PC_Powerplay-Iss_275_2019

FEATURE W

AMODFOREVERYTHING

Amplitude’s Endless

Legend was a lesson

in how to design

compelling factions.

Mods and map editors

have had an incalculable

impact on strategy

games. Defense of the

Ancients spawned

MOBAs, of course, but

so many great ideas and,

ed, developers have

uted from mods,

e the communities

build up around

m can sustain a game

gafter the patches

dofficial content

ve ceased. Total

conversion mods like

A Game of Thrones for

Crusader Kings II and

The Third Age for

Medieval II: Total War are

considerably better than

most official licensed

games, especially now

that they’ve seen years

of updates, while others

answer important

what-ifs: Like what if

Fallout was a grand

strategy game? Yeah,

there’s a mod for that.

WHILE A LOT OF SERIES HAVE

FALLEN BY THE WAYSIDE,

PLENTY HAVE SURVIVED

and here their differences went far beyond ideology or
well-written flavor text. Take the Necrophage — they’re
an endlessly hungry species of plague-spreading insects,
which means they will never make friends with anyone.
The Cult, meanwhile, is manipulative and influential, but
can’t build cities. There are mages, space marines, and
even a group of dragons who just want everyone to get
along, and each represents a distinct way of playing
the game.
Evolutionary dead ends were springing back to life, and
old franchises were making comebacks. It was strange to
think that strategy had been looking sickly only a handful
of years before. Darkest Dungeon, Homeworld: Deserts
of Kharak, Eugen’s Wargame series, Offworld Trading
Company, Ashes of the Singularity, Northgard, BattleTech,
Into The Breach — the list is vast, and features every kind
of strategy game imaginable. And while a lot of series have
fallen by the wayside, plenty have survived. Ci
is probably immortal by this point, StarCraft c
to be massively popular, and Total War now co
Warhammer fantasy universe among its battle
Even tabletop games, where our trip through t
history of strategy began, have seen a resurgen
Strategy games are as vital and creative as
they’ve ever been.

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