Iron Harvest is a real time strategy game set in the alternative history setting from the tabletop game Scythe. It's kind of shallow for a setting since the main difference with our timeline is that Nikola Tesla invented mechs just in time for World War I and all the countries are the same as in real life, but have slightly different names. However, the excellent artwork by Jakub Różalski greatly elevates it.
The gameplay is similar to Company of Heroes, but everything is a bit worse. As an example, cover mechanics are not as clear and it’s kind of finicky to get squads into cover correctly, punching a building is more effective than grenades and there are frequent small bugs like dead units getting locked into a looping walking animation after death.
Nevertheless, it's clear that the selling point are the mech units, while some of them effectively work like existing vehicles such as tanks or self propelled artillery, many fulfill a unique role and look pretty cool while doing so. They also reflect each faction's identity since infantry is almost identical across all armies and is rendered obsolete for direct combat as soon as mechs hit the field. I personally believe that's alright, but admittedly my perspective is that from a casual player so I'm far from the most qualified person to judge game balance.
I was left a bit disappointed by the technical performance, but the game does run better than back when I tried the demo so perhaps this will change in the future since the developers are currently still supporting it.
On a different note, the writing in the game is rather bad. The story is super cheesy and the tone is all over the place, at some point there are several scenes about the horrors of war and PTSD just to have some Hollywood tier exchange 5 minutes later where a character murders several men in cold blood in order to become an enemy of the crown so the main character is forced to take her with him. Also, said character just so happens to be the smartest mechanic in the world and looks like the "we can do it!" American propaganda poster lady, but overweight and black even though she is supposed to be a German woman in the 1920s. There are plenty of exchanges like this through the game and by the end I got sick of them. My favorite one has to be "a country without freedom of the press is easier to subvert by means of foreign propaganda" or any of the multiple times where entire armies choose to follow a random Polish peasant woman instead of an experienced general and still manage to win. The Usonia expansion is specially hilarious now that the US is being humiliated by their former allies in the Middle East by the 100th time.
In summary, Iron Harvest is an aesthetically pleasing game with alright gameplay and dumb writing. I'm left with mixed feelings because I did play it until the end despite my objections, but honestly I wouldn't recommend it unless you've played every good RTS out there already. I wish I could recommend this game because it's evident to me that many talented individuals worked on this project, but it ended up falling short of my expectations.
The gameplay is similar to Company of Heroes, but everything is a bit worse. As an example, cover mechanics are not as clear and it’s kind of finicky to get squads into cover correctly, punching a building is more effective than grenades and there are frequent small bugs like dead units getting locked into a looping walking animation after death.
Nevertheless, it's clear that the selling point are the mech units, while some of them effectively work like existing vehicles such as tanks or self propelled artillery, many fulfill a unique role and look pretty cool while doing so. They also reflect each faction's identity since infantry is almost identical across all armies and is rendered obsolete for direct combat as soon as mechs hit the field. I personally believe that's alright, but admittedly my perspective is that from a casual player so I'm far from the most qualified person to judge game balance.
I was left a bit disappointed by the technical performance, but the game does run better than back when I tried the demo so perhaps this will change in the future since the developers are currently still supporting it.
On a different note, the writing in the game is rather bad. The story is super cheesy and the tone is all over the place, at some point there are several scenes about the horrors of war and PTSD just to have some Hollywood tier exchange 5 minutes later where a character murders several men in cold blood in order to become an enemy of the crown so the main character is forced to take her with him. Also, said character just so happens to be the smartest mechanic in the world and looks like the "we can do it!" American propaganda poster lady, but overweight and black even though she is supposed to be a German woman in the 1920s. There are plenty of exchanges like this through the game and by the end I got sick of them. My favorite one has to be "a country without freedom of the press is easier to subvert by means of foreign propaganda" or any of the multiple times where entire armies choose to follow a random Polish peasant woman instead of an experienced general and still manage to win. The Usonia expansion is specially hilarious now that the US is being humiliated by their former allies in the Middle East by the 100th time.
In summary, Iron Harvest is an aesthetically pleasing game with alright gameplay and dumb writing. I'm left with mixed feelings because I did play it until the end despite my objections, but honestly I wouldn't recommend it unless you've played every good RTS out there already. I wish I could recommend this game because it's evident to me that many talented individuals worked on this project, but it ended up falling short of my expectations.