Game Review #302: Battle Worlds: Kronos (Nintendo Switch)

Reviewer: Steven Green

Developer: KING Art

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Category: Turn-Based Strategy

Release Date: 06.11.2019

Price (At Time of Review): $29.99 Digital | $29.99 Physical

Buy Battle Worlds: Kronos from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.

Buy Battle Worlds: Kronos from Amazon here.

Emperor Battle

Battle Worlds: Kronos is a turn-based strategy game in which you take control of an unexpecting, black sheep commander who is joining into the battle; trying to decide who will become the new leader of the people. You have been brought in due to your ability and relative unknown nature. You take part in several types of battles through a three-part campaign in which your skills are put to the test in this difficult take on a classic genre. You also have an extensive multiplayer section and stand-alone single player missions that allow for a ton of replay potential. With RTS looks and well-done turn-based gameplay Battle Worlds: Kronos is an exciting entry to the genre on Nintendo Switch.

Telling Tales

The game takes place in a futuristic society where humanity has left what is seemingly Earth, and now uses it purely for its war-time decision of who will lead them after the death of each Emperor. The warring houses are basically just corporations that have become ultra-powerful and now lead this society. Putting forward their best generals the houses fight to decide who should take over, but with a set of rules that disallows certain actions to keep things more civil; think the Geneva Convention. However, someone isn’t playing by the rules as you must discover which of the rival houses keeps breaking this pact to try to put themselves ahead, while also leading a successful campaign to victory for your general.

Taking Turns

In each mission you start with a group of units and are given your objectives (in the campaign and single-player missions). From there you must make decisive actions that keep your troops alive and get your objectives complete. The game focuses mostly on car-based units and robotic infantry that you use in various ways. Most units vary from tanks to DPS units to weak scout units and most of the units fulfill the same functions. Balanced combat sees certain units doing better against opponents they are strong against. You do have a little bit of flexibility with a unit that attacks from two hexes out rather than the standard one with the majority of the units, as well as various turret and mobile mortar units that attack from afar. The game is tough, and so you must learn quickly which units match up well against others so you can seriously plan out your attacks and make the right moves.

Tough Times

With the intense fights you experience in this title you must take advantage of the environment and hex patterns to properly win fights with as little casualties as possible. Blocking off units with your tanks and setting up roadblocks with distance units flanking your blockade are just a couple of ways to utilize the environment to win your match.

A lot of thought must go into each fight, and even seemingly easy encounters can be turned upside down quickly if you don’t plan a fight from all angles. The difficulty is seriously amped up in this title, but if that isn’t something you are looking for then they do offer the option to change the difficulty. However, if you aren’t at least somewhat proficient in the RTS and strategy game genres then even the “Easy” setting is something that can be tough.

UI Understanding

Battle Worlds: Kronos clearly was originally thought up as a PC game with the way it is set up and the interface it uses. As is common with most PC-RTS conversions, the UI didn’t come over to console very well. The interface is challenging to navigate and doesn’t really teach you much about how to get around. There were several buttons that I wasn’t sure how to get to for most of my play-through, and that made for some really frustrating moments. Luckily, with this title being turn-based and not a straight RTS you have some time to play around and try to navigate to what you are looking to do. The game could’ve definitely used with some user-friendly changes to the UI, and it is probably the game’s biggest downside overall.

Odd Choices

The game uses a takeover system, in which you go around defeating the enemy and stealing their buildings with attacks. Once you do this you can release new units to aid you in your fight. However, they also oddly add a mechanic in which you gain resources and can manufacture units with a factory. The mechanic itself isn’t odd, as that is commonplace in the RTS genre, however, the game doesn’t do much to show you how to utilize this function. The use of these factories and the gathering of resources is extremely vague and pretty out of place in the system it originally uses for gaining units. I wish the game had stuck to its guns when it came to increasing your forces as it also uses a pretty intuitive reinforcement system that is optional if you want to aid in the tough difficulty.

Everything Else

The multiplayer in this game is pretty much what you think it would be if you have played an RTS before. Each player takes control of a side and you fight to the death. The gameplay is definitely the strong point of this title, so the multiplayer is something that was thoroughly enjoyable. It adds immensely to the game’s replay potential.

The game looks great for a PC conversion to Switch and especially from a genre with very little footprint on console. The units are sometimes tough to distinguish between at first as they all have a similar style, but once you have spent some time with the game it gets better. Environments actually surprised me with how it looked for the genre. The game looks good overall.

The campaign offers a ton of content and lets you really dive deep into the systems and gameplay, as well as the world they are trying to build with the story. I enjoyed the campaign, and it allowed for a play-through that was much more enjoyable than a game that just offers multiplayer or single-player matches.

In closing…

Battle Worlds: Kronos surprised me with how good of a game it was. I was skeptical with it being an RTS-type game coming to console, as that rarely works out, and even though the game definitely has its hiccups with its frustrating UI and hard-as-nails difficulty, I found myself enjoying my time with the game, and getting seriously into the gameplay and battle mechanics. I spent hours on single missions, just because I enjoyed the strategy element presented in this title. For people who aren’t used to how RTS-type games function, then this game might be a little too frustrating and/or difficult for someone who just delves into it casually. If you are into turn-based strategy games with battlefield combat and are looking to scratch that itch on Switch then this might be the title for you.