The Battle of Polytopia Review: Very Civilized (Switch)

The Battle of Polytopia would function really well as a single-player board game. It draws from strategy inspirations like Civilization, but sticks to the arcade-like style of game that the Switch does well. It knows where to keep things simple and tight, but also where to stretch its legs a little. It’s the perfect title to obsess over for a long-haul flight, drop for a few weeks, and then pick straight back up. Whereas the game doesn’t break a lot of new ground with its ideas, gameplay and mechanics, it undoubtedly has charm and depth. It certainly has what it takes to trigger a feeling of nostalgia in long-time gamers who long for that Gameboy Advance strategy era.

The Battle of Polytopia is available for free on iOS and Android. It’s available on Switch and Steam for $14.99.

Story

The game presents itself as a pure strategy title, and because of this, the story is not the focus. You play as one of a number of simple factions tasked with exerting your will upon the world of the game, playfully named the ‘Square’. The factions seem to draw inspiration from real-world civilizations, but they depict them in broad and reductive strokes. The Imperius factions are obviously Greco-Roman, the Xin-Xi are inspired by ancient Chinese dynasties and the Kickoo are simplified depictions of native Americans, to name a few. The list goes on. This isn’t a new concept in gaming… Developers like to speak to you in a language that you understand. But that doesn’t mean you can expect playing as any of them to contribute to a feeling of investment.

The Hoodrick faction starts off with archery unlocked.

Gameplay

Simplicity in The Battle of Polytopia

Very little gameplay is new to the genre, but the game still plays out with a unique feel. This mostly comes down to the way that things are extremely streamlined and simple, especially at the beginning of a game. Resource management basically comes down to collecting stars, an abstract currency that represents food, building materials and anything else you can imagine. Because the game isn’t picky about developing supply-chains over the long-term, finding resources is super basic. It’s a matter of unlocking the right research nodes required to milk stars from your immediate surroundings. This adaptive method of resource management keeps things fresh. You don’t need to keep going back for upkeep and tweaking the way things work. You’re always working with what is around you.

Hunting is one form of gathering resources.

A traditional game plays for 30 rounds, which puts on just enough pressure for you to have to consider your moves carefully. However, the creative mode is where are going to have the most freedom to create the kind of game type you want to play. An extra-long game with a huge world map can keep you engaged for a long time. The AI on easy and normal is a bit of a push over, but you can get a lot of satisfaction from bull-dozing your way through the map.

As you play through the game, gathering resources and building things gives you a chance to upgrade your settlement. At each level, you are given a choice between 2 different buffs. Sometimes you can choose between a city wall or some resources. At other you can increase your population or expand your borders to give you access to more resources. It is seldom a hard choice, as you pick them based on what you need, but it does give you flexibility.

Combat & Tech in The Battle of Polytopia

Combat is what you would expect from turn-based strategy. That being said, the unit types are balanced pretty well. I rarely felt like building a certain type of unit was a really bad idea, but there were still moments where the rock-paper-scissors style of combat gave certain units a clear advantage. The super-units you can acquire at certain stages of your settlement development felt powerful, but ultimately fair. After all, everyone gets one. The battleships were especially fun, as a spam-able late-game units with high damage output from range. Technology allows certain units to excel on certain terrains, changing things up enough to keep you on your toes.

Different civilizations start off with different tech researched.

The tech tree plays a big part in how your games goes in The Battle of Polytopia. This drives what you are capable of as a faction. It feels complex enough that you need to spend time to understand it, but because you almost always have everything unlocked in the late-game, it’s not a huge stressor. It comes down to what you choose first, rather than what you lock yourself out of. This means you can get good at the game if you want to, but the advantage of having a great strategy isn’t overwhelming.

Graphics & Sound

Visually, The Battle of Polytopia is detailed enough for you to tell what you’re doing, but it doesn’t go further than that. The style is bright and simple, much in that way that many simple strategy games are. Each character model has one or two features that make it stand out from the other. The cities become more dense and interesting when you level them up, and by the end many of them look like settlements to be proud of.

One of the best choices the game makes, is the uniqueness of design each faction has. If you start of as the Nepali-inspired Ai-mo, and you find gatherable plants in your area, they show as chillies. However if you go with the English-inspired Hoodrick faction, they show as apples. Most factions tend to have their own city designs, armours and even mounts. (The Ai-mo faction’s Llama is awesome.) On top of this, opening the tech tree will treat you to fun, faction theme music.

Mounts will change based on which faction you pick.

The sound design, much like other aspects of the game, are crisp and minimal. Sounds serve their respective functions well, giving a clear impression of what is happening. Collecting starts at the beginning of each round is satisfying, as they give off a nice ping. By the time you are collecting in excess of 100 stars, the stream of pings becomes extremely satisfying. They fly across the screen into your inventory just to let you know how powerful you are.

The Battle for Polytopia was reviewed on Switch. Game key by homerunpr.com.