Iron Harvest deserves its own thread :)

Awesome trailer and song choice for revealing the Americans. Excitement level increasing.

Note that along with a sale on the game this weekend, it is also free to play for a couple days. Downloading now.

So I tried this out last weekend when it was free, and I liked it, but for whatever reason not quite enough to pull the trigger on the sale.

I really liked the aesthetic–diesel-powered mechs in WWI in eastern Europe! (And the USA trailer above is great.) And the graphics and feel of play certainly worked for me. I just–I dunno. Maybe the campaign was a little too slow (gameplay-wise)? (Though I was annoyed that in just about every cutscene someone said “But she’s a girl!”) Maybe I just need a slightly bigger discount.

Also I saw it referred to somewhere as “dieselpunk”, and, yeah, we can just keep steampunk, thanks, the fact that you switched from coal to oil for your still-equally-impractical power source doesn’t need to be reflected in yet another sub-sub-sub-genre name.

The new standalone DLC is coming out today. It is for Usonia (USA) and brings flying units into the game. They released a trailer for a lot of the new units:

Although the diesel/steampunk stealth units seem a bit out of place, the rest looks pretty neat. The release is also coming along with a (claimed) significant overhaul of the AI. Frankly the AI was better than most games, but perhaps does seem to struggle late game. Thus I am not sure what this overhaul will do. I have enjoyed the game in comp stomps prior to the update just fine.

Overall for those that have not played it, Iron Harvest is, to me, really solid. It is essentially a Company of Heroes RTS type game set in the alternate “1920+” universe. This is the same universe as the board game Scythe. Besides the usual modes, it has a nontraditional modes on offer such as seasonal achievement campaign/maps that unlock cosmetics and a challenge mode. The main downside for the game seem to be that they came out weak on some content (mostly maps) and had several bugs. I also think the market just loves to hate RTS now and likes to pine for good 'ol days game X even if X didn’t do so hot in the good 'ol days. Anyway, it is a solid game in my eyes.

I agree, Chaplin. It should also be noted the Deluxe Edition (which includes both DLCs) is only $24.99 on Epic Games with their current coupon deal.

Looks like this just landed on Xbox Gamepass, so I should finally get around to trying it out.

I started playing the campaign now that the game is in Gamepass.

I know people have commented already how Company of Heroes-inspired is but… wow, it’s very inspired by CoH. I mean, I haven’t seen a game that would directly copy so much of another established game in years. It isn’t only the infantry cover system, the way they get veterancy, they way you can get new weapons or deployables in the middle of the battle, the way the area of fire of MGs and AT work… it’s even the minimap and the strategic map. Even the engineers having sandbags / wire / mines construction options. Even the resource point system. Even the way you can enter in buildings, or the way grenades work. Etc etc.

Yeah. It is VEEEEERY CoH. Like Dawn of War II, it is basically the whole design formula with some tweaks and a unique setting. Still, Iron Harvest offers a lot of meat for an RTS with the challenges and seasons stuff. I also really enjoy the 1920+ world.

I’m considering grabbing the base game for $11.99 while it’s on sale at Fanatical, but does anyone know if the publisher is one of those that doesn’t do the “complete your collection” thing on Steam (basically keeping the DLC/expansion price high and making you re-buy the base game if you want to get them for cheap as some kind of “complete” deal, such as Bethesda did for the longest time with Skyrim’s DLC)?

It’s of course less of an issue now that there are so many Steam key sellers, but it’s still more convenient to buy it on Steam directly.

No idea. But the game is really well done, so It’s a good purchase. Just beware it’s not a super fast clicky RTS.

That is a plus in my book. Thanks for the reply, went ahead and bought it.

Consoles!

All of us already own this game on Epic Store, right? Or am I thinking of something different?

On the console edition: Eh, I can never see an RTS working as well on console as it does with mouse.

Gamepass, its included with gamepass. But not the DLC stuff.

Of course consoles. ;)

King Art sort of holds the world record for the most often ported game developed on PC as lead platform. The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 was shipped on 11 or 12 platforms.

So, this just showed up on Xbox. $50 for the Complete edition (no way to buy just the base ed.) is a bit steep, so I’ll be waiting for a sale (or for it to come to GP like the PC version), but… it’s listed as being able to play co-op through the campaigns? How does a co-op RTS work? It’s online-only for co-op (no couch multi, boo), but still, seems weird.

I don’t remember but I know you can pay singular maps in skirmish mode, so maybe it lets you team up against the AI that way? There’s a lot to manage in a battle so it could be helpful to have a friend so you can take advantage of special abilities.

I see the game got a permanent price drop at the start of October.

Anyone try the dlc American Union faction?

It’s it 5 dollars on Epic? 50 seems like a lot.

Sure, but you’re comparing base game to the complete edition. ;)

If you look at it isolated, 50$ for a good game with a competent add-on, on a platform with console tax, isn’t an unfair or exploitative offer. Of course one might argue it’s optimistic given the game’s age.

I bet the price is going to go down to 30$ rather quickly. There aren’t many RTSes on consoles. They probably want to collect the money from a few ten- thousand genre fans. Then they’ll reduce the price to the middle segment and stay there for a year or two.