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Grim Nights is a small strategy/management game with tower defense and real-time strategy components. Even though the game clock flows continuously, it is not stressful, because you do have plenty of time to plan and to manage everything. It is good for casual and more serious strategy enthusiasts alike.

There were three different difficulty levels when you begin the game. I have been playing on the easiest setting, and it is still rather challenging.

Your goal is to manage a small area to survive for 13 days and nights.

You will start with a small number of people for basic workers. You can put each to different tasks, such as gathering food, chopping wood, chipping stone, or mining for iron or gold. In addition, these people can be used to build buildings so that you can become self-sufficient. Once you have a barracks, you can train standard workers into soldiers, such as archers and spearmen who can then defend your settlement.

As night falls, you will be faced against waves of the undead. Some enemies you can kill easily with your soldiers, while others are too strong for you to deal with by brute force. You may have to sacrifice your own people in order to stop the attacks. These decisions can be tough, but sometimes necessary.

If you build and upgrade houses, you can get more people to come to your settlement. But more people means more food requirements as well. You can satisfy the food requirements through the building and farming at mills.

You can dig into the ground in order to establish a mine. Within the mine, you can find all kinds of resources, as well as additional surprises. Sometimes you can even find a stream underground way a worker can get extra food for you this way.

Naturally, as you fight against the undead, your people will become injured. You will have to build a temple in order to train a healer to help others recover.

Most of your buildings can be upgraded. And you have to find an appropriate balance for the use of your resources. Your resources are often limited in terms of wood/gold, other times, you are pressed against time. Finding the right balance is an important part of being successful at this game.

The game is played in 2D, and you can scroll to the left and to the right. The enemies will only come from one side, so you do not have to worry about defending both sides of your settlement. You can also scroll up and down for when you start mining.

The main controlling devices your mouse. You use the keyboard to zoom in/out or to scroll around faster.

The game is designed with pixelated 2D art, and it works fairly well. Some text may be slightly difficult to read, but there is not too much text, so this does not matter very much.
The music is very good and pleasant.

This is a more casual and easy to learn, yet still challenging real-time strategy/management game that can be played by all ages.

Grim Nights is a fun and casual, yet still rather challenging RTS/Management game with a tower-defense feel, and the need to properly balance resources spent to survive through the 13 days and nights of unceasing hoardes of the undead. Make tough decisions as you balance the life and death of your villagers in order for your whole settlement to survive to the end. While the developer has indicated that the game will take about 4-6 hours to get through, it has taken me longer even on the easiest settings. Be prepared to be challenged from the start. I really love this small game, and the asking price is totally worth it. If you enjoyed the Kingdom games this is similar with new twists that will keep you quite engaged. I fully recommend this game.

Here's some gameplay video from when I started this game:
https://youtu.be/3DikMZqfqmU

I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [i]Grim Nights[/i] is a small strategy/management game with tower defense and real-time strategy components. Even though the game clock flows continuously, it is not stressful, because you do have plenty of time to plan and to manage everything. It is good for casual and more serious strategy enthusiasts alike. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] There were three different difficulty levels when you begin the game. I have been playing on the easiest setting, and it is still rather challenging. Your goal is to manage a small area to survive for 13 days and nights. You will start with a small number of people for basic workers. You can put each to different tasks, such as gathering food, chopping wood, chipping stone, or mining for iron or gold. In addition, these people can be used to build buildings so that you can become self-sufficient. Once you have a barracks, you can train standard workers into soldiers, such as archers and spearmen who can then defend your settlement. As night falls, you will be faced against waves of the undead. Some enemies you can kill easily with your soldiers, while others are too strong for you to deal with by brute force. You may have to sacrifice your own people in order to stop the attacks. These decisions can be tough, but sometimes necessary. If you build and upgrade houses, you can get more people to come to your settlement. But more people means more food requirements as well. You can satisfy the food requirements through the building and farming at mills. You can dig into the ground in order to establish a mine. Within the mine, you can find all kinds of resources, as well as additional surprises. Sometimes you can even find a stream underground way a worker can get extra food for you this way. Naturally, as you fight against the undead, your people will become injured. You will have to build a temple in order to train a healer to help others recover. Most of your buildings can be upgraded. And you have to find an appropriate balance for the use of your resources. Your resources are often limited in terms of wood/gold, other times, you are pressed against time. Finding the right balance is an important part of being successful at this game. The game is played in 2D, and you can scroll to the left and to the right. The enemies will only come from one side, so you do not have to worry about defending both sides of your settlement. You can also scroll up and down for when you start mining. [h1]Controls[/h1] The main controlling devices your mouse. You use the keyboard to zoom in/out or to scroll around faster. [h1]Graphics and Music[/h1] The game is designed with pixelated 2D art, and it works fairly well. Some text may be slightly difficult to read, but there is not too much text, so this does not matter very much. The music is very good and pleasant. [h1]Audience[/h1] This is a more casual and easy to learn, yet still challenging real-time strategy/management game that can be played by all ages. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]Grim Nights[/i] is a fun and casual, yet still rather challenging RTS/Management game with a tower-defense feel, and the need to properly balance resources spent to survive through the 13 days and nights of unceasing hoardes of the undead. Make tough decisions as you balance the life and death of your villagers in order for your whole settlement to survive to the end. While the developer has indicated that the game will take about 4-6 hours to get through, it has taken me longer even on the easiest settings. Be prepared to be challenged from the start. I really love this small game, and the asking price is totally worth it. If you enjoyed the [i]Kingdom[/i] games this is similar with new twists that will keep you quite engaged. I fully recommend this game. Here's some gameplay video from when I started this game: https://youtu.be/3DikMZqfqmU [quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]