In the last few days we have finally been able to try again Iron Harvest, very interesting RTS exquisitely tactical mold that we had already tried, with great satisfaction, during the last edition of the Gamescom in Cologne.
Iron Harvest - developed by the German studio KING Art Games and which will be distributed by Deep Silver - catapult us into a fascinating alternative 1920 in what, from the very beginning, looks like Eastern Europe on the verge of war. The state of Polania (written like this) finds itself occupied by the Rusviets invasion troops (you understand who they are inspired by) with us players who will play the role of a young red-haired patriot, Anna Kos, committed to fighting with the Resistance against the invaders of his placid land. But many other world powers are moving on the European chessboard, foreshadowing the arrival of new and more sinister winds of war.
So far, nothing particularly original. In the timeline narrated by Iron Harvest, however, there is something very different from what was studied in the history books: the presence of Mechs.
Iron Harvest (and the boardgame Schyte, with which it shares the setting) is mainly inspired by the works of the Polish artist Jakub Rozalsky, depicting scenes of life and bucolic rural settings, in which, however, war walkers of various shapes tower threateningly. The Mechs will therefore be an integral part of the game, useful resources to get the better of the enemy but - on the flip side - also dangerous opponents with which our troops will have to deal, often in obvious tactical inferiority.
If we cannot use vehicles of the same tonnage or special armaments, to overcome these mechanical monstrosities we will have to appeal to our inventiveness and better coordinate the soldiers at our disposal. For example, while one team acts as decoy by attracting the attention of the robots, another will try to hit the rear, less armored, or the joints with grenades. Hoping for a lucky hit that can immobilize or destroy the war machine.
As we said at the beginning, Iron Harvest is presented as a more tactical than strategic RTS, where our first concern will be to give the right orders not to entire battalions engaged in gigantic pitched battles, but to small groups of men and vehicles, looking for to make the most of the territory and the various coverages that this can offer us to our advantage. The system of covers, practically all of them also destructible, is in fact fundamental for our survival in battle. An open-field team can be easily decimated by a single well-positioned sniper if you don't have the foresight to get our men running for cover. Similarly, a team perched behind good defenses or inside a building can, with the necessary precautions, also get the better of an armored column.
Our soldiers, as well as the prominent characters, gain experience by fighting, thus improving their characteristics more and more. Equipment can also be improved, often by gaining possession of various weapons and accessories looted from downed enemies. Likewise, we will also be able to find useful materials by dismantling the wrecks of the vehicles and Mechs we managed to destroy.
The version of the game we tested is still a beta, so far reserved for those who had financed the Kickstarter of the project, but compared to the hands on we tried in Gamescom, we are faced with a much more complete and defined product, significantly improved in terms of graphics and sound, always clean, fluid and evocative, both in terms of variety of campaigns, skirmish missions and online multiplayer, a feature already very well done.
Iron Harvest will be available on Steam, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One starting September 1st this year, thus playing with the date compared to the historical context of the game (9/20/1920 XNUMX) and we sincerely look forward to putting hands on the ultimate game!
► Iron Harvest is an RTS-Strategy game developed by KING Art Games and published by Deep Silver for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 01/09/2020
