Year of Rain is an Early Access RTS that gives off strong nostalgic vibes of some of the genre’s greats, but with a few nice modern twists, and some major flaws.

By Scuttle Gamez

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The Game:

If you’ve ever played Starcraft or Warcraft 3 you know what Year of Rain will be like to play. For those who aren’t in the know, this sort of RTS (Real Time Strategy Game) is a top-down army and base building war game.

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I’m going to keep my description of the genre simple as it’s been around a long time, and will instead focus on what sets this game apart. The short version is that you start a match with a hero, a main building, and a few workers. You send your workers to gather resources, use said resources to build more buildings and train more units, and eventually send your army off to fight. Your heroes level up and have fighting and passive skills to use, and there are items and buffs to be found. In the end, the player with the better strategy, the better army, or both, wins. That’s the low down, now let’s dig into the specifics of Year of Rain.

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The main thing that sets Year of Rain’s gameplay apart is how it is built with co-op play from the ground up. The story campaign and the multiplayer skirmishes are both designed fully to be played with another. Now, the concept of team matches are nothing new, but how integral they are to Year of Rain is something of a twist.

At the start of each match both players are asked to choose a role. This role can be Tank, Attack, or Support. You’ll want to coordinate with your partner, as each role has several unique buildings and upgrades

Speaking of the story, the game’s campaign is similar as well to past titles. You’ll see a range of map types and game modes to play, all building a central narrative told through cutscenes and dialog along the way.

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The Good:

Year of Rain nails a Warcraft 3 vibe, but brings enough new to make it interesting. The basic play is nothing new, but I enjoy it a lot, we’ve not seen many games like this in recent years, and I am loving that this exists.

There are three factions, races, to play as in skirmishes: The Undead, The Humans, and the Outcasts / Monsters. Each race is very different from one another in feel and will take skill to master. And, each race has three heroes to pick from as well. I feel a lot of variety in Year of Rain, and it’s appreciated.

Overall, what I loved about Warcraft 3 is present here. What more is there to say on that? A classic style is classic for a reason, and it works.

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Moving on, I want to talk about the how the story campaign was a real surprise. Each chapter was fresh, innovative, and chalked fill of story, dialogue, and great action. Best of all, there were times that it felt like a real challenge.

There are boss fights, I had fun getting to know the characters, the voice acting was on point, and I have nothing bad to say about the story. I wish there was more to it though. Only one race, the humans, have their story complete right now, but more are set to come eventually. This is Early Access after all. I’m just glad they had one full set finished for me to enjoy.

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The Mixed:

A lot of the issues present in older RTS titles are present here as well. Unit pathing needs a lot of work. It was kind of a chore to move my army about. Some units would not move despite being told to do so, and others would constantly get stuck on the environment.

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The AI in solo skirmish is also kind of on the lame side. It will follow basic ping commands, and it does roam around and do things in general . . . . but not very welly. The computer’s units get stuck a lot, they often don’t attack or defend when they should, or where they should, and it needs a ton of work to be in anyway a challenge.

The Bad:

Sigh . . . Year of Rain has the problem a lot of great indie games run into on Steam this day and age, it just doesn’t have enough players.

Year of Rain in particular is in a tough spot. It’s a game built around co-op play, and looks to want to push competitive matchmaking hard, even going as far as to talk a lot about setting up for esports.

Well, they’re a damn far shot from any of that, as it’s near impossible to get into a random game at all.

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I waited in the matchmaking for a good long while, a few times. Nothing. There is hardly anyone playing this game. Going on the Steam discussions, I see other players having this issue as well. The developers pointed players to their discord as a way to team up with others, but that also seems a bit quiet. Not to mention, I should not have to use discord to play the game.

This is a major problem, and I don’t know if Year of Rain will survive because of it. I did get into one game randomly though. The two people I was up against tried to cheese me by rushing my base with their heroes and by building towers in my area. It was a lot of fun to foil their attempts.

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The other big issue I have with the game is that it forces co-op play. I get that the developers are going for a whole thing with the gimmick, but, frankly, it’s just plain silly to not have a 1v1 option anywhere. It’s possible to do in custom games I guess, but there is no one on to play those with . . .

The Verdict:

I desperately want to tell you to go buy this game right now. I loved it, and I really want it to do well. I can’t recommend it though. The low player base is what kills Year of Rain, and it is effectively dead on arrival.

I give major props to the developers for making a fun game in a genre that has not seen much love, and I wish them well and hope I am wrong, but I don’t think Year of Rain will ever really find its feet.

That being said, if you have at least four friends who all enjoy this genre then maybe it’s worth while just for you. The story is good, and it would be a blast at a LAN party or with friends. Just don’t count on finding random players online if you do give it a buy.