Have you ever had any aspirations of commanding the forces of chaos? How about a deep-seated need to build a fortress and overthrow the empires of man? Do you wish that you could carry that ability with you and at the tap of a screen send out forces to do unto opposing chaos champions and their hordes? If you answered yes to these questions then a new mobile strategy game created by Tilting Point, in partnership with Games Workshop and Hunted Cow may be just for you. In it, you take on the role of a Chaos Champion vying to claim the title of The Everchosen. This is our Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest review.
Job opening for The Everchosen...Tap here to apply
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My first impression was that the game had a good opening to draw you into the fantasy of becoming a Chaos Champion. The voice acting was OK for a mobile title, but not great, it did fit with the Warhammer setting well though. Visually the graphics for menus and the fortress are all well done, the art is spot-on. While I did find the world map to be cluttered at first, I could easily find my goals with a bit of scrolling. Music also did a great job of setting the tone and made me think of other similar settings like Conan, a mustering of forces and the march to war.
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Unfortunately, there is no real tutorial for players who are new to mobile strategy games. You are not taught how to progress towards winning the game or why you should build one part of your fortress versus another. The game does do a good job guiding you through step by step of what to click on but provides no context as to why you should click on something. Initially, this led to me feeling overwhelmed by the various menus and structures. Once I got into a routine though, while I may not have fully understood how to advance certain aspects of the game, it became easier to keep rolling forward with what to build next. The two characters that guide you along the way fit very well into the narrative and provide direction as to your next step, rewarding you regularly if you follow the provided path. The chaos dagger indicator used to point out your next click was easily identifiable on the screen. Though it was a bit frustrating not being able to click on anything else when it appeared. Tooltips are plentiful throughout the game but did not always provide useful information or complete descriptions.
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Once you build your first few sets of troops and acquire your initial champion it is time to start interacting with the world map. Even with all the other player fortresses and different regions I was quickly able to find my assigned goals and issue commands to the troops. Sending out troops and your champion is the typical fare for a strategy mobile game where you assign how many troops and what champions to send then start the progression timer. You can of course speed things up or refresh troops using the premium currency, warpstone. Reports do have a visual indicator that appears when they are completed, at the bottom of the main UI. One thing I did find myself wishing for was an in-game popup while playing when a champion or mass of troops returned to the fortress.
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PvP and Alliances are a big part of Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest. At first, as a new player, you are protected by a magical dome over your fortress until you decide to attack another player. It is a nice way to ease you into that aspect of the game. Early on you are encouraged to join a player alliance and I highly suggest you do or form one with friends. Within an alliance, players can help each other to complete tasks and earn alliance coins. The coins then can be spent in the alliance store to purchase a speedup for any progress timer. It is a nice way to advance more quickly without having to spend actual money.
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So how do the Chaos gods fair when it comes to microtransactions inflicted upon their loyal followers? Not too bad actually. It is your typical fare for a mobile title with pricing in the expected range. You first time logging in daily you will be giving a daily reward and for each log in also be presented with a bundle offer. I was pleasantly surprised that after that initial offer though the game did not bother you often with microtransaction offers. There is, of course, the typical option to spend warpstone and speed up progression timers. Thankfully the store is relegated to one menu page with 3 tabs and the daily bundle offer that is a separate button on the main fortress screen. Not every menu led me back to the store page, which actually made me more likely to spend cash on supporting the game. The bundles offered are your typical fair containing various speed increase items, crafting materials, etc. The game also awarded players a few freebies each day including a free chaos chest and optional short video ads for a small reward of warpstone.
On the technical side, I experienced no crashes while playing the game using an iPad, Galaxy S6 Edge, and Galaxy S8. Linking my account using Facebook was easy and allowed me to continue playing the same campaign on whatever device I wished. I will warn those using older devices however that while the game does function it tends to stutter at times due to the more advanced graphics.
While being somewhat overwhelmed at first by all the menus and building options in Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest I have enjoyed my time with this mobile strategy game. Getting into a rhythm of building up my fortress and its defenses quickly became enjoyable. Sending out troops for resources and champions to conquer strategic targets was interesting. While a slow style of gameplay, I could see myself clicking away at it over time as I worked on other projects during my daily routine. If you are looking for a new mobile strategy game and enjoy the Warhammer setting I can easily recommend giving Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest a try.
The game has great visuals and art style set in the Warhammer fantasy world, you take on the role of a chaos champion seeking to become The Everchosen. There is, unfortunately, no proper in-game tutorial to introduce a new player to this type of mobile strategy game. Menus and build options can be quite overwhelming at first but by following the step by step in-game advisors/indicators a player can get into an enjoyable gameplay rhythm quickly.
Score: 7.5
Pros
- Great graphics and Warhammer art style is spot-on
- Alliances can help speed up the progression
- Alternate ways to earn warpstone
Cons
- No new player tutorial
- Tooltips can lack information
- Pay to advance/win elements
