Recent reviews by [1KL] Nartu

This game is well-put-together, if a little repetitive in the single player campaign. I've pretty much only played the campaign, so that's all I can really comment on (the multiplayer scene is practically gone as far as I'm aware unless you're planning to play with friends).

I'm a fan of the black powder total war games (napoleon, empire, some shogun 2) and a lot of the maneuvering that you do with troops feels similar, although most of the game you're more likely to use the trench lines you've set before each battle. The strategy and tactics come in when you decide which weak points to try and break through, using your artillery and any researched technologies (airplanes, tanks, gas) to help you do so. If you aren't attacking, which you do most of the time in the campaign, defense remains engaging in a pre-battle strategy sort of way (trench layout, fortifications, etc) but it feels more like executing a plan than truly having the ability to improvise. The campaign map can get to be a bit of a slog at times with the limited number of maps and truly novel experiences that you can have, but it's still somewhat a puzzle strategically.

I find myself leaving the game out of a feeling of playing the same battle again and again, but I always come back because the core of this game isn't replicated with this level of quality anywhere else. This game is truly a total war game for WW1, and that alone might deserve your money.

A side note: the developers responded well to community feedback about options players wanted to have to make the game more immersive and welcoming for their playstyle, a good mark on their record of not quite achieving everything they promised on release.
Examples: limited mapping and modding, the ability to change the battle timer, more difficulty settings, more persistent terrain from battle to battle

TL;DR: 7ish/10 game and worth the money on a sale for anyone in the historical RTS scene. I don't feel like the game's problems make it unplayable, and in fact the core of the game makes it pretty fun, but don't expect much nuance when playing against AI.

have to pay for nearly everything

I had the privilege of testing this game in its earlier stages, and seeing everything progress to the point it is today. The game has gotten and continues to get a lot of love from its community and from its development team, also behind Mount & Blade: Warband's Napoleonic Wars DLC.

As with any black powder game, its gameplay focuses on the types of battles common in those historical periods, from linebattles to sieges. Battle Cry of Freedom also provides innovative commander battles (using bots) and the ability of any player to create custom maps with an in-game map editor. As time goes on, the devs and community also plan to add plenty of other great things to do with or without regiments or organizations.

Different black powder games offer different play styles and game-feel, and this one has indeed found its niche.
Compared with Holdfast, Battle Cry focuses more on using terrain and tactics to get closer to your enemy before giving and receiving less accurate fire, taking the skills used in the game farther from learning bullet drop and dodging fire and pushing them closer to formation tactics and high-skill-ceiling melee combat.
Compared with War of Rights, another major alternative to Battle Cry of Freedom, the line combat feels guided less by hard-coded game rules like flag spawns and out-of-line penalties and guided more by custom server rules, dev-made and community-made maps, and the decisions of individual commanders.

The issues with graphics and optimization that many reviews discuss are indeed present in the game, but can easily be remedied in their current state by lowering video settings. As time goes by, the dev team plans to remedy many of these optimization issues with higher graphics settings as they receive more data on a wider playerbase's experiences.

I've said enough, the game speaks for itself! Cheers!

My first experience with the game was in February of 2017. I bought the game purely for the Napoleonic Wars DLC, and, at the time, that was all I played. My hours added up between commander battles, bot survival and even some melee servers. That's how I became interested in other games like Napoleon: Total War (from commander battles), Rise of Liberty (a revolutionary war version of Ravenfield), and Verdun (a WW1 Western front game popular with the community).

But the real fun came when I got a dm from "Scotland Forever," now known as Acbot or Raymond, to join a regiment: the glorious 2LBI.

After attending several basic drills complete with an air of roleplay and commands semi-accurate to the times (marches, faces, firing commands, etc.), I began my NW career as a private. The first event I can remember found us protecting our artillery on top of a high hill dotted by desert palm trees. We could see a large regiment charging up the hill, so we turned to face them, firing as soon as we could form up. Acbot, quick on his feet, watched each soldier find his place before issuing that all-important command: "FIRE!" I was reprimanded after the volley for not firing quickly enough, taking my time to get a good shot.

Over the next weeks, I grew accustomed to the back and forth of firing in the lines of the Napoleonic Wars, the Austrians and the Russians, the Bavarians and the English, the French and the Prussians exchanging cold death across battlefields innumerable. I earned the rank of Fusilier following a shooting tryout (really just based on chance, but a mark of prowess nonetheless), showing my skill to a world that didn't know my name.

We saw it coming. He showed up less and less, sometimes offering explanation, sometimes leaving without. Our colonel, Acbot, had retired from the regiment he began almost a year ago. Under the new leadership, I found a new rank of Sergeant.

Now I was in charge of managing our ranking system, our attendance, the occasional training, and often now leading the line into battle. The tactics of the Wars soon found themselves engrained into my mind, alongside the skills and abilities of my brothers in arms. I knew how to shift lines on those fields, following the tides of war to and fro and never giving the enemy a chance to recover. They were cruel wars.

From my time thus far, I've found the highest skill aside from leading a line to be the skill of melee. The art of the bayonet is fluid, changed with each new adversary - a single man or a whole line. One begins to recognize the names often seen on the common groupfighting servers: BillTheButcher, Stryker, Silence, Vertildr, Wall, Gavin, Sanders, Yoshie ... the list goes on. It's a small game these days on the North American side, but we're a skilled group nonetheless.

After a time in a reformed 2LBI, the 74th, I now find myself in the comfortable position of second in command of the 1KL led by our Oberst, Jazz. We've grouped ourselves with other like minded regiments into the IX brigade, providing plentiful opportunities for fun outside the NW community. The day to day responsibilities of keeping the group running are often enjoyable, but the rewards of leading, competition and victory even greater.

TLDR; the Napoleonic Wars DLC's community has made this the greatest game I've ever played.

Really, really good game. It might remind you of some idle games at first, but you're the one that builds the infrastructure for everything. It's never boring because it requires thought over button-clicking, strategy over mindlessness. It will really stun you if you just give it a try. This might be one of the few games I think is priced accurately for the experience you get (at least from a still-high-schooler :) )

This game. This legend of a game. Makes you feel like you were really there. The voice lines and the music in themselves are works of art, how the instruments play just a few notes off-key from what feels right in the same way that war really does not feel like the right thing to do. I love it. Not to mention the epic trench-clearing. That deserves its own paragraph.

If you're looking from a break from HP bars or pesky historical inaccuracy in your wargaming, look no farther! War Thunder provides anyone with a fun way to fight in the air, on land, or at sea (and all in the same game *ahem* wargaming.net *ahem*). If you're looking to fight in more recently developed vehicles after you've made your way through Pre-War and WW2-era fighters, bombers, tanks and ships, you may need to cough up a bit of cash unless you're willing to grind.... But, alas, so is the way of the modern gaming community.

Fun (especially card battles) and free! Full of micropurchases, but y'know... free!

Man, this game is totally amazing and immersive. Truly something only Paradox is capable of, this game immerses you into politics of the 15th-19th century. Personally, I've had so much fun just spending time figuring out how this game ticks. There are so many moving parts to this, it really is easy to just sit back and watch.

The game is very high-quality. I love the overwatch graphics style with the ability to create your own machines. Similar to another game, Machinecraft, but much more multiplayer-focused. My only complaint is that creations with high-level weaponry are allowed in the same matches as creations with low-level weaponry.

Most games with similar actual multiplayer gameplay make it so that player level (usually used as an indication of overall playtime and skill, in Robocraft typically meaning better weapons or more specialized machines) is the main factor in determining matchups. Instead, the game uses a system in which robot size is the main factor. High-level weapons can be packed into a tight area, meaning such creations are matched with very low-level players, also with smaller machines, who may just starting off in the game. This ruins players' initial experience (the first week and a half or so) before any low-level player has accumulated enough weapons, shields, or movement-enabling equipment to make any sort of high-quality... anything.

With this one issue fixed, Robocraft would have my rating of 100/100, and the amount of time I played the game in the first little while I had it would definitely increase. As of now, however, as a new-ish player, with the experience of getting misplaced with multiple very high-level people with high-quality machines, rate this game at a 95/100.

I am indeed certain that my opinion will change as I gather more experience, but for any player wishing their Robocraft-playing experinence to be something they do in their limited free time (with little/no initial grind), I cannot reccomend this game.