Crown Wars: The Black Prince review

XCOM with a Bec de Corbi, some Ballista, and mostly minor bugs.

There will be two basic reactions to Artefacts Studio’s (The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk, Space Hulk Tactics) latest effort, Crown Wars: The Black Prince. If you dislike elaborate games that don’t quite achieve their ambitions and have an inventory of little inconvenience, then you’ll probably want to wait until a substantial discount or bundling occurs.

But if you’re the type of player who can look past some rough edges and can endure some excruciatingly amateurish voice-acting, then this fantastic interpretation of the Hundred Years Wars might be worth a go. Yes, the performance of your archers can be wildly uneven in the present build, and you’ll unquestionably encounter a more serious bug or three. But strategy fans might find at least one merit for every misstep.

Story isn’t One of Crown Wars’ Strengths

Sure, the blend of grid-based combat, unit management, and base building will feel familiar to any XCOM addict. But moving the action to the Middle Ages injects a fair amount of novelty, as your armored dualists shield-flip unsuspecting foes while beastmasters summon a murder of crows to stun opponents. It’s all wonderfully pulpy, offering a revisionist 14^th century that lops off all the dull historical details.

But as promising as that premise is, the plotline is a bit abstruse. The opening cinematic details a team working on a clandestine project that’s even more important than the interminable warfare between England and France. You play as the heir of a mighty lord who has inherited a derelict castle. Over the game’s campaign, you’ll rebuild the stronghold, using it as a base of operations against an imminent dark force. But too often, I couldn’t take the storyline seriously when the dialog flirts with m’lady-style farce and events didn’t always provide expositional development. Too often Crown Wars felt like a television series afflicted by filler episodes.

No Textbook for Up-and-Coming Lords

While the first portion of the game’s campaign provides macro-level instruction, you’ll have to learn many of the rudiments on your own. But familiarity with XCOM-style overwatch commands and maximizing the efficiency of area-of-effect strikes will undoubtedly be helpful when it comes to battling and the base building. After selecting from an ancestral affiliation that provides stat perks and access to certain technologies, you’ll be plotting your resource grabs and prepping for a succession of scraps.

Undoubtedly, the bulk of Crown Wars’ playtime will be spent on the spacious and varied battlefields, tackling a respectable variety of foes. On each turn-based encounter, each character has an opportunity for movement as well as the ability to initiate two attacks. Given that Crown Wars shirks normal strikes for an inventory of specials, units across the game’s six classes all feel appropriately powerful.

Beast Mode

Ravaging arenas with everything from firearms, explosives, to melee weapons is consistently enjoyable and regularly punctuated by vicious finishers. Best of all, Artefects Studio provides a wealth of player autonomy. You can opt for ninja-like units that lay caltrops and stealthy stalk foes, teams of hard-hitting tanks and backline archers, or alchemists who wear down opponents with their acid bombs. Arguably, the beastmasters are in need of a bit of nerfing, providing a potent extra unit that can’t be killed off. And Artefacts, can you look into why archers repeatedly miss their shots when they’re behind cover?

And while most of the mission types expectedly revolve around killing adversaries or making it to the other side of a map, there’s something delightfully devious about capturing enemies and holding them for ransom back at your castle. Unlike the taut timetable of XCOM, The Black Prince is much more lenient, providing independence as you take on side-quests or farm resources.

The Customizable Faces of Battle Fodder

Completing missions provides multiple ways to spend your dividends of war. Enriching your stronghold is rarely a bad idea. You can invest in workshops that improve your weaponry, recruit more seasoned companion units, or build facilities that craft everything from rejuvenating elixirs to incendiaries. And if you really want to dig down, there’s a companion customization suite, allowing you to redefine the appearance of your secondaries. The only disappointment here is a streamlined upgrade that allows players to choose from two abilities each time they level up. Crown Wars: The Black Prince six main classes are all gratifying to play and provide synergistic opportunities, but there’s not a lot of build variety.

Likewise, base management is just a bit too basic. Sure, there’s a sense of development as you build chapels that can resuscitate fallen allies and a hearth that can force new weaponry. Although Crown Wars shows a few of the offensive innovations that occurred during the Hundred Years War, I do wish there was a greater sense of technological advancement across the campaign. Although that reflects a comprehensive change, The Black Prince could use several smaller tweaks. Not being able to undo a move order in a modern strategy game feels archaic.

Conclusion

Battles in Crown Wars: The Black Prince can be determined by minutiae. If you’ve properly kitted out your soldiers and created a well-balanced party, victory is always within reach. Likewise, if the game can mend some of its imperfections, success seems likely. As long as the Artefacts Studio’s battle plan involves a long-term commitment of listening to feedback and making necessary modifications, Crown Wars has the potential to become a minor hit.

Crown Wars: The Black Prince was played on
PC with review code provided by the publisher.