I’m sure that 100% of the people who come here have a massive backlog of strategy games and wargames that they’ll swear they’ll play someday. Suddenly, 5 years have gone by and that copy of War In The East 2 you bought on release date only has 45 minutes of playtime.
Let’s start the year by talking about the massive backlog of games we all have and why we have been avoiding tackling them, shall we?
Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks
Here’s a game that should be everything I love: You play as a tank designer and manufacturer and your job is to keep your customers supplied with not only the best but also making sure everybody gets enough killing machines to go around. Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks is still in Early Access, and that’s the main reason I’ve been postponing playing it, but I think that as soon as the World War 2 update rolls out of the production line, it has enough meat on its bones for me to get invested into.
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters
Another title that I should have played immediately after it came out, but for some reason, I can’t really put my finger on it, I’ve been avoiding getting it. It has nothing to do with the game, and it’s more of a circumstantial kind of thing. Whenever I boot it up something else needs to be covered, so it always ends up being shoved back into the backlog again. But XCOM meets Warhammer 40,000, which is the match made in heaven, and the 8 hours I’ve played Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters so far really impressed me.
Ultimate General: American Revolution
I bought Ultimate General: American Revolution on its Early Access release date when it came in, late 2023. My objective was to write a preview of it, but alas, it never came to be. With the departure of Game Labs studio leads just last month, this might be the last time we get an Ultimate General game, so I really need to get around and play it for a review. Besides, how many games do we have that cover the American Revolution? None?
Aliens: Dark Descent
As someone who has never paid much attention to the Alien franchise, it’s natural that I never looked all that into its titles. I remember playing a first-person shooter demo for Sega Saturn when I was a small lad, but other than that, I can’t remember ever playing an Alien game. However, I read so many positive things online about Aliens: Dark Descent that I had to give it a go, even if it was just for the “semi-professional purpose” of doing it for Strategy and Wargaming. You can see that’s one of the ways I justify buying games without feeling guilty. In all fairness, the game really does look fantastic and the 3 hours I put into its first and second missions have me excited for what’s coming next, even if it still doesn’t make me care all that much for the franchise.
Supreme Commander
My podcast co-hosts at Critical Moves are always going on and on about how great Supreme Commander is, and how it’s one of the best strategy games ever made. A confession: I have never played them for more than just a couple of hours, way too long ago. The reason for that is sad, yet simple: you couldn’t buy them in Portugal when they came out. See, during a time when physical disks were required and you had no internet access, if you couldn’t find a game at a store, you were out of luck, and that’s what happened to me. I never played it, because I didn’t even know it existed until some years later.
Also, here’s our latest episode, go give it a listen, it’s a good one!
Total War: Warhammer III
This one isn’t necessarily to “play it” per se, but more to finish a full campaign of it. I want to play a full Chaos campaign, where my sole responsibility is to destroy, instead of rebuild, and since Total War: Warhammer III is the only game in the series that allows you to do so, I think it’s going to be a fun challenge. After that I want to go back to Total War: Warhammer II and play another pirate’s campaign.
Phantom Brigade
Phantom Brigade– a hybrid of turn-based and real-time strategy with massive mechs you can customize- never received the attention it deserved from me because I started playing it when it came to Steam and decided to let it cook for a bit before diving back into it. Fortunately, almost two years after its release, the game has received substantial updates and it now has a “very positive” rating for its most recent reviews.
Wartales
Here’s another title I’ve dabbed for a couple of hours before putting it down to play something newer. Wartales is a low-fantasy, medieval RPG with a turn-based combat game very much in the vein of something like Battle Brothers. It’s also very reminiscent of Mount and Blade in the way that the game sets you loose on a massive world and it’s now up to you to decide where to go, and what to do next. Do you know that Wartales was 2023’s top-selling strategy title?
Dominions 5 – Warriors of the Faith
I know that Dominions 6: Rise of the Pantokrator is out already, but that’s too expensive for me at the moment, so Dominions 5 – Warriors of the Faith will have to do it. I don’t even know how to describe this game, but from what I’ve read and seen online, you lead a nation as some sort of God, and you create your own units, making them as wild and powerful as you possibly can. Battles look spectacular, and I think you can play as an underwater faction? That sounds swell!
Hard West 2
Cowboys, Hell and Demons sounds like the perfect metal album title, but it’s the basic premise for 2022’s Hard West 2 (which also sounds great for a metal album title). This XCOM-like title will take you on a journey across the Wild West fighting all kinds of demonic creatures, witches and cultists as you and your party fight for your lives. The original Hard West had some very cool concepts like supernatural abilities and trick shots, so I can only imagine what Hard West 2 has in store.
Now that all this is said and done, I’m pretty sure that by the end of 2025, almost none of these games will ever see any play because some newer games need reviewing, and you guys won’t stop asking me for more reviews. Do you have any games on your backlog you’d love to tackle in 2025? Let me know down below!
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