Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground Review

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground is the first major virtual adaptation of the Age of Sigmar universe (a kind of sequel to Warhammer Fantasy in the recent Total War games) in the Warhammer franchise. It's becoming more difficult to make a game that stands out from the crowd when it comes to strategy games. What does Storm Ground bring?

Storm Ground is a turn-based, hex-based, tactical game that combines roguelike and collectible cards game (CCG). Players can form warbands with units and heroes and go to battle to earn loot for their future engagements. Each mode, particularly multiplayer (PvP, PvE), will take many hours to master.

Roguelike systems are most common in single-player campaigns. Players are expected to lose multiple games while building their forces and eventually conquering each stage. Three faction-specific campaigns have three stages. This gives players ample opportunity to learn about the play style of their chosen faction and to discover all the exciting loot available. The campaigns are difficult due to the constantly changing enemy strength and wide variety of scenarios, missions, and objectives.

Each campaign's narrative is very basic and not very engaging as Storm Ground's main focus is on intense combat. As rewards for completing missions, you will receive lore scrolls that provide a deeper understanding of the setting and the main characters. However, these scrolls don't add much to the story's meaning. Although the campaigns offer a variety of paths, they mainly change up the enemies that players face and don't alter the narrative progression.

Multiplayer allows players to create warbands using their rewards pool (not affected by campaign). They then engage in one-on-1 battles in deathmatch and Soul Prison (destroy the object) modes. Although there are a few maps that have different terrain layouts, it is possible to get bored by the repetitive nature of the environments. Cross play is great to see. This means that there won't likely be any playerbase splitting, and it should be simple to get into a match.

Storm Ground's multiplayer can also be very competitive because of its small size and fast pace. The absence of leaderboards and any sort of ranking system can make it less competitive. There is no way to compare gameplay stats, builds, or overall tactical performance. These systems should be easy to create and provide multiplayer with greater longevity.

Storm Ground's main highlights, the tactical gameplay as well as the customization and progression system, would make the campaign and multiplayer modes worthless. The game has many tactical elements that players should consider when facing any encounter. To defeat your opponent, you'll need to plan and optimize unit movements, use abilities efficiently, plan out unit summons and manage power and Aethyr resource.

The three distinct factions Stormcast Eternals Nighthaunt and Maggotkin add to this complexity. All three factions are based on the same playstyle, with the Nighthaunt being a swarm tactic-focused faction. However, each faction has enough tactical depth to offer a unique challenge that doesn't deviate from the intended playstyle. The Maggotkin and Nighthaunt are the most compelling of the three factions. They have more interesting play systems (the Stormcast have another issue which I will discuss later).

The customization and progression system makes tactical gameplay even more enjoyable. After every battle, players will receive rewards in the form cards. These cards can include new units, powerful wargear, skill upgrades, and additional items. The developers also included an army painter that allows players to personalize their warbands.

CCG systems are useful here as the rewards can be randomized and can then be inserted into any eligible units. There are no loot boxes or in-game currency to break the progression system. It's up to the player to enjoy the game and earn their rewards. Although the randomness of the rewards works well in this system, there are always balance issues (especially multiplayer), where players might forego the game's challenges in exchange for a lucky reward that gives them little incentive to play. This is just the nature of RNG.

Storm Ground's gameplay is very successful, but the presentation is a different story. The visual design captures Warhammer's essence and is vibrant. Some of the battlefield backgrounds are a highlight. However, the lack of camera controls can hinder the visual quality of the 3D graphics. Storm Ground could have been considered a 2D video game, as the camera is restricted to a single view angle during battles.

In terms of audio quality, the audio is very inconsistent. Excellent top-quality voice acting, especially for the Maggotkin characters and units. It's almost as if you are listening to decrepit, diseased monstrosities.

Although the combat sound effects and the map ambience are good, some elements of the atmosphere don't match up with the environment on the map. The worst aspect of the audio design is the lack of music during tactical battles. This makes combat feel dull and lifeless.

The game's potential for innovation is also limited by the inconsistency of Faction selection. Stormcast Eternals are Warhammer 40K Space Marines with a medieval fantasy aesthetic. They are the main culprits. It's incredibly tedious and cliché to be obsessed with Space Marine archetypes from Warhammer games.

This point could be considered more of an analysis of the Age of Sigmar setting but it is still relevant to the discussion about the developers' design decisions. Although these choices raise questions about faction design and are not surprising, the Maggotkin, who are the underrepresented Chaos Gods of corruption Nurgle, provide a welcome breath of fresh air.

Storm Ground's biggest flaw is its mediocre, annoying UI. It was clearly created for consoles, and doesn't use PC sensibilities. This makes the game feel incomplete on PC. It makes Storm Ground look more complex and intimidating than it is. This creates a potentially steep learning curve. The UI is difficult to use and has inefficient menus. This makes it frustratingly difficult to read unit stats, abilities, and equip items.

The game lacks tooltips. There are so many terms, stats and features that are not explained. There are also many quality-of-life elements that are missing in battles. These include at-a glance indicators of unit status (remaining move points and the like) and an easy way to inspect and select enemy units. Overall, the UI is less irritating than any other feature and it is not the worst. However, it is extremely frustrating to use.

The options menu covers the majority of the important graphical, audio and gameplay options for this small game. Storm Ground ran smoothly with no frame drops or crashes. I only encountered minor bugs like typos and voice acting that didn't match the dialogue. It is safe to say that the game should run smoothly on systems that meet the recommended specifications. One thing that I found odd was that my GPU was strained when I tried to quit the game. This didn't seem to affect the game in any way but it was definitely strange.

Storm Ground is an admirable first step into Age of Sigmar solid tactical games that seamlessly combines systems from different genres. Warhammer Age of Sigmar Storm Ground is an excellent recommendation for strategy enthusiasts.