![]() Mechs also take more damage when shot in the rear, encouraging you to flank them or to use infantry to toss explosives behind them.ĭefensive structures like bunkers are extremely useful for stopping your opponent harassing your base with infantry and smaller mechs, while keeping a group of engineers with your mechs enables them to perform repairs in the field and keep them in the fight longer. ![]() Flame units of all stripes will absolutely annihilate infantry, but are much less effective against mechs. Alongside anti-infantry mechs, there are anti-mech infantry who pulverise armour with massive cannons. ![]() It's a shame the cover-system is a little haphazard because otherwise Iron Harvest's early to mid game has plenty of tactical nuance. The game's main feature, those massive, city-destroying mechs are arguably the source of Iron Harvest's biggest problem. Compounding this is that, when caught out of cover, AI infantry tends to run directly into your line rather than retreat to a defensive position, which can make infantry encounters scrappy and unsatisfying. But the system is spotty about what counts as cover, while the maps aren't really built to engender fire and move mechanics. At infantry level, Iron Harvest employs a cover system much like Company of heroes, with green circles highlighting when your character can hide behind walls. One mission in the middle of the Rusviet campaign includes insta-fail stealth, which is exceptionally frustrating. The variety imbued in the campaign does result in some weaker scenarios, however. One of its more unique examples sees you trying to protect a train filled with supplies as it weaves its way through a Polanian valley, while an early Rusviet mission involves sneaking through St Petersburg, joining up with scattered Rusviet forces as you gradually work your way toward the Winter Palace. In play, the campaign intersperses familiar RTS skirmishes with more character focussed missions, with each gradually building up your unit roster from lone infantry to your full combined forces. It's an impressive endeavour filled with twists and turns that elevate it beyond a straightforward war story, although stock characters and a whiff of cheese about the script hamper its narrative aspirations. It's a surprisingly cinematic experience too, with missions bookended by meticulously directed cutscenes telling the story of the three-way conflict. The Polanian campaign, for example, charts the story of the country's resistance against Rusviet occupation, as young resistance fighter Anna Kos tries to rescue her father from the evil general Zubov. Although they seamlessly conjoin into one story, there are actually three campaigns, each focussing on a different faction. Iron Harvest loves playing with scale, and that goes for its campaign as much as individual matches. I can't decide if the audio designers deserve a medal or a reprimand for creating such a cacophonous hellscape. The sound of Iron Harvest in full swing is tremendous. Shortly afterward, the mechs begin to appear, mainly anti-infantry at first, but soon combat is mech on mech, giant death machines trading massive cannon shots that leave whole sectors scarred with craters and reduce buildings to rubble. Then it layers in more advanced types of infantry-grenadiers who can destroy cover and cripple units with a well-placed grenade, and machine-gunners who can pin enemy units down and create chokepoints on the map. Matches start out small, with squads of rifleman trading potshots from cover as they rush to capture early control points. The spectacle of any given Iron Harvest match is phenomenal. If all goes well, we’ll see this on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One next year.As for combat, good grief. King Art is looking to hold its first alpha this summer, another alpha in Q4 2018, a beta in Q2 2019, and launch Iron Harvest in Q4 2019. The story will bounce between three different playable factions - the Saxony Empire, the Polania Republic, and Rusviet - and it’s expected to run about 20 hours long. Iron Harvest has already pulled in $275K of its $450K funding goal at the time of writing. This is King Art Games’ fourth Kickstarter-funded project to date the team previously found success with Battle Worlds: Kronos, The Book of Unwritten Tales 2, and The Dwarves. Iron Harvest leverages Różalski’s alternate-history setting as a backdrop for real-time strategy battles that favor “clever tactics over action” and “player freedom over scripted set-piece moments.” Scrolling through the Kickstarter pitch, I think Company of Heroes fans are going to feel right at home. In the world of 1920+, the machines that fought in the Great War have since become “part of everyday life.” Jakub Różalski captured our imaginations with his anachronistic, mech-filled artwork.
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