each settlement to either become successful, or for the ominous Scorched Queen to lose her patience and deem the settlement lost. You win a settlement when you have a certain number of reputation points - each point gained removing an impatience one - while the impatience gained slowly over time, and rapidly ticked up when settlers leave or die, means you don't get stuck in a settlement that just won't take. Either way, mine tend to be resolved within an hour or two - just long enough for a single evening session.

Its elevator pitch is an enticing one: a city builder without any slog, where you don't wear out your tried-and-tested strategies, where each session is as new and exciting as the one before. It's a delight to learn that Against the Storm really is all those things - but after spending the better part of a year on it, it feels almost deceptive to say 'this is what Against the Storm is'. There's just so much more to it, offering endless depth and complexity - if you want it.

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