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Border Pioneer
Release Date: February 6, 2025
Strategy, fantasy, tower defense, 2D, card games, indie games, city builder, singleplayer
Steam
A hybrid of a city builder and a tower defense game, with additional card game mechanics in place. In Border Pioneer we play cards to raise buildings and recruit units, expanding our city in the wild fantasy frontier. We also need to prepare for enemy attacks, building defensive structures and organizing an army.
Videos and Screens
[0:54] Border Pioneer - Trailer #1
The main pros of the game
- Engaging Gameplay: Many users found the combination of tower defense, city building, and deck-building mechanics to be enjoyable and engaging, providing a mix of strategy and fun.
- Replayability: The game offers various strategies and different character choices that enhance replayability, making it interesting for players to try different approaches.
- Challenging Difficulty: The game has a good difficulty curve, providing a challenge that appeals to both casual and more experienced players.
- Meta Progression: Players appreciate the meta progression elements, such as unlocking new commanders and talents, which add depth to the gameplay.
- Aesthetic Appeal: The graphics and sound design received positive mentions, with players enjoying the overall presentation of the game.
The main cons of the game
- Unpolished Elements: Some reviews pointed out that the game feels unpolished, with issues in UI, incomplete translations, and bugs that can affect gameplay.
- Lack of Innovation: Several users noted that while the game is enjoyable, it doesn't bring anything particularly new to the genre, leading to a feeling of being a "jack of all trades, master of none."
- Limited Control Options: Players expressed frustration over the lack of multiple control groups for units, which can make managing defenses in chaotic battles difficult.
- Progress Loss Issues: Some players reported losing progress due to bugs, which significantly impacted their experience.
The features or elements that are missing from the game according to users
- More Control Groups: Users desire the ability to have more control groups for units to improve strategic management during battles.
- Expanded Unit and Building Variety: Some players expressed a wish for additional units and building types to enhance gameplay diversity and strategy.
- Improved UI and Information Clarity: There is a call for better UI design and clearer presentations of game mechanics and objectives to avoid confusion.
- Additional Difficulty Options: While the game has various difficulty levels, some players suggested that scaling could be more punishing or nuanced to further enhance the challenge.
- Hero or Character Upgrades: A few users mentioned wanting an upgradeable hero system to add depth and personalization to the gameplay experience.
Summary
- Overall, "Border Pioneer" is perceived as a fun and engaging game with a solid foundation but could benefit from additional polish and features to enhance the player experience.
Summary generated on:
Border Pioneer Description
Border Pioneer is a combination of a city builder and a tower defense title, enriched with mechanics borrowed from card games. The development of this game was done by the independent studio Yahzj Games, while its release was handled by Yogscast Games, known for such games as Time to Morp, PlateUp! or Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers.
Story
Border Pioneer takes us to a fantasy world. During the game we take on the role of a freshly graduated academy student, who is sent to the titular frontier. Despite numerous adversities, we are trying to establish a thriving city and expand the borders of the kingdom.
Gameplay
In Border Pioneer we watch events from a bird's eye view. Although the game takes place in turns, within each of them we can build and give orders to units in real time.
Constructing a city
Our main task in the game is to build a settlement from scratch. To achieve this, we play cards that allow the construction of specific buildings and the recruitment of units. Over time, we expand the range of available cards with copies assigned to us automatically or obtained as part of specific events (like the arrival of a caravan).
Defending the city
We can construct both production buildings (like farms providing food or lumberjack huts providing wood) and structures of a military nature. These last ones are important because over the course of several months our city is being attacked by enemies. We defend ourselves against invasions, primarily by building walls and watchtowers, as well as summoning soldiers and playing cards that allow us to use combat skills.
The battles we manage to win are a source of rewards, led by perks that increase our defensive potential.
Graphics
The two-dimensional graphics of Border Pioneer were created using pixel art technique.
Border Pioneer Summary
Platforms:
PC / Windows
Developer: Yahzj Games
Publisher: Yogscast Games
Age restrictions: 12+
Border Pioneer System Requirements
PC / Windows
Minimum: Intel Core i5-4440, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 3 GB GeForce GTX 1060, 1 GB HDD, Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
Recommended: Intel Core i5-7500, 16 GB RAM, graphic card 6 GB GeForce GTX 1660, 1 GB HDD, Windows 10 64-bit