Real time strategy games are starting to populate the Nintendo Switch realm, and it’s a good thing, since there are a lot of options to choose from. I like the fact that this genre is starting to see success in NS, and I’m happy that developers are taking actions to bring this type of games to the platform. But Crush Your Enemies has blown my mind completely. I applaud the developer, since what is a better example of strategy conquest and domination than the barbarians? Well, developer Vile Monarch saw an opportunity with the game Crush Your Enemies.
Now, I am not living under a rock or anything, but I didn’t know that Crush Your Enemies had been released on Steam in 2016 (since I am not a PC gamer). So for me, this the first contact with this game, and I have to say that is unlike anything I had seen before.
You are barbarians. You are proud, courageous, and you know that your purpose in life is simple: crush your enemies, steal their land, and bathe in their blood. Simple enough! One of Crush Your Enemies’ biggest strength is simplicity. Unlike other games in the genre, you don’t have to concentrate on gathering resources to get upgrades and such. Here, things are kept nice and quick. From the objectives you need to accomplish (Crushing Your Enemies is number one) to the size of maps, everything there before you so from the beginning of the battle of overwhelming enemy forces, you can just concentrate on crushing them.
Depending on the map you are playing, there could be some buildings, since there is no resource gathering here. There is also no way to build new structures, so you need to occupy the most buildings you can to give you an edge on the battlefield. I really like the way the game gives explanations of different classes in a funny way. For example, the cannon fodder grunts, the most basic of classes (in the description says that they are good with beer and stuff), but they are only ones that can “reproduce” to add more units to your ranks (more on that later). The other classes are Soldier, Archer, and Wizards (imagine a barbaric wizard!!). Each has their own weaknesses and strengths. Archers, for example, excel from ranged attacks and can stop enemies cold in their tracks. However, they suck in close combat and have a cool down period after attacking. In each map, even if there are several buildings, you need to have a strategy and find the best course of action, choosing the best class for the job.
Regarding map size, the good thing about Crush your Enemies is that you play in a single screen. It’s good because besides making battles quick and dynamic, you don’t have to worry about your troops being spread around. Thus making it easier to complete each additional objective on every map. The map is represented in a grid with different colors. Orange squares are under your command. In areas under your command, your units move faster, and enemy movement is slow. Gray areas are neutral and can be claimed by either faction. Green squares are under your enemy command, and just like in your areas, their movement is faster and yours is slower. However, when either you or your enemy moves to an already occupied area, your grunts start to work to gain that field under your barbaric command. Enemy units can do the same to yours, so it’s a battle of who can control the most fields to maximize the conquest. There are also purple squares. These are swamps and can be claimed by no one. Also, when you or your enemies are moving through a swap, the movement speed is reduced.
Also, in the different maps, there are buildings. Some of these includes huts that are used to reclute (reproduce) more units. However, there is a limit of 50 units per building, but you can send 30 out and get more. Send 20 to the 30 already to make it 50. Then rinse and repeat (your enemies can do this also). Class buildings allow you to change classes just by going to a building. You can send 50 grunts to a warrior building, and they will become 50 powerful warriors. However, if while in battle, that warrior unit decreases from 50 to 30, you can’t send simple grunts to increase their number. You need to send them to a building to change class, and then you can join them to create a powerful batallion (so to put it simply: two different classes can’t make a 50 people group). If you have a unit of 20 warriors (or archers or wizards) and you sent them to a hut to conquer it, when they defeat all enemies and they rebuild the hut to add to your forces, they immediately revert to grunts and start recruiting again (the beer and women made them forget their warrior way). When you have a good number of units again, just sent them to a class building, and they are back to being warriors. This simple but quick class mechanic is a welcome addition since in some maps you start with few units, so you can take advantage of this mechanic to add to your numbers.
There are also grey units that you can recruit to your barbaric cause just by moving your troops to the square where they are, and as a bonus, the gray units can learn the skills of the class that recruits them. If you send warriors, they will become warriors and so forth. Same with gray buildings. Instead of destroying them, they change color to match yours, but since grey units are neutral, they can be recruited by enemies also. There are also towers that once occupied, your grunts get access to a ballista. When a enemy gets close, arrows rain on them (the more grunts that are on the building, the more arrows attack them). It’s a good way to decrease enemy troops. In each map, there are a series of objectives that range from crushing enemies while conquering their land to survive for several minutes to even crushing them without using items. Another aspect worthy of praise is the AI level. While sometimes it is hard, it is so well made that you can learn from their attack patterns, so you can apply what you learn against them.
Graphically, the game looks good. The minimalistic approach taken suits the game well, and it helps keep you focused on what is happening on the screen.
The artwork used on the story segments is well done, and I liked the interactions between the protagonists. Some might feel that there is a lot of foul language here. While I found some funny and some not quite, I get what the devopler is trying to do here because have you met a well behaved and well spoken barbarian conqueror? There are some really fun moments like in the beginning when Fuzgut tells his father that his phone died and had to re-download Facebook and all its apps. Or, when they decide to let people live and tax them with beer. Fun times indeed! The story mode is something else.
There are also multiplayer modes online and local. During my time with the game, I wasn’t able to play an online game. It was a shame really because I think that against someone online there could be utter chaos (as of time of writing the game has been released, and I still haven’t been able to play against someone online). However, local play with another player is amazing.
Bottom Line: Crush Your Enemies is a great entry on the real time strategy genre because instead of having all of those building, gathering, recruiting mechanics that can be overwhelming for a newcomer, it offers a experience that can be considered straight and to the point. By stripping the game of everything that could be considered part of the RTS genre, it creates a fun and dynamic game that can be enjoyed by everyone. The game can even get newcomers interested in the genre, and that is a victory itself. I recommend it, and I think that Conan would be proud of these barbarians.