14 DAY TRIAL // The problem with human soldiers is that they don’t move fast enough. This means I need quite a lot of sentinels and arbalests to cover all exposed buildings. The night terrors chew the wood up pretty quickly and I’d rather pay to have more units than for repairs. But a lot of soldiers means I have fewer resources to upgrade and that I rarely have extra villagers when I need them.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand is being worked on by PlaySide, with Team17 handling the publishing side. The game is in Early Access on Steam, with the two companies currently saying that they are planning to deliver a 1.0 version in late 2022.
The core idea is simple: build a city and train units to withstand attacks from undead nightmares. Players start off with huts and simple walls, one hero, and a handful of soldiers. Use the day to clear enemies from the vicinity and to expand for resources. Keep everyone together during the nights, when the undead become more aggressive. Sneak an upgrade or unlock when there are no other pressing needs.
Age of Darkness adds bigger waves of enemies every few days. These require extra resources to handle. Walls are sometimes a good idea. A big clump of troops gathered around a leveled-up hero represents an even better one. The title does a good job of putting a lot of units on the screen at once. The main mechanics are also both familiar and well-implemented. I especially like the fact that it takes a bit of care to keep units alive and get the most out of them.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand looks pretty good for a top-down strategy title, with enough detail on the buildings and units to make the world feel fleshed out. The interface is well-designed, with easy access to build commands and classic ways to group units to make sure that all tactical options are covered. The unit barks do not offer anything new for the genre and the soundtrack is mostly adequate.
Conclusion
With solid gameplay, the title does suffer from a very safe take on fantasy concepts. Almost all the ideas are well-executed on, but nothing stands out. Before the full version of Age of Darkness: Final Stand is out, the developer needs to find more innovative ways to make it stand out.
Preview code provided by the publisher.
