Siege Survival Gloria Victis Review: This Survival-Building Mix Is One Of The Most Original Games Of The Year

There are games that remain in your memory for being impressively good, others for how much they have disappointed you, and between one group and another there is a curious selection of games that, without being neither one thing nor the other, also seek to gain a place in your brain for how original and surprising they turn out to be. Siege Survival: Gloria Victis undoubtedly belongs to the latter group.

The exquisite mix of strategy, stealth and resource management proposed by the also creators of the MMO Gloria Victis is one of those gems only possible on PC that, just because of the imaginative nature of its proposal, already deserves your full attention.

A very surprising mix of genres

Siege Survival: Gloria Victis confronts us with the worst possible scenario with the intention that we manage to survive it. In a medieval city invaded by Viking troops, our role is not to become the last bastion to fight those enemies, but to command the poor wretches who have been trapped between the sword of war and the wall of the last refuge. from the castle.

On any other occasion, it would be enough for us to have a little faith in our allies and worry about surviving until the battle ends with a victory, but in reality that group of poor underprivileged people made up of friars, merchants and butchers is crucial for that the battle ended well for our side.

They – we – are in charge of supplying water, food and weapons to the soldiers fighting to defend the last safe place in the city. An apparently useless group of civilians who, by planting vegetables, hunting rats and preparing tar pots, will become the most useful arm of the fight.

During the day, they will take advantage of the few resources obtained from each battle to repair weapons, collect rainwater and take care of the few farm animals that remain behind the doors. At night, the game will completely change its third to invite us to navigate through the shadows of the city in search of resources with which to keep the cycle alive until attackers or defenders give up.

Survival on two open fronts

Starting with a couple of civilians and with the basics that the first attack on your walls brings you, the first thing you should do is establish which route you will choose to survive. In a trial and error that can last for several games -although you always have the option to load the start of any day lived as if it were a checkpoint-, you must choose what is the highest priority at each moment.

Either you take advantage of the resources to continue growing behind the protection of the walls while feeding your civilians or, otherwise, you use those same resources to strengthen the defense of the walls while feeding the army that protects you from certain death.

As you may have already imagined in Siege Survival: Gloria Victis, there is no 100% correct option and, in the balance between not starving, is the key to survival.

To the complex decision it is necessary to add another one, or eat or grow, because often dealing with both is not always possible. Either you invest the little wood you have to make a fire and prepare a good broth that prevents one of your characters from starving or, sacrificing a life for a more solid long-term plan , you use those materials to create a garden or a trap for mice to assure you a pinch of food every few days.

Despite how difficult it ends up being to provide them with rest, food, water and solutions for their injuries or illnesses, usually the most sensible thing to do is to keep the group safe, among other things because the resources that you can extract from the comfort of the walls are very limited. And night after night you must send those poor devils out there.

Like Commandos but without weapons

With one or more citizens looking for information on the next attack or sleeping on the ground or in the beds that have been built, each night you have the possibility to send someone to rummage through the ruins of the city to obtain resources.

Although there are not many nights in Siege Survival: Gloria Victis that can be called perfect, in a good walk you will return with food, wood, dirty water and some superficial wound caused by a rabid rat or a group of enemies, and in a better one with a bag full of resources and a new member for your community.

The idea is that, little by little, by shoveling roads and burning corpses, you can access new areas of the city, each with its own resources and, if you are lucky, also special events that will give you access to better loot, trade or the possibility of fattening your group with a character with different passive abilities.

Being able to find different shortcuts from which to start each night and also the possibility of arming your chosen character -preferably the one with more strength and holes in your inventory- you will go out to explore the ruins, amassing resources by clicking on points of interest, and hiding Among the bushes of the cone vision of the patrols that swarm through the area.

Beyond history

The Siege Survival: Gloria Victis timer during the day, with a clock that limits your actions before nightfall, and also in your night raids, where you must return to the castle before the sun rises and the sum of soldiers kicking the streets begins to grow, generates an overwhelming urgency that feels great to the game.

Little by little the story will open up to offer us more objectives than simply sending food to the troops and, with them, all our plans and strategies will be derailed both in daily work and in night looting.

Hand in hand with special challenges aimed at exploiting the two main mechanics of the game and the possibility of creating your own scenarios and stories with personalized games , saving the city is only part of the challenge and a small percentage of the sum of hours of play available.

There are few things to put in the face of such an original proposal, but I can’t help but highlight the questionable work that there is at the interface and control level . During the day, managing a large number of buildings in a relatively small area becomes quite an odyssey that goes beyond knowing what to spend and where to spend it. During the night, the steady movement of the camera means that hiding quickly while the soldiers are on your heels can cost you a mortal wound.

It can be played, yes, but it is surprising that no alarm has been raised claiming a considerable improvement in usability, even more so with how easy it is to catch dozens of games with better solutions than those proposed here.

Although it is far from perfect, Siege Survival: Gloria Victis is one of those titles that will not be difficult to cite when someone asks for a different game. Halfway between stealth, base building, resource management and narrative – with the potential to be interesting but avoiding being a veneer – what Gloria Victis’ team achieved is worthy of praise.

It is not an adventure for all audiences. Its urgency and toughness in survival can easily choke more than one, but for those who decide to give it a chance and join the fight, Siege Survival: Gloria Victis will deliver one of the most original and surprising strategic proposals of recent years.