The Great War: Western Front - WW1 strategy from Petroglyph - now on Early Access

[jebsmoker]

Spoiler

this wont be out for a while, but i'm very much intrigued. a WW1 game made by former Westwood devs? i'm gonna keep an eye on this one:

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Frank Klepacki does the music!

 

[Darth Roxor]

as you take charge in the iconic Western Front from 1914 to 1919

slightly intrigued

more games need to understand that panzer general was right and you should be able to do a german assault on the US

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Could be interesting, but there really isnt much to go on at the moment...

 

[Gregz]

I don't know how you make a compelling or accurate game in a setting where dudes sit in a trench and get rained on by artillery.

WW1 was a miserable slog, and units rarely moved. At best this game will be disingenuous.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Here's some info from the website:

Dual-Role Commander - Take control of the Western Front
As Theatre Commander, experience enthralling turn-based grand-strategy as you direct the deployment of forces, perform research and carefully consider how you disseminate your resources. Alongside this, take up the mantle of Field Commander in dynamic real-time battles as you direct units to defeat your opponent, build trenches and perform direct assaults by sending your infantry over the top.

Persistent Battlefields - A Living World​

Battlefields are persistent, and as you continue your push across the Western Front, you will revisit previous battlefields which will still bear the scars and destruction of earlier encounters.

Historical Authenticit - An authentic WW1 real-time strategy experience​

Revel in an authentic historical strategy game that captures the gravity and intensity of The Great War. Partnering with the Imperial War Museums, their expertise enables us to accurately portray these pivotal moments in history.

 

[Darth Roxor]

As Theatre Commander, experience enthralling turn-based grand-strategy as you direct the deployment of forces, perform research and carefully consider how you disseminate your resources. Alongside this, take up the mantle of Field Commander in dynamic real-time battles as you direct units to defeat your opponent, build trenches and perform direct assaults by sending your infantry over the top.

If it ends up being roughly Empire at War: WW1 edition (with better ground combat), I'm sold.

 

[vota DC]

Why western front? It was the smallest and most static. Maybe because they used better technology there?

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Mostly because people (meaning the western audience) really dont care about the eastern front in WWI. If you look at the two best WWI games out there right now - Verdun and Tannenberg, you will see that Verdun still has much bigger player base even though Tannenberg has better gameplay in general. People just dont want to play as anything other than britbongs/frenchies/krauts in trenches.

 

[Hace El Oso]

Looks good, I’m always interested in WW1 and this sounds like it’s trying to have the strategic and tactical layers, along with a kind of persistence to make retreading the same ground in typical western front fashion more satisfying. A good idea.

Cavalry and armored trains on the eastern front will always be the dream though.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[thesheeep]

krauts in trenches.

Hotdogs with Sauerkraut are great!

 

[luj1]

Looks like it's incorporating both RTS and TBS gameplay

Hexes are definitely incline

Klepacki is

What's up with the framerate though?

 

[ArchAngel]

Not a classic rts = not interested.

 

[vota DC]

Only turns that would fit a ww games are Battle for Middle Earth ones were everything Is rts except when you improve a regione and decide what to invade, emperor Battle for Dune did that too but enemy turns were a little lame (for example they weren't supposed to invade homeworlds or get new allies, also you got killed if you failed few missions....Sid Meier's Gettysburg did that the right way that you could do all scenarios of the battle and get an overall result at the end)

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Parsimonious cook]

>Extended Gameplay
>3 minutes

Expected about 30 to be honest fam. Guess the definition of extended is not what it used to be...

 

[Storyfag]

Frank Klepacki does the music!

 

[Malakal]

I don't know how you make a compelling or accurate game in a setting where dudes sit in a trench and get rained on by artillery.

WW1 was a miserable slog, and units rarely moved. At best this game will be disingenuous.

It could cover more of the early phase where movements happened on grand scale, there is also late phases where breakthroughs also happened in several areas.

As for the actual trench warfare it could do big battles where you throw huge numbers to achieve small results but slowly build an advantage over enemy - perfect for a campaign. Bleed them dry here and there, win in the end.

 

[Nutria]

It's interesting to see how they do defense. More like tower defense than typical RTS frantic clicking.

 

[JarlFrank]

Mostly because people (meaning the western audience) really dont care about the eastern front in WWI. If you look at the two best WWI games out there right now - Verdun and Tannenberg, you will see that Verdun still has much bigger player base even though Tannenberg has better gameplay in general. People just dont want to play as anything other than britbongs/frenchies/krauts in trenches.

I own both Verdun and Tannenberg and I pretty much only play Tannenberg lol
It has much better gameplay, you actually get to maneuver on open maps with different fortification points, rather than a completely linear push from trench to trench.

 

[Harthwain]

>Extended Gameplay
>3 minutes

Expected about 30 to be honest fam. Guess the definition of extended is not what it used to be...

Here is 12 minutes worth of gameplay with in-depth commentary:



Looks very interesting so far.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Looks interesting indeed. The strategic layer has more complexity than I expected. The tech tree especialy makes it look like you can play each nation in very different ways depending on your style and choices. Always good to see stuff like that.

The tactical combat (good thing there is an autoresolve function - I can imagine how you wouldnt want to fight every single battle yourself) is obviously "heavily inspired" (I assume this not from the same people) by the Ultimate General/Admiral series - I am OK with this since I played most of those games and like them. Managing the rolling barrages to the advance of your infantry seems like a nice feature to have.

Pitty that its just the western front though - here´s hoping to see Italian, Middle East and Eastern front theaters as DLCs at some point if the game does well.

I am updating my status regarding this to "mildly optimistic."

 

[Victor1234]

It was all great until 'Research Controlled Sobriety' at 4:14. I want my troops roaring drunk to go over the top! PC/woke crowd strikes again.

 

[Infinitron]