Against the Storm Review: Is It Worth Playing?

What is Against the Storm?

Against the Storm is a city-builder that layers a roguelite structure over the traditional formula of the genre. Developed by Eremite Games and published by Hooded Horse, it entered full release in December 2023 after a lengthy early access period that began in 2021. The game is set in a dark fantasy world where a perpetual, world-ending rain has forced the remaining civilisations to live under the protection of a sentient volcano known as the Smouldering City. The premise is that you, as a Viceroy, are dispatched into the wilds to establish temporary settlements, gather resources, and satisfy the demands of the Queen, all while the titular storm threatens to wipe out anything you build.

The core conceit is that no settlement is permanent. Each expedition is a self-contained run, lasting anywhere from one to three hours, after which you return to the central hub to unlock permanent upgrades for future attempts. This cyclical structure is the defining feature of the game, distinguishing it from more conventional city-builders such as Anno or Frostpunk, which typically focus on a single, persistent colony. The roguelite elements manifest in randomised map modifiers, resource distributions, and the order in which you unlock buildings and technologies. The game has no metascore attached to it, which is unusual for a title of this profile, but the critical consensus across major outlets and aggregated user reviews on platforms such as Steam is strongly positive, frequently praising the game's ability to keep the city-builder genre fresh through its procedural generation and escalating difficulty.

Gameplay

The gameplay loop is built around a series of timed objectives. Each settlement is established on a randomly generated map, and you must complete a set of orders issued by the Queen to progress toward the final goal of sealing the settlement's ancient seal. These orders range from producing specific goods, such as tools or complex food items, to reaching a certain population threshold or resolving a particular event. The twist is that the game's weather cycle, known as the Storm, periodically hits the settlement, reducing production efficiency and triggering negative events unless you have prepared adequate shelter and fuel reserves.

Resource management is more granular than in most city-builders. You manage not just wood, stone, and food, but also the individual needs of three distinct species of inhabitants: Humans, Beavers, and Lizards, each with their own preferences for housing, food, and leisure. Meeting these needs raises their resolve, which in turn prevents them from leaving the settlement. The roguelite aspect comes from the fact that you do not know which buildings will be available to you at the start of a run. You are offered a random selection of blueprints from a deck, and you must adapt your strategy to what you are given rather than following a fixed tech tree. This forces a degree of improvisation that is rare in the genre, and it is the primary reason the game maintains tension across dozens of hours.

There is also a significant meta-progression layer. Successful runs reward you with resources that are spent at the Smouldering City to unlock new buildings, perks, and upgrades that permanently improve your chances in future expeditions. However, the game does not become easier in a simple sense; the difficulty scales with the number of settlements you complete, introducing new negative modifiers and more demanding orders. The balance between short-term survival and long-term planning is well judged, according to player reviews, which frequently note that the game is challenging but rarely feels unfair, provided you pay attention to the warning signs the game gives you before a storm hits.

Who is Against the Storm for?

This is not a game for players who want to build a single, sprawling metropolis over a hundred hours. The permanent destruction of your settlements is a core mechanic, and if you are attached to your creations, you will be disappointed. Instead, Against the Storm is aimed at players who enjoy the optimisation puzzle of city-building but are tired of the late-game sprawl and micromanagement that typically sets in after the first few hours of a traditional title in the genre. It is also well suited to fans of roguelites such as Slay the Spire or Hades, who are accustomed to the idea of runs ending and being replaced by a new, randomised challenge.

The game is demanding in terms of attention. There is no pause-and-plan mode in the same way as in some other builders; you can pause, but the storm timer continues to tick down, and the game expects you to make decisions under pressure. Casual players may find the constant time pressure stressful, particularly in the later difficulty tiers. However, the game does offer a customisable difficulty system before each run, allowing you to adjust the storm frequency, the severity of events, and the speed at which the Queen's impatience grows. This means that both veterans of the genre and newcomers can find a comfortable level, although the game's default settings are clearly tuned for experienced players.

Graphics and performance

The visual style is a deliberate departure from the grim realism of many dark fantasy games. It uses a hand-painted, somewhat cartoonish aesthetic, with lush forests, winding rivers, and buildings that look like they belong in a storybook. The colour palette is surprisingly bright given the apocalyptic premise, and the game runs smoothly on a wide range of hardware. According to the official system requirements, a mid-range graphics card from the last five or six years is sufficient to run the game at 1080p with a stable frame rate. User reports on forums and Steam suggest that the game is well optimised, with no major reports of memory leaks or crashes after the post-launch patches. The UI is functional, though some players have noted that the tooltips can be dense and that the game does not always explain the consequences of a decision clearly, particularly regarding the interaction between different species' needs and the various weather effects.

Value for money

The base price of Against the Storm is on the higher end for an indie title, but the amount of content is substantial. A single run lasts between one and three hours, and the meta-progression system is designed to encourage dozens of runs before you see everything the game has to offer. The randomisation of maps, blueprints, and events means that no two runs are identical, and the game includes a series of difficulty levels that unlock progressively, effectively serving as a built-in challenge ladder. There is also a free content update that added a new species and additional events, which suggests ongoing developer support. Aggregated user reviews on Steam, where the game holds a "Very Positive" rating, frequently mention that the game offers excellent value for money, with many players reporting over a hundred hours of playtime before they felt they had exhausted the content. The lack of a metascore is notable, but the consensus across written reviews from major outlets is that the game delivers a complete and polished experience at launch.

Verdict

Against the Storm is a successful fusion of two genres that are rarely combined well. The city-builder mechanics are solid and deep, but the roguelite structure is what elevates the game above the average entry in either category. The constant pressure of the storm and the randomised nature of each run keep the gameplay loop engaging, and the meta-progression provides a compelling reason to keep playing after a settlement is lost. The game is not without its flaws: the time pressure can be off-putting for some, and the UI could be clearer in places. However, for players who enjoy optimisation puzzles and are willing to embrace the idea of temporary settlements, this is one of the most distinctive and well-executed strategy games of its year. It is a clear recommendation for fans of the genre, and a strong argument for why the roguelite model can breathe new life into a well-established formula.