Review and ratings We Are the Dwarves is a space adventure for strong men. Review of We Are the Dwarves

You know, in the modern world of video games, so many things have already been invented that it is simply suffocating from the lack of fresh networks in which to build new universes. It’s already quite difficult to surprise an experienced player with some kind of fantasy or adventure in space.
But it so happened that a bunch of Ukrainians decided to unite and together they founded a studio Whale Rock Games, Which began to solve this problem: they released it.

The review should begin with the fact that the game exists only thanks to its unique and inimitable setting. I don't know every game in the world, but my gut tells me that dwarves in space is something very new and definitely interesting. at the trailer stage, few believed that the game would turn out the way the developers intended. But after its release, it turned out that it exceeded all the expectations of the players and the press: the lion's share of hardcore combined with gorgeous action gave visible results.
The premise of the game is as simple as two: three dwarves go on a mission, the meaning of which will be revealed to us as we progress through the story campaign. In the course of completing this task, the guys find themselves in a hitherto unknown anomaly and are scattered across different lands unknown to them. These wild lands have amazing flora and fauna: here you will meet aborigines, and blue trees that can burrow into the ground, and spiders whose eggs you will see literally at every turn. And all these living creatures will be your enemy.

From the very first minutes of the game you will feel that - This is not some kind of slasher or Diablo clone in which you can press two buttons and win. This is a hardcore space adventure in which any mistake will cost the player his character's life. After all, not only enemies will pose a danger to our gnomes. Here you can fall off a cliff into an abyss and drown in a swamp. You have to be careful at every step. The game should be taken with great seriousness. The mechanics of movements and battles are not so simple, although they are similar to various languages. A character or several characters react to a mouse click as an order to move, and have several skills that are conveniently located on the Q, W, E, R and T keys. Familiar controls, right? And this does not at all prevent you from getting a ton of pleasure from the gameplay, because the battles here are much more complex and interesting than in the same language. Simply running towards enemies and clicking on everything is idiocy that borders on suicide. To proceed further you have to move the convolutions of the brain quite a bit.

Each of the three characters has their own unique skills, which provide completely different styles of play. A warrior can be safely sent into the thick of enemies, while an engineer will sneak up from behind and quietly eliminate enemies one by one. By playing several gnomes at the same time, you can increase the number of various tactics for passing to a huge number. You will not have any jars of potions or power-ups with you. The only way to restore health is to find a special artifact that will do this.
You won’t even be able to cheat and try to fight the enemy at the healing stone, because this cobblestone does not distinguish between friends and foes, and therefore heals everyone. You won’t be able to store it whenever you want either: to do this you need to find a cluster of gnome stones. By the way, you can upgrade your characters with these stones. Upgrading characters doesn't really make the game any easier. And for some players it will even be made more difficult, because pumped-up skills are not always appropriate, and players will use them thoughtlessly and lose. Armor that can be repaired using an energy fireplace is also constantly damaged by enemy attacks. A very tough game.
In order to somehow make life easier for players, the developers have added a pause to the game, which allows you to stop at any time and give instructions to all your characters. Here you can’t help but remember the many hours spent in "Dragon Age". This feature is very appropriate here, since in real time it can be very difficult to clearly hit the enemy. By the way, I advise you to listen to all the dialogues and the rest of the monotonous hum that reaches your ears, because very often there are tips for further progress. Without these tips, everything can be much more difficult. And if we also remember how ordinary players do not like all kinds of difficulties, then the game risks being completely forgotten by them.

Now about the technical component of the game. In the "menu" you won't find a large number of graphics settings. But there will be a lot more sound settings. But I don't even want to blame the developers for such a trifle, although, of course, there is nothing good in this approach. The fact is that the creators "provided a choice of graphics types from “Normal” to “Excellent”, and this will be enough for most players. The appearance of the locations, characters and monsters is truly pleasing to the eye, since the developers managed to fully comply with the canons of the space theme. You look at the locations and the thoughts stop entering your head that if you play as dwarves, then this is some kind of "Warcraft". Slowly you begin to fit into their skin, empathize with their problems, and so on. True, it’s a pity that these very locations do not allow you to feel free: the passage of the game is linear. They won’t let us convert or explore it on our own. Of course, I understand that our heroes are on a dangerous and unknown planet, but still. We're fighting monsters here, why should we make an extra right turn?
But what really upset me was the sound and music. The second is simply missing here, but the sounds of the surrounding world could be brighter. The voice acting of the characters is professional and will be remembered by the players, but the voice of the gnome engineer does not suit its owner in any way. And so everything is more or less tolerable.

So it came out as a great action game with hardcore elements? Certainly. Were the developers successful with the concept of gnomes in space? Without a doubt. Were they able to convey to the player the feelings that he would feel if he himself found himself on an unknown planet? Definitely.
It's certainly a success as a game and it's definitely worth the money. After all, there are still people who can push a fresh idea into the world that should develop in the future.

Pros: unusual setting, tough combat system that does not forgive mistakes, simple controls, different playthrough styles for each character, well-developed location design.
Minuses: There is absolutely no music, linearity in the passage, rare bugs and crashes.

And it's dark. As if wanting to hide the ugly “ladders” on the objects, the authors shyly dimmed the lights and scattered scarce sources of colored lighting throughout the levels. It is not easy to make out what is happening on the screen, even if you turn the brightness to maximum.

Apparently, because of the same nondescriptness of the graphic slums, I fixed the camera. It follows the selected gnome on a low-level flight and can rotate around its axis, but it cannot change the scale and viewing angle. And no free scrolling! Do you want to see the sentries on the tower showering the characters with arrows? Climb the highest stalagmite!

Three astronauts, three cheerful gnomes

But the main characters were a great success. Each of the three brave men has their own unique skills and playstyle. Smashfist dances around with his axes and can become invulnerable. Forcer is a technician with a shotgun who kills enemies in batches and at the same time distributes bonuses to his comrades. Shadow is a classic robber, he can move stealthily and instantly destroy guards. Why not special forces?!

In addition, your wards can be “pumped up” by collecting special ore scattered in the most unexpected places. Due to problems with the camera, searching for “nooks” resembles pixel hunting at its worst, but the result is worth it: the aura of the vehicle begins to protect against poisons and increase attack speed, and Smashfist gains the ability to set fire to huddled opponents.

Moreover, coordinated actions are just as important as in. The levels are made in the best traditions of the genre, and will make you puzzle over the passage more than once or twice. Moreover, unlike, combat here is an acceptable alternative. Moreover, the fights are incredibly exciting - the recent one will be envious. Every step, every second and every ability is important, because bearded men have little health, and the enemy is always outnumbered.

For fans there is “stealth”, but, as in, this is a one-man show. Despite this simplification, small maps and a large number of conventions (for example, bodies cannot be transferred), the authors managed to recreate the spirit of the same. Here, too, you have to count the seconds until the guard turns around and frantically look for an escape route when something goes wrong. Now, however, the matter is made easier by active time dilation. And even if this upsets the veterans, for the younger generation “slo-mo” may be the only salvation. The game is complex and has already earned the nickname “among strategies.”

If the Kickstarter campaign had been successful, the story might not have suffered as much. It feels like the authors were cutting to the quick. Eighteen missions, consisting of three to four small maps, are divided into two chapters. The first is gathering the crew scattered after the shipwreck and training. The second is a “full-fledged” game, which, once you get the hang of it, ends with the message “To be continued.” The wrecked ship is not rebuilt, the new sun has not been found, and the whole “exciting story” consists of beating up a gang of pirates and dealing with the local fauna.

The videos made on the engine also do not add anything to the “immersion”. The characters turned out to be cute, but their wooden animation and mediocre voice acting hurt the eyes and ears. Of course, it’s not an interactive movie to blame her for the lack of an interesting plot and clearly made characters, but it’s enough to remember her amazing voices and the bright, different characters of her charges to understand how everything could have been if you collected the required amount.

* * *

By dwarves, for dwarves. Clumsy graphics, an inconvenient camera, a stubby plot - a lot of “shortness”. Although, of course, if your soul is yearning for puzzling missions and truly complex tactics, this, alas, is the best option for now.

P.S. To be fair, it should be noted that the developers consistently release patches for the game, and literally just before the publication of this material they added a local “co-op” to it.

We Are The Dwarves is a rare hardcore tactical strategy game in a very unusual setting, created by the young Kyiv studio Whale Rock Games. And she talks about the adventures of gnome-astronauts in underground space. Yes exactly.

Naturally, things didn't go as expected. Having stumbled upon an anomaly, the ship crashes, and the three surviving astronauts find themselves on the surface of an unknown planet (that is, a cave), inhabited by a strange and extremely aggressive fauna. The dwarves' task is to survive and study the causes of the disaster and the area.

The three astronauts belong to three different clans. Their spacesuits (armor plus additional devices) have different features, and the heroes themselves are trained in different techniques. We Are The Dwarves is a pause-controlled tactical strategy game where the dwarves must use their skills and combinations to outsmart their enemies and complement each hero's weaknesses. Despite all the differences in genres, it somehow reminded me of the immortal The Lost Vikings.

Forcer is armed with a powerful cannon that can fire grenades and knock back enemies. A serious weapon that allows you to throw opponents into the abyss, just be careful, the recoil, in turn, can push your character into the abyss. Smashfist is a master of hand-to-hand combat, and his accelerator-equipped suit allows him to make quick dashes, pushing attackers aside and damaging enemies. Again, be careful not to jump out of the firmament. Shadow is an archer and master of disguise. A controlled pause allows you to give commands to all the heroes and, after running the time, look at the result of their execution.

We Are The Dwarves is one hell of a tactical game. The authors intended it to be difficult, but it seems that in the end they overdid it. You will not pass even the very first training level the first or second time. And literally the third level can become an insurmountable obstacle for you. There are many enemies, the environment threatens with numerous dangers. The brave astronauts drown in the swamp, fall off the eaves, die under the fangs of monsters, are poisoned by alien plants, etc. and so on. Considering that save points are not very common here, and spacesuits tend to break quickly, you will soon hate this game.

The developers quickly realized that they had gone too far, and added an easy difficulty level with the patch. It allows you to create a quick save anywhere, reduces the health of monsters, and also makes the dwarves' spacesuits stronger. But all the other dangers do not disappear, and your heroes will still fall into the abyss just as often. I couldn't finish the first chapter of the space dwarf adventure (subjectively, that's a quarter of the game) even after a dozen attempts. And it’s not about the opponents, at least you will have learned to deal with them by this moment. The problem is the falls. Judging by Steam statistics, many players are stuck at the same level.

To be honest, it's a shame. Such an unusual setting, actually worthy of a science fiction novel, such a well-developed world. Reading travel journals of astronauts with notes on ethnology, speleology and gemology is damn interesting... And such problems with balance. If We Are The Dwarves were a regular action/RPG with customizable difficulty, gamers would give a lot for such a plot. Unfortunately, tactical strategies are a very specific and niche genre, especially such hardcore strategies.

The comprehensive design approach to We Are The Dwarves is impressive. Starting from the space suits of the astronauts, the appearance of the characters, ending with the menu, skill screens, journal entries, etc. - everything is subject to a single style, which perfectly suits the dwarven civilization, which has reached technological heights. There is also good music and excellent, downright tasty, Ukrainian localization.

Kiev studio Whale Rock Games has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the development of the game “We Are the Dwarves!”


The plot of the game tells the story of three dwarf astronauts who set out to find a new Sun for their fellow tribesmen. Only instead of a spaceship, they have a mechanical drill, with which they pave the way in the earth's firmament. And the role of the Sun in their world is played by magic stones that emit magical light.

Depending on the player's style, characters can either engage in open combat or hide from enemies. Animals have real “feelings.” They can hear you, see you, or track you by smell.

There are three clans of gnomes in the game: Engineer, Warrior and Apprentice. They are all tech-savvy, and not very militant, but can fend for themselves if necessary.

Engineer

Warrior

Student

Peculiarities:

We Are the Dwarves is out! scheduled for November 2015 on Windows and Mac. The developers requested $120,000. The Kickstarter campaign began recently. The project page has a short game video, a lot of concept art and details of the future game.

The market for computer and console games has long been in need of settings on which to build new, never-exhausted universes. It is already difficult to surprise the player with ordinary fantasy or space odyssey. Our friends from Ukraine, having gathered into one large studio called Whale Rock Games, solved this problem in their very first project with a long name We Are the Dwarves, which began its journey on Kickstarter. What kind of project is this and is it worth the money? You will find answers to these questions in the review below.

We are Dwarves!

It is because of its setting that We are the Dwarves exists. I'm not sure if anything like this has ever been released before, but dwarves in space is powerful. It was difficult to imagine that something really worthwhile would turn out, but the game exceeded all expectations: the action component combined with hardcore bore fruit.

Three dwarves, having gone on a mission, the meaning of which will be revealed as they progress, got caught in an anomaly unknown to science, which tore apart the ship of the brave men and scattered them across unknown lands. Flora and fauna of the wild planet in We Are the Dwarves amazes with its diversity: here you have aborigines, blue trees that burrow into the ground, and spiders, whose eggs can be found at almost every turn. You will have to fight with all these living creatures.

From the very first minutes of the game you will feel that We Are the Dwarves is not a slasher film or a Diablo clone in which you need to press two buttons (attack and drink a potion), but a real hardcore adventure in space, where any mistake will cost your life. You can drown in a swamp or fall off a cliff. In short, you don’t have to look far for new sensations and constant tension. TO We Are the Dwarves needs to be taken seriously. Maybe even as serious as Dark Souls.

Axes and guns

The movement and combat mechanics are very similar to those of any isometric MOBA: the character or characters react to left clicks as orders, and also have a handful of skills located on Q, W, E, R and T. Sounds familiar, right? This, by the way, does not in the least prevent you from enjoying the game, because the battles here are very complex and exciting. Running towards enemies by clicking all the buttons in a row is suicide, not encouraged by the developers. So, you have to wiggle your brains.

Each character (let me remind you that there are three of them) has skills that imply different playstyles: the warrior will be the only fighter who can be mindlessly sent to enemies, and the engineer will be perfect for attacking from the back and closer to the cliff, so that monsters can fall off him without any problems . Playing several dwarves at once increases the number of possible types of tactics several times.

You will not keep any potions or enhancing drinks with you, and the only way to be cured is to find a special artifact. You won’t be able to save at any time either: only a cluster of dwarven stones is suitable for this, next to which you can also improve your character. Want to cheat and fight next to a healing stone? Even this is more difficult here, since the artifact heals everyone who stands next to it, including all your enemies.

The improvements, to be honest, don't make the game much easier. For some players, they will only make life more difficult, since very often they imply the use of skills that are not always profitable and convenient to use. And the armor, which can be patched with energy stones, is constantly damaged by enemies. Cruel game.

In order to somehow simplify the combat system, the developers decided to add a pause, which allows you to stop the gameplay and give instructions to all your characters. You involuntarily begin to remember Dragon Age and Neverwinter Nights. In real time, it can be very difficult to identify the enemy, so the “feature” is very smart.

By the way, I advise you to listen to all the monologues and dialogues that slip past your ears, since sometimes there are hints for the passage. Without them, the process may turn out to be a little more complicated than usual, and if you remember how much the average player dislikes complexity...

Let's watch and listen

Honestly, on the menu In We Are the Dwarves you won't find a lot of video settings, but there will be even more audio settings. There is nothing good about this, but I don’t want to swear at the project for such a trifle: the developers have provided several graphics presets from “Normal” to “Excellent”, and for many this will be enough.

The appearance of the game's locations, monsters and heroes sincerely pleased me, since the developers fully respected the space theme. You no longer think that you are playing dwarves, whose place is in some Warhammer or Warcraft, you begin to empathize with their “space problems” and so on. The only pity is that these same locations are very limited and do not allow you to fully enjoy freedom: the passage is characterized by a very rough linearity. Well, what kind of freedom can we talk about on a wild and unknown planet?

The only thing that didn't make me very happy was We Are the Dwarves is all about sound and music. The music is simply not there, and the sounds of plants and wild creatures could be better. The voice acting is professional and memorable, but the voice of the dwarf engineer does not suit its owner at all. Well, not at all. And the constantly repeating “It’s very deep there” got me down at one point, but this was more a programming error than a sound accompaniment.

Summing up

Did it work out? We Are the Dwarves as an indie action game with hardcore elements? Without a doubt. Was the concept of a universe in which three comic dwarves exist a success? It's strange, but yes. Were the developers able to convey to us the feelings that anyone would experience if they found themselves on a wild, unknown planet? Definitely.

I say with confidence that the project was a success and a copy We Are the Dwarves is worth the money. Still, there are still good universes that definitely need to be developed in the future. These are dwarves, damn it, in space!