Revealed during Nacon Connect 2022, Artefacts Studio, which is behind The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Disorder, presents its new game: Crown Wars: The Black Prince. It is developed by a French team who wishes to revive the 100 Years' War from an original angle.
We play a family of nobles cornered by war. We must rebuild our domain, strengthen our troops and set out to reconquer our French lands against the English or even the Bretons. The gameplay is that of an X-COM like in a medieval context and is a little different from the genre while still being classic.
Advertisement
Underlying
Crown Wars is set in the rich context of the Hundred Years' War, a major conflict between the kingdoms of England and France in the 14th and 15th centuries. However, the game does not stop at a simple historical reconstruction of this era. Underlying stories develop through character narratives and political intrigue, providing some narrative depth to the game.
What truly sets Crown Wars apart is its strategic approach inspired by games like X-COM, but transposed into a medieval setting. Players must manage squads of soldiers, plan missions with careful attention to team composition, and adapt to unexpected events on the battlefield. This fusion between the “modern” tactics that we know in X-COM and the medieval atmosphere creates an atypical gaming experience that will keep us hooked for a while.
Unfortunately, we very quickly forget the context and the historical framework to fully immerse ourselves in the heart of the game, namely its much more in-depth gameplay than its storyline, the interest of which quickly fades into the background.
Advertisement
The importance of game design
Crown Wars is structured around three distinct phases: domain management, missions to acquire skills and resources, and main quests that advance the plot.
The domain management phase is particularly well integrated into the game mechanics. It is possible to access various buildings, such as the Chapel to heal the troops, the forge to improve equipment, the prison to obtain bonuses depending on prisoners, and the market to exchange resources necessary for improving infrastructure.
However, the management interface can be reminiscent of flash games of yesteryear or current mobile games. Although this may seem off-putting at first, you still manage to immerse yourself in these mechanics thanks to the satisfaction of seeing the development of the area and the unlocking of new gameplay elements.
The second phase of gameplay first takes place using the map of France. The areas controlled by the enemy are highlighted and the available missions are represented in the form of tokens. They all have a limited duration and a different travel time.
These quests differ in their objectives, “skirmish” requires eliminating all enemies in the area, “capture” requires imprisoning a very specific target and “escort” involves protecting a VIP. Other variations are present. In addition to the game mode, it is above all the end-of-mission rewards and the travel time that are important.
We can form several squads that are distributed across the map, remembering that it takes several days to get to the quest location and return to the domain. The notion of days that must be passed manually influences the dynamics of the world map and the events in the domain: the products available on the market, the troops ready for recruitment or those being treated in the chapel. This remains a very basic mechanic, but it deserves to exist, without bringing any significant added value to the gameplay.
The choice of missions depends mainly on the rewards for success, since several types of resources are required to improve our domain, such as wood, leather, stone and gold.
Once again, the mechanics implemented are quite clumsy, because capturing a target or escorting a VIP can give us iron or leather without any real logic. Likewise, it is a shame that certain production buildings are not involved in the management of the estate…
Finally, the main quests are a mixture of all the side missions and offer some variations, such as the defense of a position and specific interactions with weapons available in the area (catapults, traps, etc.)
Good gameplay makes a good game
Crown Wars presents interesting perspectives of evolution for the gameplay, in particular through the progression and the rise in power of the domain and our soldiers. This dynamic encourages us to remain committed for the long term, seeking to improve our lands and our army.
However, while the gameplay is inherently interesting, it suffers from imperfect balancing. The first few games in normal mode can be particularly daunting due to the high difficulty. This steep learning curve often requires saving at the start of a fight to test different approaches and strategies, which can fragment the gaming experience. Despite these challenges, the strategic depth and satisfaction of seeing one's field prosper provides motivation continues, turning each victory into another step towards mastering the game.
Each territory is distinguished by a nice artistic direction and a nice variety of environments. Likewise, environmental interaction is sometimes welcome to gain the upper hand during clashes, such as positioning archers high up or using weapons placed on the battlefield. The artistic style is a bit close to the cel shading cartoon and, for those who know, to that of the game For the King.
Our squads are made up of four units that we choose from several classes, the heavy or light soldier, the archer/thief, the potions master and, a small feature, the dog handler (who can be accompanied by a bear at instead of a dog).
Consumables can be purchased before starting the mission, such as bandages, potions and grenades. The equipment can also be modified, for example having our troops carry a light/heavy shield, with a mace, a sword or a dagger.
Each class has its own weapons that we can select according to our tastes and strategies. Likewise, the more a soldier uses a weapon, the more he will level up in that weapon category. In addition to gaining experience depending on the type of equipment, each of our troops has its own skill tree as it levels up. This brings significant bonuses, such as new attacks or passive bonuses.
The increase in power is immediately felt once you have a few units at level three (six being the max level) and the equipment has been improved at the forge. The pleasure of the game is completely uninhibited, which contrasts with the first parts which are punishing and very abrupt in their approach.
The experience is also marred by some bugs present on the PC version that we were testing. Indeed, it can happen that actions are triggered one minute after having validated them, whether it is a move or an attack. Two units are sometimes positioned on the same square and it therefore becomes impossible to attack the enemy unit, and dubbing problems also arise, for example a female voice for a male character, a bearded one at that.
Besides, we tried to use the Xbox controller on the PC version, but it was not yet well taken into account and will only be optimal during the launch update.
Tested on PC with an RX 7800 XT ultra quality at 1440p and 90 FPS average