Game:

Forged Battalion (2018)

Category:

Review

Duration: 20:06

4,138 views

43

I'm playing Forged Battalion, a real-time strategy game by Petroglyph and Team17. The game features a lazy and tedious campaign with a bland story that simply features more enemy factions simultaneously fighting as you progress. The skirmish modes (both online and against the AI) only has fifteen maps and no procedural map generation, though more are available on Steam Workshop. Experience points earned by playing any game mode are used to unlock new weapons and create custom units with different weapons and armor. Only four units are available for each chassis (infantry, light vehicle, heavy vehicle, aircraft) and more advanced units can only be built when high-level structures have been placed, which helps to balance out those who have unlocked more items. Forged Battalion is a simplified real-time strategy game, though that does make it more approachable: constructing units is fast and efficient with the handy keyboard shortcuts, and placing additional factories speeds up production at your main hub. Structures can only be placed near existing ones unless an outpost is captured, making enemy building placement predictable. The limited unit roster and building selection does result in a repetitive build order, with the same options executed every game. The AI is barely passable and only mounts a challenge when they outnumber you. A disappointing campaign, limited content, and oversimplified mechanics subdue the custom unit creation features of Forged Battalion.