Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin Review

Real-time strategy is something I've never been able to get on with. Ever since failing to rescue Albert Einstein in Command & Conquer: Red Alert, I've developed a contempt for the genre, but you know what? I'm willing to give it another chance - it has been twenty-seven years since falling out of love with the RTS, after all, save for one or two dalliances. And so, here I am, tasked with reviewing Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, continuing the tradition of lengthy titles, while marking the first time a real-time strategy title has been set within the Age of Sigmar realm. Where RTS games are concerned, Realms of Ruin is also up there with some of the better examples, especially on console, where the genre is somewhat underrepresented.

 

For Games Workshop nerds, Realms of Ruin's single-player campaign is sure to delight, as the golden-armoured do-gooder Stormcast Eternals fight to protect a powerful artefact. Meanwhile, the spectral Nighthaunt faction also wants to get their mitts on it, as do the eldritch warriors of the Disciples of Tzeentch. In the mix are the Orruk Kruleboyz, a ragtag band of brutal green-skinned scrappers, always spoiling for a fight. Each chapter chops and changes between factions, so you get to experience the battle from all sides, while tackling a series of increasingly tricky challenges. Some simply involve defeating an opposing force, while others have you seizing and holding on to territory, often to deplete your rival's reinforcements before yours run out.

Like any RTS, Realms of Ruin has you accumulating and managing resources to build structures at designated 'Arcane Conduits', and to summon additional units or purchase upgrades for your burgeoning army. You'll need to defend your muster point, lest your main rally point and place for spawning fresh units be put out of commission, while any captured Arcane Conduits or Victory Points can come under attack at any time. Structures, including your base, can be upgraded to help give you an edge and allow you to conjure additional units, but it all counts for naught if you haven't got your ducks in a row and an effective strategy pinned down.

Even at the lowest 'Lorekeeper' difficulty, things can get tricky, and as each campaign mission shifts objectives, moving to adapt or gauging the lay of the land through the obligatory fog of war can be a challenge. Warrior, Veteran, and Champion difficulties leave little room for error, so whether you're battling orruks as Sigrun, Iden, Demechrios and the rest of the Stormcast Eternals on the way to Harkanibus, engaging in an orruk civil war as Dankfeer, or facing Lord Gloam and the Nighthaunt as Strylka and her Kairic Acolytes, getting to grips with the strengths and weaknesses of each unit type, while exploiting structures and territories, can prove imperative in obtaining victory.

 

Beyond the story-driven campaign, there's more than ample replay value in Conquest Mode, offering as it does a series of procedurally generated missions across a world map as your chosen faction. There are various parameters you can set, too, whether it's the number of lives you have (how many times you can lose without your journey coming to an end) or the difficulty level (obviously). Objectives are randomly assigned from mission to mission, so you'll never quite know what you'll be up against. You can guarantee that you'll be trudging through living swamps, dustbowl prairie lands, snowy mountainous regions, or muddy grasslands, though – environmental variety is slightly lacking.

Campaign proves the more engaging choice, although Conquest Mode lends longevity to Realms of Ruin, more so if you're willing to grind out some online multiplayer matches. Given my complete lack of skill when it comes to the 'S' in RTS, multiplayer can be a miserable experience, but that's no fault of what Frontier Developments has put together here. On console, the control system is remarkably easy to learn and master, although a quick way of being able to select all units at once wouldn't have gone amiss. And, for the most part, the game performs smoothly, save for the occasional instance of slowdown, where too much activity on-screen at once can cause the action to chug along while the frame rate struggles to stabilise.

 

Should you be craving a dose of dark fantasy Warhammer and a solid real-time strategy experience, Realms of Ruin more than fits the bill. Granted, there isn't a huge variety in the number of objectives you'll face, slowdown can put a dampener on some missions, and the Conquest Mode will only keep you invested for so long. But the campaign proves engaging while it lasts (even if you're not au fait with all the Games Workshop goblin fare) and the game mechanics are robust and well thought out. As far as current console RTS titles are concerned, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is about as good as it gets. For Warhammer die-hards, meanwhile, this is pretty much essential.