I’ve always a little bit of trepidation when it comes to reviewing a sequel to a game I have never played. Will I be able to follow what is going on? Is there an overarching story I need to know about? Well, in the case of Wargroove 2 from Chucklefish and Robotality, the answer to both those questions is yes.Â
The, perhaps unsurprisingly, follow up to the critically acclaimed Wargroove, this one hopes to introduce new features to enhance the original. To be honest, I was pretty much sold when I saw it was a cute strategy game…
We’ll kick off by looking at the presentation of Wargroove 2, and here the story is very good. The art style is pixelated, but in a cool way, and the characters that we play as and fight against are a varied bunch, from mice in armour through to tree people. The story is nicely presented too, playing out through the medium of cutscenes with odd phrases thrown out; it makes you care about the people in your charge. Losing a match, seeing your commander fall, really hits you right in the feels, and this certainly made me play more conservatively. The maps we have to fight in are large and well designed, with multiple routes through them – and that means there are usually multiple ways to win, but I’ll talk about that later.
And the sound is also a high point, with the aforementioned snippets of voice work, the sounds of battle being all groovy. Even the in-game music is solid and so there is literally nothing to complain about here. Apart from the inability to skip cutscenes, but that is probably me being picky.
The story of Wargroove 2 picks up where the last one left off, apparently. Queen Mercia, three years ago, brought peace to Aurania and everyone was happy. However, as is usual in these kind of games, nothing stays peaceful for long, and soon the world is on the brink of war. Seemingly started by a race of mice, who decide to go looking for artefacts to study, things kind of snowball from there.
What is pretty cool is that there are three different campaigns rolled into one, circling a single narrative even if each campaign has its own difficulty. Picking the right path matters, but can you sort out the mess that has been caused?
Before I get into the gameplay, I have to acknowledge the amount of effort that has obviously gone into creating content for Wargroove 2. There is the standard campaign mode, but that is complemented by Conquest mode, which is a sort of roguelike experience that is a lot of fun. In this mode, you pick your commander and units, attempting to win a series of battles, but the trick is that your health and gold carry over from battle to battle, so losing a can lead to some unfortunate losses. Can you preserve your forces?It is harder than you think…
There’s also the ability to make your own maps and missions, and even an entire campaign! Good luck if you have the patience to craft an entire story, but the way the building tools are set is pretty intuitive, and crafting a map takes only a few minutes. Then once you are happy, you can share your creations online with other fans.
Now, we can put it off no longer, and it’s in the campaign where I have spent most of my time with Wargroove 2. Basically, if you have ever played Advance Wars, back in the day (I loved those games!) you’ll be right at home here, as the gameplay loop is pretty much taken from that.
Every turn your troops can move and attack, or capture villages, or get into position and wait. Capturing the villages is very important, as these bring in gold every turn, allowing you to build new units at the rate of one per turn. Of course, this is where resource management comes in – should you build loads of weak troops and attempt to win by sheer numbers, or are you better saving up for a cavalry unit or an archer, as an example? The answer is yes! Moving your troops so they are in an advantageous position when fighting happens is important, as is keeping your ranged units out of the front lines, and so much more.
New to the table this time around are the Grooves, powerful commander abilities that charge up and can be used to turn the tide of battle. Lytra, the mouse we control first of all, has an interesting Groove, where she can rotate enemies around her, dropping them into the water to be defeated for instance. From there, each commander has a different ability to learn and utilise. You’ll need to learn too, as the challenge of Wargroove 2 is very real and so going back to the drawing board and trying to figure out what you did wrong is all part of the fun.
Wargroove 2 strongly reminds of Advance Wars, and that is as good a recommendation as you can get. If you need more, can I point you to the amount of content included and the fact that it is great fun to play.
If you like a strategy game, Wargroove 2 is an easy sell, but even if you’re new to the scene, I urge you to have a go. There really is a lot of fun to be had here.
Wargroove 2: The Unexpected Game Pass Gem – https://www.thexboxhub.com/wargroove-2-the-unexpected-game-pass-gem/
Buy, or play through Game Pass, now – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/wargroove-2/9PBKCFF2FVB4
