On July 30, a demo was released to the public IRON HARVEST – a strategy that was intended, if not to say a new word in the genre, then at least to refresh it. Give us a strong product, with an unhackneyed network and original style, a touch of madness and a handful of cranberries (where would we be without it??).
The game itself comes out on September 1, but let’s be honest – we won’t see anything radically new at release compared to the demo. Unless they fix bugs and improve optimization. well, they’ll tweak something in little things. So let’s see what happened to the German King Art Games based on the Polish artist.
ORIGINS.
… This is a period when traditions collided with modernity, but the world was still full of secrets and mysteries. During the Industrial Revolution, humanity, fascinated by engines, iron and steel, began experiments in creating huge walking robots. The geopolitical situation [in my universe] is a little different from what it was back then, but overall it’s an alternative view of history and not just a fantasy world. There is no magic here, but, according to rumors, the Tatars from the south can talk to animals and control the wind… or maybe these are just guesses of superstitious residents.
The majestic procession of warm and lamp furs began with a board game Scythe (Sickle), for which the author drew illustrations. I still don’t understand what came first – the board for which Rozalski was hired, or the drawings that inspired the authors of the board. But for us this is not so important, especially since IRON HARVEST is not a literal transfer of the universe Serpa.
What really matters is the identity of the universe. Against the backdrop of the already hackneyed “alternative World War II” setting 1920+ looks really unusual and original. This is a mixture of the mech genre, the First World War and Interbellum.
I would compare this situation with the appearance of the first airplanes in the sky: many people did not yet understand how these devices worked and why they were needed, but these machines had already become part of the world in which they live. Robots in the 1920+ world are not yet very advanced – they are crudely made, too large and clumsy mechanisms, reminiscent of the first tanks of the First World War.
Interbellum is somehow lost against the backdrop of two world wars, although it was then that our history branched out in such amazing ways that we can say with confidence that nothing was predetermined. And there was every chance that, as a result, World War II would be fought between France, Britain and the USA on the one hand, and the USSR and the German Soviet Republic on the other. Alas, Hitler happened in Germany in 1933, and everything went wrong.
1920+ this is dieselpunk as it is. The cars here are very clumsy, angular, and clearly hypertrophied. They show the features of the technology of the First World War: when the designers did not yet understand what, for example, a tank should look like. And tried to experiment.
The key difference between my universe and the real world is a different view of the technological development of mankind at the turn of the century.
In 1920+ people use powerful mobile robots – both in everyday life and for military purposes. Like Europe at the dawn of the 20th century, this universe is full of contrasts and secrets, diverse and little known; this is a world in which traditions and life in harmony with nature are gradually being replaced by the modern way of life and new technologies.
The cars chug, roll from side to side, and smoke. Fuel oil, hot steel, greasy black smoke. People in 1920+ invented the wheel – but then they veered somewhere to the side, and now even the Maxim machine gun moves on many metal legs, gracefully walking along trenches and shell craters.
It’s unusual, it’s stylish, it’s cool, and.
And how damn boring it is to play this.
GRAPHICS.
We will start with appearance – as the easiest criterion to evaluate.
A man loves with his eyes. If we judge objectively, it could have been worse. However, sometimes there is a frame gap – and no, I’m confident in my hardware. The problem is somewhere on the game side.
The Polanian boys spoil a girl who seems to be a half-breed from Rusvet. By the end of the mission there will be a strong desire to hunt them instead of deer.
The graphics are very unpretentious, the maps are very faded. Typical Polish village (1 piece.), which was set on fire by evil enemies. They stuck a fire texture on top, scattered the corpses of civilians – you’re done, you’re amazing!
I would especially like to note the ringing emptiness – I understand that we have rural areas around the village here. But at least something other than endless fields, streams and those very standard houses could be provided? Well – so that there is something to blow up, burn or smash? However, we will analyze the gameplay separately.
At maximum magnification, you can see that the models themselves look good – but they skimped on animations. Of course, in battle it won’t be so visible – not before. But still.
While the battle is going on, with the commander’s eagle eye you can see a good, in general, picture. But.
And I wouldn’t give a damn about graphonia, because strategy is about something else. Cunning, resourcefulness, tactical techniques – you won’t find all this here.
BEHIND ENEMY RAINS?
No. Not even close. In my review of Earth 2150, I talked about how the perception of scale changes in different strategies. And if in C&C hordes of tanks crush each other under the shadow of nuclear mushrooms, then in Behind enemy lines everything is much more modest. And this smaller scale makes us treat equipment and soldiers differently.
The simplest example is a German company "Tiger’s Fury". For those who haven’t played, we’ve been fighting for Michael Witman for several missions. And at the end of this campaign they clearly show us WHAT the Tiger tank can do if it is in the right place at the right time. Spoiler: nothing good for enemy tankers.
For some reason I decided that we would be given the opportunity to take control of individual units and conduct tactical battles. When every soldier counts, every car is a gift from heaven, every enemy is a serious obstacle. In conditions where we use bellows, such an approach would fully pay off. Think about it!
Each mech would become an individual combat unit – with its own strengths and weaknesses, preferably with a damage model, even a simple one. A car knocked out at the legs would turn into a stationary bunker, to which you can and should break through, repair it and return it to duty. Or force the enemy to abandon his mech and later loot him in the best traditions of the Wakhi boys.
Unfortunately, we won’t get all this from the OBHR. Humble your heart and lower your expectations – for IH this is a strategy, of which there are thousands. Only instead of tanks there are walking machines. And despite their interesting appearance, the number of special features for them is not impressive. Yes, there are specific techniques such as the ability to run up and hit the enemy. Or destroy houses near heavy mechs. But somehow it’s small and boring – even among units in Red Alert, in my opinion, there are much more abilities.
It’s the same with infantry – we have squads. The units are homogeneous, although we can quickly rearm them – if captured guns are left on the battlefield after the enemy. This can be useful – quickly turn engineers into machine gunners, or vice versa – arm the infantry with grenades. However, in Wh40K: Down of War in 2004 we could staff squads with fighters with different weapons. And the squad became a very flexible tactical unit that could solve different problems at any time. Moreover, all factions in DoW vary greatly – from units to buildings. Immediately I didn’t feel much difference between them: yes, the default Rusvet infantry (with shotguns) seems to be dangerous at close range, and Polanian soldiers (armed with rifles) are good at medium distances. However, in reality, large battalions and bears rule.
Wojtek the Bear is the key to Polania’s victory. He runs after Anna (the main character of the available missions) and breaks faces in close combat, tanking. Rusvet soldiers are distracted by him, try to hit him, and in the meantime they are shot by infantry. If he is killed, then after about a minute the bear can be called back to the battlefield.
There are no cunning https://sailorbingocasino.uk/games/ schemes and no special need for reconnaissance – we have a base, there are workshops and barracks, and there is the capture of points and resources. Just like in C&C, Yes. Infantry appears immediately in units, which make sense to protect – as they level up, they learn new tricks. For example, releasing a battle cry – which somehow reduces the enemy’s accuracy. His hands are starting to shake or something?? The only micromanagement available to us, as I mentioned, is the ability to rearm our soldiers on the battlefield using spoils from defeated enemies.
Grenades are useful against both mechs and infantry. True, its reload time is simply terrible.
The gameplay in this situation also turns into a very vague leapfrog, especially if we are talking about infantry battles. Models stand and shoot at each other. Whoever runs out of HP bar first will die. How fucking interesting – thank you very much.
For the next 5 minutes I will stare thoughtfully at the screen and wonder who will run out of health first… T-tactics!
If units get too close together, brutal and uncompromising hand-to-hand combat begins! And the player can only watch as the dummies figure out what is stronger – the Rusboy or the fighting Krakowiak.
Broken skeletons of enemy mechs can be salvaged for resources. Just quickly, otherwise they will self-explode.
However, as I progressed, I finally got to the moment I had been waiting for so long! Furs! And then the game changed quite well, revealing its undoubted advantages. Don’t get me wrong – until we had technology, enemy mechs were annoying. If they noticed you, then most likely you had to reboot. Or suffer serious losses – because for mechanical monsters, infantry is just meat. Well, since the local armored warrior doesn’t go alone, even in case of victory, you have to curse somewhere to look for a box with first aid kits, thanks to which you can restore the health of the squad.
And no – it could just as well have been just tanks and armored personnel carriers. They don’t have a damage model, just a health bar. The presence of the OBHR does not bring anything special in the gameplay sense – but when dieselpunk mechs hit each other with giant hammers, and machine guns on stilts chatter around, this immediately gives several points to the game from a visual point of view. Simple – cool.
This moment took an unusually long time to pass. Firstly, it turned out that one mine will not make a difference – you need about three for the fur. Secondly, the route of this patrol is very long and sad. Thirdly? my attempt to organize an ambush failed. Because the soldiers placed in the house experience an involuntary eruption of bullets at the sight of the enemy: they cannot help but shoot.
Bellows are different, depending on their purpose. Some burn the infantry, but quickly drain the artillery. Others quickly close the distance and tear everyone into hand-to-hand combat. Still others specialize in destroying the first two, such as tank destroyers. True, “hand-to-hand combat” completely breaks the perception of reality: well, because this is not Vakha even once. It seems like there is an attempt at seriousness and some drama… The key word is “some”.
Actually, the gameplay of the game develops only from the third mission, where we are given the second main character – “Uncle Lech”. This is a rugged warrior with gorilla-like fur. He enters the house brutally and without asking (like Pinocchio or riot police), and beats the soldiers with manipulators. A special ability is an attack from a super shotgun across a sector, after which the enemy infantry gets very sick.
One more touch to the seriousness of what is happening: Uncle Lech is almost one hundred percent suicide bomber. For he fights hand-to-hand on the fur, without covering himself with anything. Some flamethrower mech farts fire in his face – and he calmly continues the fight.
Under his strict guidance, we build a base, grab resources (there are two of them – iron and oil), produce an army, and move from one point to another, enjoying cutscenes along the way. And so casually I will move on to a very important aspect of the game – the plot, closely intertwined with AI, the universe 1920+ and efforts in screenwriting and directing.
PLOT.
The story is presented in two ways. Firstly, during missions the models stand in a column opposite each other and chat. At the same time they try to portray emotions – which looks so-so. It’s like in Desperados 3 – where models play theater. At the same time, sometimes there are videos whose direction is at the level DOCTOR, DOCTOR, CALL THE DOCTOR or even higher.
Seriously – you have a cool artist. You’ve messed everything up based on his art – so let him draw you a comic! Or even animated screensavers – with their own unique style. But no, they preferred to take the simple route.
Rozalski’s work can be seen here and there on the levels. Right on the street, next to a stone fence, there is a hefty canvas with some kind of design – mmm, an Easter egg! But it’s better to find them on the Internet and watch them in normal, not jackal, resolution.
In the first mission of a single company that we had a chance to experience, we are in the role of a young Polanian girl, Anna KosT first in the winter we go and play snowballs with the boys. Let’s get to know the controls along the way.
If I understand, then Anna herself is from a mixed family, and has relatives from Rusvet residents. Polanians do not like Rusvet, the local analogue of Russia, and from childhood they are told who the main enemy is.
After the vile red-haired soulless girl is bravely taken away by five noble Polanian gentlemen, Janek, her brother, comes to her aid. Quickly scaring off the playful youngsters, he takes out a gun and a golf club, finds them all and kills them in succession teaches his sister to shoot (while chatting about the threat of an approaching war). A specially trained deer is used for shooting . And then my game crashed for the first time.
WOW! Children fight – you can sell it.
You see, it’s not enough to just command to shoot at a horned animal. No, we have to manage Janek and Anna to organize an ambush. Anna must sit in the bushes, Janek must scare the deer, he will run towards the bushes, and Anna will kill him with a “piercing shot”. This is a special ability of our sniper, which will allow you to take down even mechs later. And the map is big. And monotonous… And if you don’t do it the way it’s supposed to, the SCRIPT, BITCH, WILL NOT WORK. Are you smart?? I still passed this so-called “TRAINING MISSION” the second time. However, I already hate the one who created this map: the deer is a horseradish, understand where, Anna always crawls out of the bushes, although I didn’t command her to do that.
We bring down the deer, the smell of the guts is followed by a she-bear who attacks Janek. But Polanian OBHRs, who were nearby in time, save the situation and drag the vedmed away for meat. And we get a bear cub – which Anna takes as a pet.
Well, in their native village those same soldiers announce mobilization. Anna and Janek’s father, Peter, is against the war and does not want to let his son go; local patriots scold him in response. Dad is generally a mysterious man with many secrets – he has one hand replaced with a steel one (as it turns out later – very cool), and he is an ideological pacifist.
Pope Peter seems to be saying that we must not live by lies.
This goat with sideburns pissed me off from the first frames.
At first I thought it was such an anti-war message and I even admired it. I thought the scriptwriters followed the path of real “gray morality”. Like, they are encouraging a young guy to become a soldier, luring him with the promise of the best equipment. Everyone says “We’ll be back for Christmas”, “it’s only for a couple of months”, music is playing in the background, sister says goodbye to brother, dad looks at it sadly, the bear roars sadly, angst and hopelessness are tearing apart the soul.
And in general, no one wanted to die, and the war simply and effortlessly burned other people’s lives… Yeah, now!
We are told in a chronicle how the next five years there was a massacre between Polonia, Saxony and Rusvet, with the possible participation of other countries. The Northern Kingdoms and some kind of Shogunate were mentioned briefly… Shogunate… In my opinion, we are talking about Japan. Janek, of course, did not return home, being left to rot somewhere in the endless fields of local Europe.
Polania herself became dependent on her neighbors, there are traitors in the government, and patriots run through the forests and continue to fight.
Newsreels shit. Sorry – I can’t say otherwise. It’s 2020 and you’re not even trying. The mech models stand out too much from the background.
Well, then comes the mission "Defense of Zalesye", where we, as Anna, first walk through the forest with dad, then a peasant catches up with us, yelling “RUSVET ATAKUE”. Moreover, Anna, seeing Rusvet’s soldiers in the forest, is sincerely amazed at their presence. Polania is occupied by Rusvet, where are Rusvet soldiers from??
By the way, I’m not sure that Rusvet is really an allusion to Russia. After all, having met the bear Wojtek, the Russian soldiers are amazed and begin to scream WHAT IS THIS?! and they shoot at us. Instead of hugging the clubfoot and pouring him vodka. Some defective Russians – honestly.
Before we continue, I want you to understand: I love cranberries. Vodka-balalaika hat, EHEHEY! "Red Dawn" with its awesome paratroopers, Hell march, Red Alert, Arnold in the uniform of a Soviet policeman is fun and playful. And even an astronaut from "Armageddon" wearing a hat with earflaps is a rather positive image. He may be crazy, but he is brave and purposeful, even while on a giant asteroid.
If we have Rusvet, whose soldiers talk with a completely hellish and vigorous accent, and we fight against them with the help of a girl who has a bear on her parcels, then the whole world should be the same too. Well because everything should be in balance. Stereotypes, some jokes, something that shows what is happening ironically or at least stylistically unified. This is such a strange world – where people use walkers instead of wheeled vehicles, and Russian intelligence officer Olga rides the tiger Chang and it looks harmonious.
So – EVERYTHING that happens in the game is served on serious cabbage soup. Rusvet soldiers in the style of the German Sonderkommandos showed up in Zalesye in search of a certain Dubovsky. To find out when there will be a continuation Mora and remake Turgora, no other way.
Needless to say, this professor is actually our father? And in a delightful scene, you can watch how, with the help of his super prosthesis, he hurls lightning at his enemies, quickly and easily destroying enemy mech and collapsing bridges.
During our wanderings we run around the map.
And my scripts broke for the second time. Because already completed tasks did not disappear anywhere, the entire map was littered with exclamation marks, and the cutscene did not start.
Attention to the map.
Cursing, I restarted the mission. And he reached the scene where we see the already familiar picture of total devastation and extermination – the soldiers of Rusvet in the best traditions Company of Heroes 2 they are going to burn down a house with people. True, here they burn not their own, but strangers, which is certainly progress. Outraged by such obscenity, we interfere with them – and meet with dad… Only for HE to enter the stage.
Lion Davydovich Trotsky Alekseevich Zubov. Man and steamboat.
This is Barkov.
I’m not kidding – he is polished, arrogant, arrogant with the weak and cowardly with the strong. He runs away from the battlefield if he smells something hot and abandons his subordinates. Anna’s dad managed to break the colonel’s fur with his hand chastity belt, he reads a monologue from the series “At last we have met, Mr. Bond”!». And since Dad’s arm is broken and no longer makes noise, Peter is dragged away somewhere while Anna lies unconscious.
In further missions we engage in guerrilla warfare, recapture prisoners, and are finally given the first two mechs at our disposal. The finale of the third mission is to survive three waves of enemies, where the final attack is led by Zubov himself.At the same time, they don’t forget to remind us what a bastard he is – for the cheerful colonel will affably wave at Anna with his father’s torn prosthesis.
But since reinforcements will come, then to the pretentious cries FOR POLANIA. Rusvet dogs will run away from us. Well, in mission 4 we will be taught how to build a base and use resources.
Briefly about the general outline of the plot that awaits us at the release: our dad (Professor Dubovsky) together with Tesla himself worked on some secret project. For Rusvet. As is fashionable, he was horrified by the result and ran away. Zubov searched for him for a long, long time, found him, interrogated him, and killed him – we will see the scene with the death of dad and, according to the authors’ plans, we will have to shed a tear or two.
A certain “Factory” is also somehow involved here. It seems to be some kind of technology warehouse – I didn’t quite understand the context. I can only assume that this "Factory" plays the same role as Daat Ihud in the new Wolfenstein. A certain thing that everyone needs, because whoever gets it can bend everyone.
RESULT FIRST. STORY.
IRON HARVERST it’s like a book about misfits. Well, you know – they end up in another world/past, and start defeating everyone. And in the end, for example, the Russian Empire sweetly crunches a bun and launches a man into space. In this case, we have not a book, but a game. And not about Russia, but about Poland – but the essence is the same.
This is the world where Poland is strong, bending the vile Muscovites (and a little later – the stupid Krauts), under the leadership of a beautiful young girl. It’s worth talking about it separately.
Were in the same C&C hero characters. Like Colonel Barton. Or the Black Lotus from China. But there they were just units without history. Just cool fighters who have special abilities. Here the emphasis is on storytelling – drama, if you like. Character growth, his relationships with other people in cutscenes. And Anna is a faded and boring “modern female heroine” who SUDDENLY is stronger than everyone else. Just a girl from a Polan village who ONCE became the main. And on her orders, barracks are erected, mechs are built, entire detachments are killed.
This looks very strange.
RESULT TWO. GAMEPLAY.
How is that C&C, but dieselpunk and with guns. Moreover, some fur models look TOO unrealistic even with all the assumptions. I understand that this was the case with Rozalski, but it was necessary to adapt it somehow – maybe add the usual wheeled transport?
To make these cars look more impressive against its background.
There is no particular depth of gameplay. Build a base, rivet units in a timely manner. Speed and pressure, a little luck – and you will be happy in multiplayer. All. If the developers went this route Behind enemy lines, then everything was much more logical. They would separate “Uncle Lech” and Anna. The first leads units of soldiers and officers, has access to mechs, and fights face to face. And Anna is a partisan in a small detachment, organizing sabotage and ambushes.
Maybe she steals furs from the enemy, and depending on how lucky she is, in the next mission for “Uncle Lech” he will have more equipment.
RESULT THIRD. PRAISE.
And now I will praise the game.
Yes, yes, don’t be surprised. You’d better be surprised by the honesty of the authors, who let us experience the game in every detail, and immediately showed its strengths and weaknesses a month before release. Everything was as honest as possible – they let me see the storyline, let me try out the multiplayer.
I won’t play at objectivity and force you to “buy the game and form your own opinion,” so I’ll say – I won’t buy it and I don’t advise you. If I want to look at dieselpunk mechs, Rozalski’s drawings are still there. And to fight through bugs with scripts, reboots, the stupidity of dummies who shoot without a command and waste your time on this purely for the sake of watching how the strip of life crawls over the furs.