''Wargroove'' is a

turn-based tactics Turn-based tactics (TBT), or tactical turn-based (TTB), is a computer and video game genre of strategy video games that through stop-action simulates the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics in generally sm ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed and published by

Chucklefish Chucklefish Limited is a British video game developer and publisher based in London. Founded in 2011 by Finn Brice, the company specialises in retro-styled games. Chucklefish is best known for developing '' Starbound'' and ''Wargroove'', as wel ...

. It was released for the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

on February 1, 2019, with a

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

version released on July 23, 2019.

Gameplay

''Wargroove'' is a ''

Nintendo Wars The ''Wars'' series, also known as and is a series of military-themed turn-based strategy video games, usually developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The series debuted in Japan in August of 1988 with the original ''Famicom ...

''-style

in which players explore maps and battle foes. Players can choose to take control of one of fifteen commanders, each with their own campaign, motivations and personality. The game supports local and online

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

including

player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...

and cooperative play. The game features campaign editing tools which allow players to create their own maps. There is also an

overworld An overworld (sometimes referred to as a hub world) is, in a broad sense, commonly an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other vide ...

editor for linking different missions together; this can let the player create branching paths and set missions to unlock under certain conditions.

Synopsis

Setting

''Wargroove'' takes place on the island continent of Aurania. In the distant past, Aurania was ruled by two great nations: Silmor in the east, and Cacophony in the west. Silmor and Cacophony became embroiled in an apocalyptic war called The Great Dissonance which ended in the destruction of both nations and the sealing away of a terrible weapon crafted by Cacophony's mages: Requiem. Thousands of years later, four new countries have arisen on Aurania. In the western grasslands is the peaceful and prosperous Cherrystone Kingdom. South of Cherrystone is Felheim, a harsh land where the undead and the living tenuously coexist. Felheim is usually an anarchy, but every few decades a new warlord masters the necromantic Fell Gauntlet and uses it to muster an undead army to invade more hospitable areas of Aurania. North of Cherrystone are the Floran Lands, dominated by the murky Gloomwoods where the aggressive, plant-like Floran make their home. Aurania's east is the seat of the Heavensong Empire, a more technologically-advanced nation of inventors and artisans. Heavensong's navy is second to none, and has allowed them to establish colonies in lands across the sea.

Plot

Following the assassination of King Mercival II of Cherrystone by the High Vampire Sigrid of Felheim, Mercival's young daughter Mercia is crowned queen and soon faces an invasion by the undead Felheim Legion. Despite early successes against hotheaded Felheim commander Ragna, the Legion's numbers overwhelm Cherrystone's defenses, and Valder, the Lord of Felheim and wielder of the Fell Gauntlet, drives Queen Mercia and her army into retreat. Mercia's mentor, the royal mage Emeric, advises her to seek aid from Empress Tenri of the Heavensong Empire. Along the way, a series of misunderstandings lead to clashes with both the Floran Tribes and Heavensong, but eventually Mercia meets Tenri and is granted ships and supplies, allowing her to launch a seaborne counter-invasion of Felheim. Mercia finally confronts Valder in his fortress, but is attacked from behind by Sigrid. The vampire lets slip that she orchestrated the war by tricking Cherrystone and Felheim into thinking that each was attacking the other, and then absconds with Mercia's family sword, the Cherryblade; Sigrid's goal from the outset had been to find the key to unsealing the ancient weapon Requiem so that she could conquer the world, and the Cherryblade had been that key all along. With Valder now on Mercia's side, she chases Sigrid to the Dragon's Cradle volcano and defeats her, but is too late to prevent the unsealing. Mercia and her allies advance into the volcano and battle the spirit of Elodie, the princess of Cacophony and guardian of Requiem, and then Mercia is forced to vanquish a dark doppelganger of herself in order to destroy Requiem before its evil is unleashed. With Requiem neutralized and Mercia's father avenged, peace settles once more on Aurania.

Development and release

''Wargroove'' was developed by

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, and

. The developers were inspired by handheld games with accessible tactical gameplay, such as ''

Advance Wars ''Advance Wars'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was released in North America on September 10, 2001. The game's release in Japan and Europe was delayed, ...

'' (2001). Chucklefish felt that there were no titles available on the current generation of gaming devices that represented this genre of game. High resolution

pixel art Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphics software, graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers a ...

was created for the game's graphics. The game was revealed in February 2017, and originally meant to be released in early 2018, but suffered delays that pushed it back to February 1, 2019, with the PlayStation 4 version released on July 23, 2019.

Reception

''Wargroove'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. The game's development cost was recouped three days after its launch.

Awards

References

External links

*
Official wiki
* {{GitHub, amzeratul/halley, Halley, the game engine (Apache 2.0) 2019 video games Commercial video games with freely available source code Cooperative video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Indie video games Free game engines Software using the Apache license Turn-based tactics video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games with downloadable content Windows games Xbox One games Xbox Play Anywhere games Chucklefish games