By Eric Ace 19.12.2017
Mixing genres is nothing new, but the results are often unpredictable. Sometimes they can be hits, but often they leave both genre fans out cold. Golem Gates is a fantasy/sci-fi game that mixes RTS elements with a card game element to combat. Players control a unit that summons various cards to do battle as they attempt to secure resource nodes to eventually kill the opposition.
Golem Gates has a lot of elements from older games that may be familiar to gamers during the dawn of the internet and various "use map settings" games under the Starcraft or Warcraft banners. The goal of the game is a king of the hill style combat of controlling various nodes that produce energy to eventually overpower the other player.
The way this works is very similar to old-style "tug of war" or "summon" type games. Energy generates endlessly, and the player uses it to summon unit groups that you then control off into battle. Battles are typically fighting other enemy groups, perhaps battling over a node, or eventually taking down their leader. One of the biggest aspects is units can be summoned right into battle, adding both a surprise and a tactical element.
The card game part is an interesting idea. Essentially, before battle, the player will have customized their "deck" of various "glyphs" - basically spells or unit summons. As the game goes on, every 20 seconds or so a new glyph flips over, and if there is enough energy, the player can cast or save this. Thus, depending on the deck (and luck of the draw), it could be anything from offensive attacks, to mostly units or some defence buildings.
Learning what is going on has a steep curve, but it can be picked up fast enough after a game or two. The whole thing is a very fast experience; even the "turtle" AI will be knocking on your door in minutes. There are definitely some balance issues, such as spells that wipe out squads that take forever to summon, but in general, Golem Gates is interesting to play. The artwork definitely inspires some sort of post-apocalypse, and hopefully there will be some story or unit backstory, as it is practically begging for some lore.
The game is still in its Early Access stage, so as of now it is not clear how much will change, but it is definitely playable. If the developers fix some GUI issues, balance, and add a host of "cards," it could stand to be a pretty unique mix of genres. Those that like the RTS genre as it used to be or have even a passing interest in card games will want to check this one out.
With a heavy multiplayer focus, Golem Gates will live or die based on how many players it can pick up, but the basics of the game are solid. As expected of some Early Access games, it is rough around the edges, but the mix of both a card game and real-time strategy is executed very well. The idea of having a "customized" army/spell collection before battle is an idea that really should be used more because it is simply fun.
8/10
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