There is no combat here, though.
Instead of vikings or (shudder) the English, your main antagonists are abstract concepts.
A sustainable source of fuel.
A raging storm that arrives in phases, the harshest of which reduces your citizens happiness substantially.
But its the Queen herself who lives to give you the most grief.
Earn enough and your settlement is deemed complete, allowing you to move onto the next.
On top of this, the forest itself contains mysteries, modifiers that both help and hinder your progress.
Does that all sound a bit complicated?
Keep 15 harpies happy for five minutes.
They are not, at first glance, difficult requests.
Lets talk about my 15 skewer odyssey.
Another time, I wasn’t so lucky.
On top of this, the map itself is filled with pockets of mist known as glades.
It’s difficult, but never unfair.
Buildings can be moved.
Resources can be purchased.
Goods can be sold.
The pace is breathless, but there is always room to breathe.
Villagers and buildings are your weapons and power ups!
Impatience is your enemy!)
everything feels completely refreshed.
Even an action as simple as cutting down trees has purpose beyond simple resource gathering here.
How to make biscuits.
How to make coats.
How to appease an angry ghost.
How to repair a malfunctioning machine.
Your bitesize builds are all wrapped up in this dark fantasy dressing that drips with dread.
Meat is sliced from the decaying carcasses of enormous leeches.
Buildings are ramshackle, understandably designed for their function and not longevity.
The forest itself is palpably sinister.
Depending on the biome trees can be blood red, skeletal, knotted like roots or vibrant like coral.
The glowing fire of the hearth is the only comforting visual in the entire game.
None of it is pleasant, but it adds a sense of grim fatigue to your excursions.
There is - somehow - even more to it than this.
It makes for a construction game that wraps up at precisely the moment it begins to lose momentum.
It is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
Sausages and jam is a silly example, because its obvious why they work together so well.
But someone has to be the first to put these things together, right?
Someone has to be brave enough to see the reasons why a particular pairing makes such a beautiful pairing.
This is exactly the reason why Against The Storm is so exciting.
It just makes sense.
This review was based on a review build of the game provided by publishers Hooded Horse.
