I’ve been looking forward to The Great War: Western Front for a while now. Having first seen it at Gamescom last year, where I gave my initial impressions, I was also able to get hands-on towards the end of last year, and you can read my preview here. With us being on the doorstep, I was recently able to get another hands-on with the game, getting some last-minute time before the game’s eventual review build and release.
Before we look at my hands-on with the game, I want to reiterate that the move to World War One is a compelling but undeniably challenging setting for any strategy game. Indeed, for most games. World War One was not the most mobile of wars, with so many massive battles costing tens of thousands of lives to gain less land than a football would travel from a Harry Kane Penalty.
I’ve already discussed the real-time strategy aspect of The Great War: Western Front, but where I was dropped in the second battle of Passchendaele (the final attack of the Third battle of Ypres), and solely on the offence, here I got to explore the real-time strategy elements in a more freeform approach. I was primarily on the offensive, with a quick bit of defence at one point, so not much has changed since that preview.
How you will develop as the game progresses, slowly expanding your armies at each point and researching along different paths, will massively impact you on the battlefield. In the early stages, even your trenches will be – for lack of a better term – rubbish. Later trench types will offer platforms to shoot from, more protection, and more. When you are taking to the real-time strategy, you’ll often find yourself fighting on the same battlefield multiple times, and if you’re attacking a hex from the same direction, you’ll find a persistent battlefield.
To an extent, it would be worth planning forward. If you’re on the attack, trying to weaken an enemy position, kill as many as possible – possibly take a side point – and call a ceasefire before you lose too many units. Manage that; you’ll find that your enemy takes a greater hit to their national will, and you’ll have more resources for future attacks. Most importantly, if you know you will be attacking the enemy lines, do what damage you can – through undermining or otherwise – to their defences, and it will create an avenue for attack the next time.
One thing I did get to explore in the real-time strategy part that I didn’t before is the setup. There’s an interesting trade-off where you have a certain number of resources saved for when the battle starts, and you can save more by not spending it all, but troops are cheaper to deploy in the setup phase. It makes for an intriguing balancing act as the same resources are used for artillery.
Outside of this, you have the grand-strategy aspect of The Great War: Western Front. Featuring a map of France split into hexes, the overall aim is to either capture the enemy capital (or, in the case of the Allies, capture the city acting as their frontline capital – not Berlin) or to wipe out their will to fight. As I’ve already explained, the national will be hit based on the results of any attack and defence on the battlefield and how successful they may be.
In addition to balancing your National Will, you’ll also have to manage your supply, funds, and research progress. In terms of research, will you look to progress and overwhelm in one area – at the detriment of others – hoping it will create the breakthrough you need, or will you balance everything?
For the resources, much of it is about balancing correctly, though you’ll always need to mass units in an area you plan on attacking. You will have multiple opportunities to increase your resources (and your national will) through events and side objectives that arise now and then. These should help to keep the grand strategy element interesting as you find yourself in a dilemma of continuing down the path you have decided or potentially diverting in the hopes of a quick victory and boost to what will likely be ever-dwindling resources.
All in all, my extra hands-on with The Great War: Western Front has left me looking forward to the game even more, not that it should be a shock, coming from Petroglyph and being a strategy game.
