izigame.me

DON’T think RTS.
DON’T think MOBA.
This... is WARHAMMER.
That’s the perspective you need to 'click' with this game.

There are many, many games with Warhammer IP. Most are just Game X skinned with Warhammer IP.
RoR is the first time I’ve felt a game is 'Warhammer First'.

I’ve logged over 50 hours now, enough for a helpful review. And I’m glad I waited because it didn’t really ‘click’ until I’d spent about ten hours playing.
This game takes time to get into.

So, The Good, Bad and Ugly.

The Good.
This feels like you’re playing Warhammer but in real time.
It’s easy enough to jump in, but quite quickly, you discover there’s a lot of strategy to figure out. The depth is there but is not where a typical RTS might focus.
All factions are unique (thanks, GW), but the balance is pretty good. Some dominate early games, some late, and each has a distinct idiom, but there is no dominant faction.
Units are fully fleshed out (and very close to their TT counterparts). There are exciting synergies and various tactics that will feel natural for a WH player.
Important:
The game uses some noteworthy mechanics – Lock in (or retreat) combat, no ‘stances’ or other auto-behaviour. You must commit to your fights and closely watch the mini-map. Fog of War, space, position, timing, distance from retreat point, etc. All factors in every decision to fight. There is more strategy going on than first meets the eye.
These ‘features’ surprised many RTS fans (judging by other reviews), but Warhammer players will ‘get’ it. It *adds* to the game rather than take anything away.
At first, it feels frenetic, but soon, you find it’s not APM-oriented. There’s plenty to do, but a player won’t get a massive advantage through multi-button-click-ability.
Strategy > Mechanical Skill, which is *exactly* what a WH game should be.
The art design is fantastic; however, that’s not surprising as it’s mostly the hard work done by GW... But... that’s fine.
Animations, visuals, audio, etc... all AAA.
The campaign is fine (and quite challenging) if you like that sort of thing – but the multiplayer is where the real game shines through.
Every game feels different.
The map editor and army colour scheme stuff is great – potentially, they could do more, but it’s really nice stuff to have in a WH game.
I’ve had no crashes or serious bugs, although I’ve seen that some people have.
The game length is also perfect at 20-30 mins.
Re-playability – the more you play, the better it gets. There’s some frustration at first, but after the initial ‘hump’, the fun starts to snowball.

The Bad
There’s not a lot that is outright wrong.
The price, perhaps. Consoles, I understand (licensing and all that), but £50-60 is a touch steep for a PC.
Now, IF a lot of future DLC is going to be free, ok. But with no roadmap announced, am I faced with another £10 for every new army? What’s my total investment likely to be?
It looks like the pricing model is very similar to fighting games, a la Street Fighter.
I’m price-insensitive, and the game has proved to be brilliant. Others may feel differently. Money is a very personal thing.
There’s only one game mode. It’s good, but I’d have expected a bit more variety, certainly for casual games. A point-based ‘annihilate’ mode seems an obvious miss.
Performance is good for me (I have a top-end rig), but it still seems to be getting the old fans blowing, if you know what I mean. For a game that’s essentially a top-down RTS, I’m not convinced it’s that well-optimised.
Minor update: I tried it with DLSS/DLAA on, and it works very well - if you have an Nvidia card, I'd highly recommend trying DLSS - game seems more responsive, and notably increase in performance.

The Ugly
This game has a few warts in its current state. It’s nothing game-breaking and all fixable, so it’s in this section.
Clicking/selecting units. It needs to be more responsive.
More audio/visuals for various events. Like if something comes under attack, etc.
The UI default settings are not optimal – you can change the sizes of things, and I suggest you do. Bigger mini-map, smaller announcement banners (which frequently get in the way).
The network is patchy. There are a few glitches to iron out. It’s not been too bad for me, but a game disconnection maybe once out of every 15 games.
There’s no ‘reconnect’ timer. A minor network glitch will kick you out, and you cannot get back in.
A few maps are meat grinders and could do with some tweaking.
The Battletome section isn’t well organised and could benefit from having all the in-game data available.
The mini-map is ok but could be more detailed.
Auto routing could be better in some cases. Even with manual movement, it’s tricky to have units avoid certain kinds of terrain. Just clipping it even slightly slows them down.
There could be a better way to select a specific unit from a roster.
The battalion creation feature is confusing.
AI skirmishes – not really like the ‘real’ game at all, and only helpful in figuring out what your army does. I wouldn’t consider this an actual game mode – it’s bot training.

In Summary
Great game. It’s got an ‘opinion’ about what a Warhammer game should be, and I agree.
I enjoy it more each time I play.
Haven’t regretted spending the money.