IN A WORD: MAYBE
IN A NUTSHELL:
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WHAT TO EXPECT: Indie made game. Fantasy themed strategy. Multiple act single-player campaign. Narrative-driven quests split between multiple acts. Hit and miss writing. Visually pretty and colourful graphics. Impressive adventure amplifying soundtrack. Rogue-like structure when transitioning between acts. Dynamically generated 2.5D maps. Multiple party management. Only four character classes. Tough turn-based tactical battles. Unorthodox, focused skill-oriented combat system. Over-reliance on physics based environmental and cascading damage. Steep learning curve. Unbalanced enemy groups. Auto-win battle feature. Single-player and multi-player skirmish mode.
ACHIEVEMENTS: PROGRESSION AND; PHYSICS AND COMBAT BASED.
STATUS: COMPLETE. SOME SUPPORT CONTINUES.
WHEN TO BUY: MAY APPEAL TO FANS OF INDIRECT TACTICAL COMBAT. WITH A FOCUSED DESIGN APPROACH.
More info below....
THE LOWDOWN:
Fort Triumph (FT) is a quest-driven strategy game of adventure with a focus on turn-based tactical battles. It bears more than a passing resemblance to Heroes of Might and Magic (HoMM). Where players lead a party of characters instead of armies of creatures, across a dynamically generated fantasy world. One full of hostile creatures guarding lairs, production facilities, scattered rewards and shrines.
A light witty, narrative in the form of written dialogue carries a minimal plot forwards, between quests and acts. Graphically the game possesses a similar colourful aesthetic to that of Torchlight. A jovial soundtrack laced with an epic quality reinforces its fantasy ambience. The GUI has a lean design that presents its features in a format that should be familiar to many strategy gamers. Modes include a single-player campaign and skirmish for both single and multi-player.
Played across several acts, numerous characters from four basic archetypes are controlled as a party. Armed with just their skills and a small inventory of key items, they must complete a series of quests to progress from one act to the next. Barbarians, Rangers, Mages and Paladins can be recruited to form several parties to fight battles, and to protect or siege enemy fortresses. Each class can gain a range of skills to define their own roles in battle. The proficiency of which can be increased as experience levels are gained.
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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2607336142
THE GOOD:
+ Well designed and balanced strategy layer. Similar to HOMM.
+ A strong foundation of indirect combat options. Based on interactive and destructible environments to inflict damage on opponents.
+ Lots of tactical nuances through inventory, character attributes, skills and positioning.
+ Battles can be auto-resolved when enemies are outmatched.
+ The auto-assignment of overwatch for all characters through a single button.
+ Optional perma-death.
+ Visually pretty and colourful. Similar to Torchlight. With an impressive soundtrack.
THE BAD:
- Campaign is limited to the human faction.
- Generic battlescapes become familiar all to quickly. Nothing stands out.
- Tactical combat missing more satisfying direct offensive options.
- Not enough character types. Only four. With only the tiniest number of sub-classes defined through skill selection.
- Rogue-like design aspect when progressing to the next act. Only able to take forward limited assets.
- Quests on rails. No options to choose different missions.
- Unbalanced encounters where the party is outnumbered and outmatched. A lack of healing options does not help.
- Cannot save while in battle. These can take quite a while.
- No deployment phase. Characters are auto deployed.
- AI factions will spawn continuous enemy parties to keep the player busy.
- Possible to mis-click GUI when on the combat map.
AND THE REST:
* Single-player campaign and skirmish modes. Plus skirmish for multiplayer also.
* Small inventory adds additional tactical options.
* Four factions to choose in skirmish mode.
* Graphically good looking but basic in complexion.
* Four difficulties.
* Subjective quality writing of short bursts of witty dialogue-driven narrative.
* Well programmed AI. Will remain stationary when coded to defend. Will look to attack with superior numbers and fall in traps.
* A decent enemy roster. Limited to the same four classes as the player's heroes.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2607342207
ANALYSIS:
FT suggested an experience that combined the strategy layer of HoMM and the tactical combat of X-COM. Taking elements of both games and incorporating them together in a fantasy setting of its own. Giving it an appealing look and feel to fans of those games and the chance to invest their time and energy into its familiar playing-style. (A real enticement for this fan of those previously mentioned titles.) A high level of production and polish provided additional promise, inflating expectations even higher. At least initially. As progress through the game was made and more of the game was played, a clearer picture formed. One that caused those expectations to nose-dive and fester into disappointment and eventually apathy.
To be fair FT proved to be a competently made game. Attention-grabbing during the first act. Visually the game looked pretty and colourful. Reminiscent to an extent of the first Torchlight game. Added to by an appropriately impressive sounding track. One that was enjoyable, as well as capturing the game's adventurous nature and amplifying its setting. The writing was found to be as generic as the missions it framed. Not invoking any significant response apart from the desire to skip past and continue playing. An initially impressive design provided a familiar gameplay structure, reinforcing the play-styles of those previously mentioned and cherished games. Something which unfortunately waned as the game's exact nature revealed itself.
Piggy-backing on the HoMM playstyle worked a treat to deliver a strategy layer with enticing exploration. One supplemented with decent randomisation and a fair array of interesting places to visit. These formed a solid base with potentially good replay value. However they eventually became all-to-familiar when enough levels had been played and restarts made. Base-building a staple of HoMM appeared to start on a parallel. Clear cut, but becoming shallow. Resulting in formulaic strategy with no alternatives to create fortresses with their own distinct specialisation. Another highlight of HoMM.
Given that once the optimum build path was identified it would not need to change for other forts. At least through the first few acts. Which was all that could be managed before apathy took over my willingness to play. Neither aspect would reach the level of involvement that matched my memories of playing HoMM. The biggest issue here was the AI ability to continuously afford the creation of parties to send out every turn after previous ones had been defeated.
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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2607340005
VERDICT:
FT was a game that promised alot but failed to deliver a convincing enough HoMM inspired strategy experience with X-COM style tactical combat. For me at least. It became lacklustre, lacking the depth to develop enough variety of strategies and a constricting design theme that forced the gameplay in first two acts at least, to be essentially the same experience.
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FULL REVIEW:
For the full review in all its glorious detail, go off-Steam to:
https://turnbasedlovers.com/review/fort-triumph-tbl/
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