Against the Storm. Best games on Xbox Game Pass in 2024 (December)

• What to choose?
• Forza Motorsport
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Resident Evil 2 and 3
• Gears 5
• SnowRunner
• Wartales
• Doom Eternal
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps
• Age of Mythology: Retold
• Hellblade
• Yakuza 0
• No Man's Sky
• Against the Storm
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Hi-Fi Rush
• Psychonauts 2
• Diablo 4
• Stalker 2

Against the Storm

It might seem that city builders are an exhausted topic, and new productions are just reskins set in different times and places. However, Against the Storm shows that this genre also has room for fresh and crazy ideas. The presented title combines city building with elements of roguelike games. The world here is dark and hostile, settlements raised from time to time disappear from the face of the earth as a result of cataclysms, so we have to build them from scratch. Improvements gained in one cycle, however, carry over to the next, which facilitates and speeds up the task.

What makes it worth playing?

Against the Storm stands out with originality. The roguelike elements are already intriguing, and this is just the beginning of deviations from the known formula. The game offers a few different races, and each of them is adapted to perform specific tasks more effectively. For example, beavers are excellent lumberjacks, and humans are great farmers. However, one should not adhere too strictly to these divisions. Depending on the mission, different buildings and employees are available. This affects the variety and effectively removes the feeling of boredom from the player, even after building many bridgeheads. Despite numerous, fresh ideas, the authors from Eremite Games did not try to redefine the genre -- their work doesn't lack fundamentals of a city builder, such as creating production chains, and a resident satisfaction indicators.

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