GAME REVIEW: Crush Your Enemies – “A Breath of Fresh Air”

Crush Your Enemies game

It sure is hard to stay unique in this golden age of indie games. For that very reason I tip my hat to Vile Monarch for their latest title, Crush Your Enemies. My initial reaction towards this title was that of a fairly decent real-time strategy game, however it wasn’t long until I realized this game is much more.

Vile Monarch, the studio responsible for Crush Your Enemies, is headed by developers Grzegorz Mazur and Kacper Kwiatkowski, and based in Warsaw, Poland. The two joined forces while working at 11 bit studios on the highly acclaimed indie title This War of Mine. Grzegorz also plays some pretty bad ass metal in his band Dogmat. Most appropriate for a development firm that identifies as a hard rock game studio. Fun games are usually developed by fun people, and the personalities of the developers certainly show in this title.

So what is this game all about? Aside from the obvious, it focuses on quick action and strategy. The game is delivered in an attractive and well-developed manner, from its clever mechanics to its well designed user interface and comical presentation. It sheds away most of the weight found in rts games and focuses on quick start gameplay. You can play a round in less than 10 minutes or spend hours perfecting your strategy to earn various achievements. The game has so much more to it than initially meets the eye though it does a good job staying true to its core. What core is that exactly? Why, crushing your enemies or course!

Some of the best games out there are the ones that throw you right into the gameplay and teach you how to play while you play. I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again. Conveyance is one of the most important factors in game design. CYE excels in this category. I feel that few things in life are more painful than a game that promises an amazing gameplay experience provided you endure an hour or so of an absolutely mind-numbing tutorial. CYE does a great job showing you the ropes by allowing you to enjoy the gameplay while getting familiar with the game mechanics.

As for the gameplay itself, each level is a map divided into different tiles. Tiles are colored to display captured, neutral, and enemy territories. You also start with a small hoard of barbarians, just itching for some enemies to crush. You move your hoard from tile to tile. As you approach neutral or enemy tiles you must capture them before you’re allowed to move further. The rate of capturing a tile is determined by the size of your hoard.

You can split up your hoard and send them to buildings on the map that serve different purposes. Sending them to shacks allows them to recruit. The rate of recruitment increases as the number of barbarians increases to a maximum of fifty. Send your troops to other buildings to give them specializations like archery or heavy fighters. Each specialized class has different strengths and weaknesses. Picking the right specializations and using them the right way is the key to mastering this game.

Resource management is also huge aspect this game, though you need not worry about tracking gold or building resources, only the numbers in your ranks. While you’re recruiting, specializing, and capturing tiles your enemy is doing the same. Winning the round requires you to be on top of your management. Timing is key. Many times the outcome of a round can actually be determined in the first few moments of the round, so be careful what you decide to do early on lest your enemies crush you!

Gameplay on PC is mouse-driven. Just point and click. Likely this game was designed to port to mobile but that doesn’t take away from the game as it provides a simple yet rapid style of gameplay. You need only track the numbers of your ranks during gameplay and ensure that you’re keeping up with your enemies.

Did I mention Crush Your Enemies isn’t very easy? To paraphrase the backhanded jabs thrown at you during gameplay, if you’re a unicorn-hugging, lily-livered, soft-serve gamer, this game is definitely not for you. If you enjoy spitting in death’s face while rising from defeat after defeat until your enemies have been reduced to a pile of mushy red stuff, then this just might be the game you’ve been looking for.

Crush Your Enemies Polygon
Source: Polygon

The tutorial levels get you far enough to understand the premise, but once those are behind you the game starts to get really mean, really fast. What did you expect? The game isn’t called ‘Pat Your Enemies Gently On The Back’. The satisfaction that comes from crushing your enemies after numerous attempts is definitely rewarding and the stuff that great games are made of.

One question immediately came to my head after playing this game for while. Can I crush my friends? Turns out you definitely can! CYE definitely supports multiplayer rounds, though at present time it seems that the multiplayer servers have not gone live yet. I’m really itching to explore the game in this area however I still feel the need to improve my own playing strategy before going toe-to-toe against other players. That to me is a wonderful demonstration of a well-designed game.

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