Review
Fierce galactic battles: Iron Marines combines firepower with strategy
by Martin Jungfer
Thronefall – a fun tactics game for little money
16.8.2023
Translation: Eva Francis
Thronefall is a combination of tower defence and construction simulation games. Sounds complicated, but it’s not. The four levels are heaps of fun and perfect for a bit of gaming here and there.
Gone are the days when I had hours or even days at hand to build empires in Civilization or fight epic battles in Age of Empires. That’s why I enjoy finding micro-strategy games. Thronefall is one of them. I finished it in just over ten hours – and had a great time.
Thronefall is developed by small German studio Grizzly Games, best known for Islanders. Here’s the Steam link to the game. The latest launch of the Grizzly Games team has been available since the beginning of August in an early edition with four levels.
What’s Thronefall about?
One Thronefall level consists of several rounds. I start off with a few gold coins, which I use to build the castle centre. This mustn’t under any circumstances be destroyed by enemy units. To fight the enemies, I, the king, choose my weapon. I don’t want it to be a one-man show, so I use more gold coins to build barracks that produce archers, knights and other units for close and long-range combat.
In every round, my castle and houses produce gold, so I need to extend my castle and build new houses to make sure I don’t run out. Harbours, farms, windmills and gold mines also give me new gold coins.
Source: Martin Jungfer
The problem is that after expanding my settlement during the day, the night follows. In the darkness, waves of enemies roll towards my castle. There are drone-like birds, lumbering monsters with massive clubs, archers and scurrying hordes of rolling grenades. To stop them, I build wooden walls and defence towers in addition to the battle groups I’ve raised. I can strengthen the walls and towers with more gold. That’s how I prepare for the enemies who become more dangerous from round to round.
Source: Martin Jungfer
What’s the gameplay like?
I play Thronefall on my Mac Mini with the keyboard. I use the arrow keys to control the king, who builds infrastructure during the day and joins the battle at night. If I hold down the shift key, he rides faster. With the control key, I can group my knights or archers around me and bring them to the place of action. The space bar is my most important action key. I use it to swing my sword in battle. During the day, the space bar launches a construction upgrade or a new building.
As a little help, Thronefall tells me in each round which direction I can expect which type and number of enemies to attack from. This allows me to position my troops accordingly or to use my limited financial resources to build towers in the right places.
Three things make the game easy to understand and therefore attractive to me as an occasional gamer:
- I have to decide on a weapon before I start a level. During the game, I can’t choose any more. This means I can focus on the battle.
- I only see the section of the map I’m in at the moment. This sometimes leaves me in the dark about what’s going on elsewhere, but it’s also not distracting.
- Where I can build what has already been determined, be it a fortification or a farm building. I just have to decide in which order I will extend my castle complex.
Source: Martin Jungfer
To make Thronefall appealing even after winning all four levels, the developers have built in perks and quests. For example, I’m motivated to achieve victory with a certain weapon. Or I choose to «Challenge the Turtle God» to make things more difficult. This gives the enemies more stamina, but I get more XP if I manage to knock them down after all.
Graphics and sound
The graphics remind me of games such as Outlanders, which I briefly introduced here. Simple, but with charming details. I love seeing my king’s cloak blowing in the wind as I give the horse its virtual spurs.
The sound creates a medieval vibe. During the day, I hear chickens clucking in my castle or the blacksmith hammering onto a sword. At night, the sound is more sombre and accompanies the battles I wage against the invaders.
My verdict
Thronefall will disappoint you if you’re used to strategy blockbusters that you play for 100 or more hours. It’s not large and challenging enough for that. I quickly found the right balance between investments that multiply gold and those that strengthen my defence capability. And the battles are rich enough in variety. I like that, as king, I’m the tactical mastermind while also having to fight on the front line to protect my castle.
Source: Martin Jungfer
Thronefall is a game that’s right up my street. You probably won’t find a better strategy game for this little money on Steam at the moment. Hopefully, there’ll be more levels soon.
You can currently buy the micro-strategy gem Thronefall for well under ten euros or francs on Steam. It’s available for macOS and for Windows.
Martin Jungfer
Head of Content
Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.chJournalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.
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