Iron Harvest could be called a dark twist on post-WWI Europe, if the reality weren’t already just as dark. It has a well-realized dieselpunk setting dubbed “1920+” by its makers, with fictionalized versions of Poland (Polania), Russia (Rusviet), and Germany (Saxony) acting as the three factions of the game. Players will command massive diesel-powered mechs, colorful hero characters, and hapless infantry units in a medium-complexity RTS with robust campaigns and engaging multiplayer. The game doesn’t do anything to revolutionize the RTS genre, but it is a solid example of good strategy gameplay in a cool, unique setting.
Solid strategy games can be hard to come by these days, and fans of classic RTS titles will likely find that this game is exactly that. However, beyond the novelty of its setting and units, Iron Harvest is also nothing entirely new in the realm of RTS games, playing much like a “Company of Heroes -lite.” It will be worth picking up for strategy fans, or for new RTS players who want an accessible yet deep strategy game to dig into. Outside of the target demographic, though, Iron Harvest likely won’t draw too many eager new fans.
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Game Rant was provided with a Steam copy of Iron Harvest prior to release, but anyone who was interested had a chance to try out Iron Harvest in the open beta. Some known bugs were present in the stable review build of the game, such as the AI focusing all resources on already downed hero units. However, the developers assured reviewers that the issues were largely accounted for in more up-to-date versions.
The setting is Iron Harvest‘s strong point. The conflict is based on the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920, and involves Rusviet and Saxony both encroaching on Polanian land for territory and resources, only to meet the scrappy Polanian resistance and vie with each other as well. To make matters more interesting, diesel-powered mechs are the primary weapons of war in this setting, from light, mobile anti-infantry mechs to towering mobile artillery behemoths that can single-handedly turn the tide of an entire battle. All of these units, plus the environments and buildings they wreak havoc in, are modeled and animated extremely well, making Iron Harvest about as gorgeous as a top-down strategy game can be.
The game offers three full campaigns to play through, one for each faction, PvE skirmishes and challenges, and competitive multiplayer with casual, ranked, and custom modes. The campaigns are meaty enough to dig into, and there are no glaring omissions in the multiplayer features. We didn’t get a chance to sample the campaign in co-op, but the story is good enough to maintain interest and playing a quick battle against a human player or even a reasonably challenging AI provides all the frantic, rapid-clicking, unit-managing fun that an RTS game should.
There are two resources to worry about in Iron Harvest – iron and oil – that determine how many units can be made and which buildings can be placed or upgraded. Beyond collecting resources and capturing strategic points on the map, the game boils down to placing defenses and sending out units to clash over key chokepoints. There is great deals of fun to be had watching giant mechs slowly trudge across the landscape to bombard the enemy HQ, or pulling off a hero ability at the right time to change the tide on a vital front line. Iron Harvest is focused on being a deep strategy game, and while there are some concessions made to make it accessible, it is first and foremost aimed at experienced fans of the genre.
As found in many good RTS games, the potential for mastery of Iron Harvest‘s mechanics is immense, but it can also be plenty of fun to turn down the difficulty, crank up the starting resources, and watch the big robots fight. Against a high-difficulty AI with a wide array of units, players will need to be clever, quick, and good at micro-managing units, taking advantage of cover and unique abilities to turn the tide. For RTS or other strategy fans, the game is definitely worth checking out, but those who find themselves primarily interested in the setting and not the focused gameplay may want to wait for a sale.
Iron harvest releases for PC on September 1, 2020 for PC. Game Rant was provided a code for this review.