Wartorn Turns Starcraft Into Enjoyable Bite-Sized Battles - Preview

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There are so many different roguelikes that exist today, and there are some that take it to a new level. I have seen many roguelikes in first-person, third-person, shooters, and deckbuilders, and while most have interesting ideas, they usually stick within those four categories. That is precisely why Wartorn surprised me so much. Instead of going with any of the four aforementioned viewpoints, Wartorn decides to take a different route and turn Starcraft's RTS gameplay into a roguelike, and it works so much better than I expected.

Recently, I had a chance to try out a slice of the game to check out its combat, gameplay mechanics, and the beginning of its interesting story about traveling through a world torn apart by war to find your family. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but I think developer Stray Kite Studios is on the right track here.

The combat itself is very RTS-inspired, but it still has that roguelike flair. During battles, you control squads of allies and move them around the field, telling them to attack certain enemies. There are a multitude of different squad types that have different ranges and abilities to activate and overwhelm your foes.

Just like other RTS games, there's a good chunk of strategy involved. Having tankier, melee units in front with ranged magicians in back can help dominate the field, especially when abilities come into play. Some enemies also have abilities, like putting up a giant wall to block ranged attacks, so I always felt like I was adjusting my strategy accordingly. We can also flank enemies and get major damage on them by attacking from behind, which always made me feel so satisfied whenever I was able to bring them around successfully.

And in wonderful roguelike fashion, you get a new item when you complete a battle that can give you some kind of buff to make future battles a little easier. I sometimes miss the good old days of straightforward upgrades, like just increasing damage or health, but Wartorn's system fits nicely with this kind of RTS-style gameplay. It can change up your strategy on how you approach battles, like getting a trinket to equip on a squad to make enemies wet when around them.

Speaking of which, I love that you can utilize elements to maximize your damage and destructive power against the enemies. You can combine different elemental spells, like electrocuting enemies you have made wet or dousing foes in Tar and lighting it on fire. It adds a new layer of strategy in how you want to build out your squad and tackle the run, and I love seeing it all play out.

It feels right at home with a mouse and keyboard to control, but it does have solid controller support. It isn't perfect, and still feels better with a mouse to point and click where people go, but I was surprised by how well I enjoyed using a controller. With some refinement for specific controls, like swapping between different squads, I could see this being a great way to play.

Outside of combat, I got to experience some of its progression and roguelike systems. In each run, you are traveling across a map and get stopped at certain points to either begin combat, make decisions at forks in the road, or take part in small events. These can affect you in numerous different ways, and some of the different currencies that you can use to recruit more people, replenish your squad's people, upgrade your squads and spells, and get Crystals to unlock more family members to start your journey with you.

The system works well so far. I was taken aback by how many different currencies there are, which all have different uses, but it was understandable. The gameplay loop is enjoyable and shows a lot of promise, where minor blemishes, like controller layout or some confusion with replenishing people in your squads, don't hurt the experience. It's enjoyable to play, and I love the bite-sized RTS battles.

I also really love the aesthetic. It takes place in a fantasy setting, but it is very storybook-esque, with water-colored backgrounds. It's hard to see in darker maps, but the foliage, ground, and models all have this beautiful watercolor-painted look to them, and it looks so beautiful. It's nice to sometimes just look around and see how the world looks.

The game currently struggles a bit on the Steam Deck in this current build, but I do have faith it's going to get better. It feels great with the controller and looks gorgeous on the OLED screen, but it can drop in performance in some battles. This is an early build of the game, which is launching into early access, so the performance is by no means final. I would say it's playable, and shows promise once optimization is implemented.

Wartorn has a lot going for it, and I really haven't played any game like it yet. I love the RTS take on the roguelike genre, and the squad-based combat with elemental systems that interact with each other is awesome. The watercolor painting world is beautiful, the story is interesting, and I can't wait to see what others will be thinking when it launches into early access.

Wartorn can be wishlisted ahead of its early access release on June 17th.

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