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Pathos Interactive is hoping make its mark on the RTS grocery store withBannermen , a medieval strategy statute title that make all the classic notes : resourcefulness gathering , regular army product , and torpedo units that can change the lunar time period of a battle . alas , it turns outBannermenis a fittingly generic name for a title that lack its own identity . The game feel like it borrows piece and pieces aplenty from other successful RTS game , but it makes no daring moves to endure out on its own . The result is an to a fault - simplified RTS statute title that is enjoyable at times , but miss the strategic depth to compete with well - known alternatives already on the food market .
The premiss ofBannermenis built off of a successful try - and - true RTS rule : players must gather resources , build up an army , and circumvent their opponents on the field of honor . Powerful grinder unit wager a large character in how these battles trash out , but beyond this the biz give out to put forth much strategical deepness . There ’s only one cabal inBannermen , so player will always be stack against an enemy with the same units and technical school tree diagram as themselves . Fighting the same unit in sempiternity produce moth-eaten apace , peculiarly since the biz does n’t have any additional layers like veteran social unit or team - specific special unit options .
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InBannermen , even the resource betray this lack of depth . Wood and Au are the only two resources to hoard and are used to produce all of the units , buildings , and upgrades the game has to offer . A fairly simple technical school tree goes through the standard gothic must - haves : footman , archers , catapults , and knights fill most of the roll . Cuban sandwich units that have particular blast and can be leveled up by being in fighting add a much - needed breath of refreshed air travel into the mix . Unfortunately , there ’s only three of them , and for most of the campaign musician essentially just insure one of them .
The effort offers a variety of skirmishes - and a good routine of them - to the role player . Over the course of some 23 - leftover degree , player will push across recycled multiplayer map , custom - build scenarios , and poor hero - only raid missions . This potpourri of missions keeps the hunting expedition from getting too repetitive or moth-eaten , though the tempo can feel odd at time with some missionary station taking a topic of minutes , while other battle terminate up longer and draw off out . It can also be curious fighting a sole enemy on a map that was intelligibly meant for eight thespian , make for some empty - find worlds .
The storyline is a elementary one : the player has lost a battle that was not dissimilar to The War of The Last Alliance fromLord of the Rings , with the evil Lord Karthor take a strong beachhead in the kingdom as a answer . Over the line of the movement , the player rebuilds an army and organizes a unexampled push to fight back against Lord Karthor . There will be no dramatic turn of events or intricate plots here - all of the graphic symbol are caricature of medieval personas , but at least the storyline advance provide a change of scenery as the player troops across woodlands , desert , and ashen rock environs . It ’s genericLord of the RingsmeetsAge of Empires , but without any standout moments of its own .
One bright note forBannermenis the inclusion of holy spots on each skirmish mathematical function . construct temples on these locations will allow the player to summon nature exponent , which are highly destructive area - of - effect events ( or a giant bear unit , which give way a wow factor the rest of the game is painfully missing ) . Much like wonders inAge of Empires , construct a temple on this spot air a presentment to all of the other players , so one must be quick to guard the fix as the nature power goes through its cooldown . It ’s a fun touch , and its risk - versus - reinforcement nature is one of the uncommon timesBannermenoffers some depth to its gameplay .
At launching the biz has creeping technical subject that take away from the experience . There was more than one juncture that a cause mission had to be repeated because the plot glitched out and did n’t spark an end after the triumph term , and cutscenes sometimes had audio stuttering issues . The whole do a somewhat decent job of pathfinding on the field of battle , but sometimes get severely confused . Archers need punctilious micromanagement , as they often draw a blank to assault nearby foeman buildings after destroying their initial prey . The biggest infliction is the audio word of advice for a thespian ’s USA being under attack , which often keeps retell non - stop during prolonged skirmishes . It ’s a clear design supervision , and an reading that the developer have n’t yet had time to fine - tune the title .
At the end of the day , Bannermen ’s biggest fumble is its want of diversity : if Lord Karthor ’s forces had been orcs or had something to differentiate themselves , there ’d be some nice multifariousness to battle . Instead , players will be fighting against an enemy using the same technical school tree and the same units throughout both the campaign and skirmish matches . This limits the tactical flexibility of the title , leave in a fairly simple-minded experience . This hurts the longevity of the title , and it means gameplay lean to grow stale evenhandedly quickly .
Bannermenstill has enjoyable instant of gameplay as ground forces jar together , but it fails to make its mark on the traditional RTS rule with any tweaks or significant depth . make that the game retail at a $ 27 price point , RTS enthusiast will likely still have a good - albeit likely abbreviated - time with the statute title . For everyone else , it ’s hard to justify purchasingBannermenwhen classic likeCommand and ConquerorAge of Empiresthat reach much higher bank bill , profundity , and polish .
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Bannermenis uncommitted now on PC . Screen Rant was provided with a Steam code for this review .
