14 DAY TRIAL // Gord, the dark fantasy strategy game from Covenant.dev, is trying to do things a bit differently, while keeping it familiar for folks who love strategy games. With a strong focus on narrative, Gord is bringing out many of the formulas that made games like Frostpunk and The Witcher 3 popular. But that’s no surprise considering the studio includes former developers who worked on both of these iconic titles.
Inspired by Slavic folktales, Gord throws players in the middle of a conflict between a conquering kingdom and the last remnants of the resistance. As the steward of a tyrant who wants to vanquish all opposition, you are sent as a vanguard to pinpoint the gold deposits supposedly hidden across the next territory your king plans to invade.
With just a very small detachment of soldiers and a sleazy envoy who is going to watch your every move, you’re basically forced to take on a seemingly unwinnable mission. Thankfully, there’s one tribe in the region that you’ll soon descend, which agrees to help you complete the mission given to you by the king.
It’s one the weakest tribes of the northern territories, so you won’t have your army of Wulfgars, unfortunately. On the bright side, they are familiar with everything that lives in this region, so they can at least guide you to your objective.
The preview version of Gord gives you access to a few scenarios that offer more than a glimpse at the game’s main loop. You start with a small roster of people who are going to help you build your first gord, a small settlement that will act as a base for your population until you finish the scenario’s main objective.
Your people have names (which can be changed), a profession, strengths and weaknesses. You can change one of your unit’s professions whenever you wish to come in line with their strengths and weaknesses, something that you should be looking at the moment the game lets you.
Each building in the gord has its usefulness, but you must designate at least one worker to it in order to function properly. The building aspect follows the traditional formula with just one twist: you can change a worker’s profession by simply guiding them inside a building.
Many scenarios have side quests that give you various rewards if you manage to complete them. More importantly, you get to keep your roster of workers who survive a scenario. Unless you want to abandon them and take new ones with you that have better strengths and weaknesses that can be easily alleviated.
Apart from having to build your gord and fulfil your objective, you’ll also have to manage your workers’ sanity and health. In Gord, the Temple is just as important as any of the military buildings because it generates faith, the resource required for spells. It’s an interesting mix of elements that elevate the gameplay experience to top-tier level.
Conclusion
The people helping you are not just mindless workers, they have names, strengths, weaknesses and can easily become depressed if their needs aren’t fulfilled. Without their help, it would be impossible to make it to the next scenario because there’s no mechanic in the game allowing you to get more workers.
Children are only born if you have enough space in your gord and it takes time until they reach adulthood, so you’ll have to really take care of your people. Gord piqued my interest from the first scenario, and I think many strategy fans will love the game. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait too long since Gord is set for release on PC and consoles on August 8.
Preview key was provided by the publisher.
