Wartorn Preview: A punishing take on real-time strategy

Mere minutes after their home is attacked and burned by the invading Imperian forces, Yara and Elani unwrap their gift, a magical hourglass that turns the worst day of their lives into one they must relive again and again. That’s right, this is a rogue-lite. Age of Empires. Flee your burning home and gather strength to eventually take revenge on the attacking forces. But in order to do all that, you’ll need to survive.

Wartorn combines real-time strategy and survival mechanics in a progression-based rogue-lite. Choose the path of your escape, deal with various social and combat encounters along the way, gather upgrades, recruit new units, and maintain resources. Within each run, you must make sure your units not only survive combat, but also survive travel. Stock up on food, maintain morale, and find enough valuable, persistent resources so that the next attempt proves more successful. Wartorn is not easy. For this preview period, we were warned that not all players would make it to the first boss. I hate to it I was one of those players.

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Unlike many popular strategy games, there is no base building with massive maps to explore and conquer. Travel along a steadily growing map, and when combat does ensue, it’s contained in much smaller maps. Rather than destroy your enemy’s fortifications, simply defeat them all or reach the exit. Wartorn isn’t about total victory. It's about surviving and growing stronger for the next fight. But dark and violent as it is, Wartorn is also a beautiful game. Its world is like an oil painting, blurred edges and vibrant colors, all too often stained with blood.

Harsh Lessons

This preview of Wartorn only allowed us to play up to and including the first boss, which we were warned would be difficult to reach in the few days we had to attempt it. In the half a dozen hours I was able to put into the game, I tried several runs, each reaching further than the last. Defeat was often swift and unexpected, but I was virtually guaranteed to return stronger with the resources gathered on each journey.

The steadily burning home of Wartorn’s sister protagonists, Yara and Elani, serves as a hub. Every time you return, the Imperians are still pounding at the gates, but you have a few moments to prepare for the journey. Return with strands to upgrade units, return with pages to unlock new spells for Yara and Elani, and find family along the way to start your journey with stronger allies.

These resources can be found through various encounters in the world, but will persist when you are defeated. On the other hand, resources like food and hope are vital to each journey. Run out of food, and your units will starve. Lose all hope, and the journey is over. The units themselves are also only temporary; whether you lose them at the beginning or end of your journey, they will not return. Failure is a necessary lesson in Wartorn. It will happen, and in many ways, it’s the only way to eventually succeed.

Protect the Caravan

At first, Wartorn can be frustrating. No one likes to lose. But, especially when you’re someone like me who’s never been able to be really great at real-time strategy games or MOBAs, you start to get used to failure. In some ways, this removes the pressure of potential victory and instead lets me focus on doing something for the fun of it. This led to one of my favorite runs: the “giants” run. I couldn’t tell if it was luck or not, but my first ally was a giant troll. One of my options for a second ally was a huge tree creature, and from then on, I decided I would try to use as many massive singular units as I could. I ended up with two more trees and another troll. It was a lot of fun, but ultimately didn’t last.

During this preview, I encountered a few different styles of combat missions. The most common were missions where I could rush through to the escape at the end or defeat all enemies. Another was optional missions. At any point, I could turn back and retreat, but forfeit any rewards. Another, and the most common mission that would end my runs, was defending the caravan. Travel is tied to the caravan, and in most combat encounters, it doesn’t play a part, but in these specific missions, the enemies will target it directly. If the caravan is destroyed, you lose not only the mission, but your entire journey comes to an end.

In the final mission of my “giants” run, I had one of my trolls smash an incoming group of enemies, sending them flying through the air. One of them landed behind my caravan without me noticing. By the time I realized what was happening, I had several other attacking units to deal with. Between the brutality of these challenges and the advantage of one enemy being in a tough position, my caravan was defeated. Ironic, the whole reason the giants seemed so fun at first ended up being my undoing.

While I was disappointed in how that run ended, I had imagined a blaze of glory against insurmountable odds rather than an unlucky landing, I can’t deny that it was fun. The strategy doesn’t just come from moving your units in battle; it’s also in deciding what paths and rewards to pursue in the overworld. Sometimes, sending your run to a fiery end can be the right call if it means you get more helpful resources to strengthen your next attempt. Everything is expendable, and that helps take the pressure off each encounter. However, while I did find the fun in Wartorn, as an inexperienced player, it was easy to find frustration, too.

A Cold Welcome to New Players

When it comes to a real-time strategy game like this, I am always looking for how easily accessible it is for someone who doesn’t play them. I have fond memories of The Battle for Middle-Earth 2, but that’s about it. This isn’t for a lack of interest, but what feels like a lack of ability to grasp the controls and strategies involved. As this type of player, Wartorn doesn’t feel like a game I will quickly or easily get the hang of.

Wartorn introduces some mechanics to make this transition easier. The same device that brings the protagonists back home after each failure also allows the player to slow down time. While this can be helpful, it feels more like I’m watching my plan fall apart at a much slower pace. Also, as a rogue-like or rogue-lite, Wartorn rewards gathering knowledge and resources. Many of the unit upgrades are simple: a 5% bonus to damage, slightly higher health for units, etc. These kinds of upgrades are not super exciting to reach for, and emphasize that in order to beat the game, you need to be stronger and healthier. This takes away from the perceived strategy of it all.

I also understand that this is just a preview, and a preview for an Early Access game at that. I’m certainly not getting the whole experience, and there are likely elements of this preview that I have yet to encounter. Wartorn is a challenging and beautiful game that is trying something new. I can forgive some frustrating moments; I just have to hope that those will begin to fade as I play more of the game.

Final Thoughts

After a brief introduction with the developers, we had the chance to ask questions. I decided to ask about the main feature that caught my eye about Wartorn: its art style. The game’s protagonists are Yara and Elani. Yara is a writer, while Elani is a painter. Encounters are described via journal entries, and the map is slowly painted as the player journeys across it. The style was inspired by romanticism, and the team worked on it for a year to give it a historical oil painting feel, where edges are broken and blurred. This choice sets Wartorn apart, and is bound to draw interested players in, no pun intended.

Wartorn does many great things, including its unique art style and challenging combat. One other detail that made each run unique was the randomly generated unit attributes. Every unit has a personality trait. Obsessive units will take longer for their skills to recharge, as if they are obsessively making sure everything is correct. If they don’t die immediately, it can help make each unit feel special for that attempt.

Stray Kite Studios is jumping into a unique genre with their first game. It is ambitious, creative, and I’m very curious to see not just what they do with it, but how fans of the genre receive it. There is a world where Wartorn finds an audience outside of the hardcore strategy gamers, and if that happens, I’ll have to just brush off my hands and it this isn’t the genre for me. But at least for this preview, it’s hard to imagine Wartorn feeling welcoming to new players.

Wartorn

June 17, 2025

Want It!

• Overview

• RTS
• singleleplayer / campaign
• roguelike / roguelite
• Early Access
• PC