Siege Survival Gloria Victis Review: Glutton For Punishment

What’s so different in this Siege Survival Gloria Victis review in comparison to the preview? The first one was a demo build that you can pick up on Steam now, whereas the following are memoirs of the full game – give or take a few features.

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Unlike the previous coverage, the immediate differences are the options on offer. Besides the basic story, there are scavenger challenges dedicated to the stealth aspect and defender for those who wish to focus on the Bastion support.

As declared in the Siege Survival Gloria Victis preview, a title from Black Eye Games, FishTankStudio and Ravenscourt, you face overwhelming odds, and it’s a constant juggle whether to cater to your workers or the defence forces. In the main options, there are standalone modes just for supporting the Bastion, sneaking around town in scavenger mode so that you can improve on your skills to take forth into the main story.

Siege Survival Gloria Victis Review (PC Via Steam)

On a side note, there are custom games too where you can adjust parameters such as the number of resources available, the intensity of battles, and customise the size of your character’s bazongas. Maybe that one’s made up. Get knees deep in pig swill, or spend a bit more time in the alleys at night – you can customise it all, including the starting characters. Once word of mouth gets out about Siege Survival Gloria Victis, there will be community content too.

As for the story, it’s a similar setup of defending your kingdom, initially against Kargald, with other parties popping up too to borrow some sugar in exchange for some carcasses delivered fresh of the trebuchet. The same applies because you need to encourage Bertram, the carpenter, to get his shit together.

Fresh in the knowledge that you need shovels, these went straight into production, the chickens were fed, and the pigs got some Reiki therapy. On the note about shovels, you’ll secure one early, but it’s best to rinse the area of all resources before opening new regions as it exposes you to patrols.

Patrols can get you killed. For the majority of the time, you’ll be able to keep out of sight, and even when caught, you can outrun your pursuers. The downside is it increases the patrols through the next few nights, and when resources are constantly tight, this is a massive medieval spanner in the works.

Time To Ride It Out

Just when you think you’ve sussed a few mechanics in Siege Survival Gloria Victis by building shovels and balancing your production lines, said patrols grave one of your workers, and they have a septic wound. If you’ve been focusing on having an abundance of food and dirty water, chances are you neglected building a herbal medicine station. Here you can make medicine and bandages to dress wounds. 

And that’s where the difficulty rears its head again as rather than die of thirst, starvation or exhaustion; my characters would die from their wounds. While Flint, now without his hood, hobbled about feeling sorry for himself, the others were getting wounded due to the number patrolling. Within a couple of nights, the injured died as we couldn’t source the materials for their wounds, while the last of them died of thirst and hunger once more as we couldn’t source anything at night. And the Bastion? They can kiss my arse – I had enough on my plate.

There are no stats carried over, and as a low-fantasy (loving these sub-genre names), Siege Survival Gloria Victis doesn’t feature any mana abilities. The closest thing would be setting up a custom game on easy settings, but beware: it’s still bleak and hardly an automated process.

The upside is you’ll become a strategic veteran and understand where you should be focusing your energy; the Bastion and/or your workers. The future isn’t bright in Siege Survival Gloria Victis, and understandably, it’ll put off many people who lack the patience or have a habit of saying it’s not fair. It’s important to have a bit of time to spare too. Your time within the village can be sped up, but not the stealth sections. Also, you can’t manually save your game and have to wait until the start of a new day.

Despite the glum outlook, Siege Survival Gloria Victis can be pretty immersive. Due to the difficulty, you can never sit back with your thumb up your arse. There’s no ‘build this structure to make unlimited food and water’ – it’s a constant struggle, so beware that you need to invest your time to ‘succeed’. Perhaps listen to some J-Pop while playing to counter the mood.