Cataclismo

[h1]A Little Too Ambitious for Its Own Good[/h1] There really isn't anything quite like a developer scandalously taking two genre dolls, romantically smashing their faces together, and absolutely running away with whatever the hell it is they just spawned. Sure, I don't think most people will ever say no to a quality open world RPG that perfectly hits all the beats they expect it to, and neither will FIF—[i]ahem[/i]—EA Sports FC fans ever tire of playing exactly the same game repackaged and resold to them year on year. I myself will happily gobble up literally anything that begins with an ‘S’ and ends in ‘oulslike’ set in some grim fantasy world with at least two poison swamps, but what if we took a turn-based RPG and threw a parry into the mix? What if we had you puzzling your way through a sprawling manor that tantalisingly roguelikes the bulk of your progress each morning? What if we gave a precision platformer a branching narrative and almost a dozen different endings? All of those graced our monitors just last month, by the way, but what of the month before that? Ostensibly, Cataclismo's matrimonies just [i]feel[/i] right—a little bit of resource management and city building, a little bit of RTS, a little bit of building walls with massive Lego bricks before tower defending them as night falls. It's the kind of thing you couldn't possibly imagine failing, at least in comparison with any of the mentions above; yet, while developer Digital Sun certainly don't botch their secret blend of eleven herbs and spices, there's a noticeable emphasis on the boldness of each individual flavour, and a noticeable lack of emphasis on the overall cohesion. [quote]For a little more on the city building and a look at the tower defence missions, please consider[url=https://summitreviews.biz/article/15/cataclismo-review] checking out the full, uncut version of this review on the Summit Reviews website.[/url][/quote] If nothing else, it leaves quite the first impression—In the wake of the Cataclismo, the calamitous price of humanity's exploitation of a newfound power, the world is shrouded in deadly mist, out of which grotesque Horrors emerge each night by the thousands. Atop Hogar, humanity's final bastion poised high above the mist-laden valleys, you follow Iris, a woman inexplicably tied to that power, as she's charged with finding the one thing capable of quelling the ever-encroaching danger. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3484882377 The bulk of Iris' expedition, then, is spent erecting self-sufficient outposts as she and her merry band descend further into the Mist Sea, and, generally, that entails a lot of the city-building tried and true. You'll spend the mornings gathering materials and filling out your populace with specialised buildings, the afternoons carefully allocating resources between further infrastructure and military might, and the evenings raising stalwart defences as the hordes begin to stir in the intruding darkness, delivering the framework of an initially tight and satisfying loop that's constantly challenging your priorities and efficiency. It's got a few tricks of its own, too, most notably in its completely free-form base design. In lieu of preset walls and towers, you've got access to a whole host of individual blocks, stairs, parapets, and anything else you could possibly need to keep your citadel intact, and their fully modular nature so smoothly and pleasingly blends your fortifications into the hugely fluctuating geography present throughout the campaign. As a standalone system, it’s so creative, diverse and polished that, at face value, it's a real challenge to come up with a single reason why this isn't everywhere you look in the genre; in practice, however, it's so far removed from the overall strategy of the city building that you suddenly begin to understand why. Bizarrely, I'm reminded most of armour in a FromSoft game when I look at the implementation of Cataclismo's construction systems, in the sense that you [i]can[/i] optimise for defence—the durability of your walls is directly correlated to their height, as is the proficiency of the troops standing atop them, and you can plop all manner of relatively middling buffs beside them so long as you've got the space—but aesthetics and design really is the name of the game here. It's further compounded by difficulty tuning that all but throws strategy out the window: anything more than the most basic of flat walls is utterly overkill on any of the lower three settings, and on the higher two, you just don't have the disposable time and resources to invest enough in stone production, often still sticking you with that basic flat wall, only this time out of necessity. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3502083065 Regardless, conjuring up the fortress of your dreams, excessive as it may be, is still a fun prospect, but this isn't Minecraft; every block you place [i]has[/i] to be sufficiently supported, turning something as simple as a spiral staircase into an honest to goodness brain teaser to construct and, while that's no doubt still going appeal to a lot of purists, it means erecting literally anything takes such an incredible amount of time that not only does the charm of it all wear off far more quickly than you'd like, but it slows the overall pacing to an absolute crawl. There's a lot of existing infrastructure, too, always in the best and often only viable defensive positions, though simultaneously almost always completely useless. One of the more climactic missions mid-way through the campaign gives you two entirely inaccessible towers you physically can't get units to stand on without first ordering them to painstakingly rip it to shreds because you're expressly forbidden to quickly remove anything you haven't directly placed yourself. Those towers blocked all my sight lines to such a degree and were such a hassle to deal with that I eventually settled on pulling my defences back a touch and letting the Horrors do the job for me, successfully banking on their ridiculous tendency to slap the very first thing they come across, regardless of whether or not they actually have to. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3484872077 Despite how fundamentally sound each of these systems are, experiencing them all coupled up is just such a mixed bag. Take expedition missions, for instance, one of the other two primary mission types bulking out the twenty-or-so-hour campaign: outside of a few completely random and unbelievably dull bridge-building puzzles along the way, all they really have you doing is moving slowly from one side of a map to another, taking care of small bands of outlying Horrors whenever they appear. They're essentially story missions, but the plot is as basic and predictable as the synopsis at the top of this review makes it out to be, and while that's all you'd ever need or want to give something like an RTS a bit more flavour, these protracted missions are constant, mind-numbing reminders of how little more the narrative really has to offer beyond its enticing setup. When all's said and done, you simply can't deny the excellence of Cataclismo's individual systems, and no matter what it is you're looking for in an RTS, you're all but certain to find a brilliant rendition of it somewhere in all this; however, you simply can't ignore the tremendous lack of cohesion either, resulting in a game that's barely more than the sum of its parts. You still feel every strength of Cataclismo's ambitious design, enough for me to recommend it at the very least, but it's sadly far from the genre-defying masterpiece it had every potential of being. [quote]A copy of Cataclismo was provided to Summit Reviews for the purposes of this coverage.[/quote]

Most people will like this but it just couldn’t hook me. I’ve tried so many times to get into this game and while it’s not bad, it kept feeling like an obligation. I think it’s because at the end of the day, it's a very shallow game. It provides everything you hope for but it gets the same very fast. So far, I have only played the story mode. I will update with it’s endless mode. Things that it does well: Base and economy building Tower defense / hoards at the wall gameplay Has an excellent building UI. Things that it also does poorly: Base and economy building (it’s a very bare bones system that requires the same strategy everytime) Tower defense / hoards at the wall gameplay (it’s a very bare bones system that requires the same strategy every time. You’re not going to be expected to ever build anything other than the same wall) The story is a 10 hour tutorial that numbed me to my soul If you want a game where you build facilities and economies I would recommend xcom, anno or satisfactory. If you want a game where siege tactics matter… I dont know. Give me a recommendation

I've held back on giving this a positive review because the game has received very little meaningful free content or updates since its full release last year, which is something it really needed. Releasing a paid DLC at nearly the price of the discounted base game—while the full base price stays high and isn’t worth it at that point—after more than a year of silence this really rubs me the wrong way. Also, the paid DLC seemingly doesn't add anything other than add new gamemode(so no new units, buildings, etc). I see no reason why this couldn't have been included in a normal game update. It's disappointing because I genuinely enjoyed the core brick-by-brick fortress defense gameplay, but I can no longer recommend the game in its current state. Especially if future content is only released through overpriced, paid DLC. I will be taking the standards shown in Catalismo into account for future games(like ReVamp), which is proudly advertised on the main menu

作为与《亿万僵尸》有所类似、侧重于防守所带来的体验的RTS游戏，《Cataclismo》（即灾厄堡垒）对类似《我的世界》的体块搭建的借鉴，以及它对Z轴空间的利用和强调，使得《Cataclismo》带来了迥异于同类型RTS游戏的独特体验。然而，本作的部分设计和内容方面存在着较为明显的短板，使得个人对它只能综合给出中等的评价。 +[b] 独具一格的美术风格兼人物设计 [/b] +[b] 有别于主流RTS游戏的差异化战略体验 [/b] +[b] 基于一定物理机制之上的、具有策略深度的建造系统，以及围绕着这一系统所展开的攻防交互 [/b] -[b] 建筑体块的限制 [/b]： 尽管诸如超出一定荷载作用位置距离的建筑体块摆放不被允许的设计自有对游戏中的物理系统的贴合（以及与之相应的搭建策略），但由于游戏中建筑体块的功能设计中并不包含像是梁或者柱这样作为基本承重结构的内容（虽然有类似造型的建筑体块，但并不具备相应功能，仅仅只是遵循同一套物理系统），再加上部分能用于通行的承重结构（如门拱）只能允许两个方向的交通，这就使得玩家在实际上只能搭建狭窄的多层建筑，无法构架拥有较大纵深的建筑结构，从而可能影响到部分辅助设施的摆放（如旗帜、地狱坩埚等替作战单位提供攻击力/效果加成的设施）和取舍。 -[b] 部分机制设计与RTS本身的框架体系所强调的即时性的割裂 [/b]： 最典型的例子，就是暴雨这种大大降低作战单位输出能力的debuff场景效果。这一设计的存在，很大程度上降低了灵活调动不同的作战单位对某些防守位置的突发情况进行救急处理的可能性，使得玩家大部分时候只能通过白天阶段（尤其是最高难度下）一锤定音式的防御布控，来让夜晚降临的恐魔群单方面检验自己的防守能力。除此之外，玩家能主动操作的部分就只剩下了女主角习得的主动技能，况且这些技能的使用范围导致它们也只能被用在一个点位的防守，对于多个位置的恐魔群，作用恐怕是十分有限的。 -[b] 运营部分的阻滞感 [/b]： 由于建筑的防御力与构成其的建筑体块叠加高度呈正相关，而战役中的大部分关卡会遭遇多个方向来袭的恐魔群，适合与之发生交战的区域又较为宽敞，故而关卡中构筑起具有较佳防御力的建筑结构往往需要耗费大量的石头材料（尽管场景中存在大量可被收集的生产材料，但玩家的初始库存上限有限，且一个区域的防御建筑材料用量事实上颇为可观）。在前期，石头的产量是非常紧缺的，玩家想要获得更多的产量和生产效率，就只能：1、升级生产建筑为高级建筑，增添辅助设施；2、增加采矿的工人数量，尽可能多开生产建筑。要达到第一点，就必须将繁荣度先提升到三级，而这个过程中每提升一次繁荣等级都要完成一定的前置条件或建筑，当玩家费劲周折提升到较高等级的繁荣度时，一局的流程基本上就快结束了；要达到第二点，就要尽可能多地造烽火台扩展领地和提升人口数量，而后者会导致氧气的需求量激增，以至于不得不建造新的氧气生产装置（即空气过滤器），而空气过滤器对所处建筑体块高度的要求，又使得玩家不得不另耗材料建造搭载空气过滤器的平台和通往它的楼梯结构，从而无形增加潜在的成本。功能性较为重要的建筑（如大大增加资源采集效率和存储上限的仓库）和强力作战单位（如投石器，卫队，猎人等）几乎都需要高繁荣度下才能解锁，最高难度加成下的部分高威胁度敌人（如水疱、塞壬等）仅靠前期弓箭手、力士和捕兽者等单位的组合恐怕难以处理，而高级单位除了本身较高的成本外又存在着受迷雾燃料限制的数量上限，以上种种因素，使得常见的RTS游戏中经济运营所带来的平滑体验在本作中变得磕磕绊绊了不少。 -[b] 战役中后期因建造而带来的高重复度体验 [/b]： 在战役的大部分关卡中，由于地图上不同位置的地形分布截然不同，相同结构的建筑体块在许多情况下难以被反复运用，故而玩家的大部分游戏时间都花在了暂停搭建不同的防御建筑/扩张经济建筑和功能建筑上；而真正用来与恐魔交战的时间往往非常短暂，随着战役推进而解锁的新建筑内容到了中期相关科技解锁后又几乎一望到底，这就使得在战役流程前期饶有兴致的搭建过程容易因大量的重复劳动而变得枯燥起来。 -[b] 单位/敌人设计的乏味和整体内容的贫瘠 [/b]： 无论是玩家方的可用作战单位，还是不同类型和特性的恐魔，除了两者种类的稀少外，在围绕着它们的相关设计上几乎就只有这几种要素：单体伤害/群体伤害/范围伤害/DOT伤害，攻击力的高低，减速/减伤/增伤，再加上站位高低对玩家方不同作战单位的影响，除此之外就几乎没有其他要素（如可以被针对的弱点）了。这使得玩家对恐魔可以采取的战术搭配非常有限和单调，而大部分关卡中来袭的恐魔搭配和由此带来的体验又大致相仿。除此之外，目前的正式版所包含的内容除了长达十多个小时流程体验的战役外，就只有寥寥无几的遭遇战和生存模式了，就目前的内容而言，并不具备多少可供玩家重复体验的空间。

I really want to like this game but I find the creation and organising of economy and defensive structures to be fiddly, tedious and unsatisfying. The pleasure in these games comes from devising clever solutions, but there is too much friction in the process here for it to be enjoyable. Also, yes, the stairs for oxygen collectors feels like a wind-up.

Barely any content, cool concept They originally released this with just a handful of levels with promise of continued story. No sandbox or challenge modes Now they're making DLC already? Huge no

I think this could have been something truly special but after 20hrs, I've walked away and here's why. The art style in the game, story, and general 'sim' part of the game is done exceedingly well. You can feel the struggle, the hopelessness, and the resolve that pushes through the muck of the dark woods and fetid swamps. Working against that, however, is some pretty awful voice acting that can't decide if it wants to be latin-influenced or not. Depending on whos talking its "Ho-gar" or "Oh-gar", or "Thee-oo-dad" or "See-you-dad". Its...awkward but forgivable. Now, where the game truly falls on its face, is the core gameplay loop. Your goal is to build defenses for waves that come at night. You will spend 95% of the game doing nothing but letting time pass while you collect resources and build but the actual act of building is god awful. The game requires you to put units at certain heights - well, good luck getting them there. You'll spend 30minutes just twirling stairs around hoping and praying you picked the right distance to magically build a stairway to the heavens that will ultimately, and confusingly, get destroyed outright at the first sign of battle leaving your units stuck (if you are lucky) and unable to move. Resources are scarce, so you can't build tall AND wide, its one or the other. Meanwhile, the enemy will send 1000hp sappers that explode at your walls that, despite setting priority to 'most dangerous', will not die fast enough, and take out essentially your entire wall in one shot. And once a foundational piece breaks, the entire 10 story tall building comes with it. Bye bye resources and 40minutes of spinning pillars around. You either lose or do it again. Its so obnoxiously tedious, boring, and finicky that I just stopped caring. A mission will take around an hour and only 3minutes of that will be combat. You either did it right, or you didnt and if you didnt you 'rewind time' to try it again, and again, and again. The game attempts to lessen this burden by giving you 'blueprints' but both building and managing blueprints is, in it of itself, obnoxious. If you attempt to place a blueprint over uneven terrain, it wont give you any feedback that its 'broken' such that when you go place it, it only builds some of the blueprint leaving you to manually have to delete *every single piece* one by one by hand. Literally dozens upon dozens of pieces. This is just par for the course here, in Cataclismo literally every system and mechanic feels like its actively working against you. Heres another example, anyone who has ever played an RTS before knows you can shift-click or ctrl-click units to add them to the selection. Nope, not here. Why? Its just unforgivably bad. For this to be any kind of fun the pause button should just be removed, resources increased, and enemies HP reduced. Otherwise if you enjoy what is the definition of insanity turned gaming (doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results) then by all means, this game is fantastic at wasting your time. Skip it and get They Are Billions instead, infinitely more approachable and enjoyable game.

A decent city-builder and RTS hybrid with impressive visuals and sound design. You play as Lady Iris, an overseer of a human colony surrounded by deadly mist and monsters. The tone, art style, and setting of this game is really appealing to me - a minimalistic rendition of a post-apocalypse with body horror is surprisingly unique and utilized very well. The main gameplay loop of this game is rather simple. In regular levels, you are tasked with defending a settlement's citadel building or some other things that need defending. You will then need to gather materials during the day in anticipation of the monster's attacks at night. Resource and time management is crucial. Other than facilities that let you farm and build things, you'll also need to build fortifications with stone and wood. An interesting and novel mechanic in this game is wall toughness. The higher a wall is, the more HP it has - along with slightly different appearance. Managing and balancing between building and gathering during the day will fire the cylinders in your brain. The enemy hoards during the night will then put your preparations to the test. The number of monsters on screen at a time is impressive. And it really feels like you're being swarmed, not by organized forces, but an overwhelming mass of feral flesh. And on harder difficulties, you might need a few retries on each level to survive. There are also some missions that play out like a linear adventure. These are usually major story points with some secrets for you to find. Completing these secrets and side objectives give you additional skill upgrade points, which are really great. Other than the campaign, you can play the city-building levels in their own set challenges without story-gated mechanics in Skirmish mode, or do so endlessly in the Endless mode. There's also a custom editor that you can make your own level, so go wild. What caught me off guard for how good they are - are the sound designs and still-pictures cutscenes. The sound of building stone walls, horrors making exacerbated exhaling sounds, and arrows whistling through the air are some of my favorites. The art for cutscenes are also great and shows off so much of this game's minimalistic but manacing style. If there's going to be more games with this scope of design, I'm really looking forward to it. Overall, a solid RTS game with city-building gameplay that requires good resource management. It can be pretty difficult if you're not used to this sort of game. Luckily there's multiple difficulty options, in case you're not up for challenges (thank you story mode that allowed me to actually finish this game). I recommend grabbing this on sale.