Guards II: Chaos in Hell - PC Review

Guards II: Chaos in Hell by developer Battlecruiser Games and publisher HeroCraft PC—PC(Steam) review written by Mike with a copy provided by the publisher. 

 
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

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Published by HeroCraft PC and Developed by BattleCruiser Games “Guards II: Chaos in Hell” begins with a journey into Delaware… no, I’m kidding. Hell is our central location as the player takes charge in this turn based lane combat strategic adventure against all types of enemies straight from the very depth of Hell itself. The Sequel of the original “Guards” Developed and Published by HeroCraft PC is a far cry from the earlier 3d top down graphics of the original. Replaced with pixel style everything, and I do mean everything. The art and backgrounds show a deep love of environment settings, world building, atmosphere and the unique enemy/Hero designs shine through immensely in layers.

Guards II begins the story of a young magician summoning a Ifrit, a powerful spirit or demon from Middle eastern folklore often linked to the element of fire, the ifrit offers him a deal. The Devil had united all Kingdoms of hell in a effort to invade the human world. Not wanting this to happen, he proposes to the young magician to aid in causing chaos in the kingdoms of hell to thwart the invasion. With no hesitation, the wizard agrees to help, summoning heroes into the realm to assist in the mission. 

My initial first impression of this well-structured turn-based title had me on a nostalgic memory trip as the pixel graphs and easy to adapt control interface felt very inspirational if not reminiscent to the early days of commodore 64 titles. I found myself slightly surprised at how simple and complex a game could be made in such a manner where halfway into a battle it feels less like a tower defense and more in the ways of a type of Chess re-imagined! 

In Guards II you start in control of the placement of 4 of the player pieces in a lane with combat as a turn-based defense against swarm after swarm of enemies. You begin with the Young Wizard, the Demon hunter, the Alchemist, and the Warrior Princess. Each hero is unique with their own attacks, defenses, strengths and weaknesses as well as their own Upgrade trees to level up as you progress through the various kingdoms of hell. Utilizing each hero to defeat the waves of enemies per kingdom requires some strategic planning and organizing of short range, mid range and long range attacks so as to prevent any of the summoned heroes from falling in battle. There is also an upgrade tree which will allow the heroes to become stronger and more resilient to various factors in the long road ahead.

The combat is turn-based as you are allowed the ability to swap two Hero characters on the battlefield before the attack/defense phase plays out. Certain enemies will be weak to the Alchemist bombs as they cause some fire damage, whereas other enemies will have a harder time dealing with the Warrior Princess in close quarter fights. Upon winning a few kingdom regions of the map, you will unlock the ability to upgrade overall skill powers that swing favor in battles to your entire team, and unlock more Heroes as you progress deeper into the depth of the kingdom map. At the time of this writing I have advanced to the 5^th kingdom of Hell after trial and error with swapping out heroes to either take blunt force, resist curses cast by enemies or simply made enough mistakes to understand and adapt each hero's strengths to advance forward through these trials of chaos.

Every turn, you exchange two heroes positions. Heroes that are moved into the resting zone get healed. A hero who moves out of the resting zone executes their special move. The Archer has a barrage of Arrows damaging all enemies in his lane, the Alchemist tosses a potion to heal teammates, and so on. All other heroes in each lane perform their normal attack in the action phase. The game loop is to figure out which sequence is best to eliminate the required amount of enemy units, or to take down the bosses. However, if any of your heroes are defeated in battle, you lose the match and are prompted to try again or head back to the staging area. Utilizing the rest zone behind the primary 3 attacking heroes will keep your units healthy and in fighting order. The summoned heroes do different attack element types such as fire, magic, or death, and different enemies are weak/strong against different damage types. Think Chess with Rock Paper Scissor mechanics. Heroes have different attack ranges, so some trial and error is bound to occur as you learn as the battlefield changes kingdom to kingdom. 

Tutorials are explained by the Ifrit through text dialogue and don't overwhelm the pick-up and play approach of this game. In a matter of minutes you may find yourself jumping back into completed kingdom zones to understand and defeat enemies with alternative strategic placements. The difficulty levels can be chosen by the player, introducing replay-ability of completed kingdom regions in the event the preceding battle was just too quick or easy. The challenges get progressively more difficult as you progress deeper into the kingdoms and enemies have larger health pools. Weaknesses and strengths fluctuate as progress is made. There are 4 tiers of difficulty that can be changed per level to the players preferences.

The music is beautifully crafted and well composed, even when in battle mid way through a fight I find the soundtrack suiting and enjoyable at every phase. Each enemy as well has unique animations for surrounding, attacks, defense, taking damage and death. The battles are well animated sprite work that show a great dedication to the art teams dedication toward keeping the theme and feel of the characters in the setting environments players will encounter without feeling like they are out of place. The style choice is not only appealing but easy on operating systems for this game to run smoothly, even on a low end graphic PC. I highly recommend this title to anyone looking to have a challenge and appreciate the time and energy placed into pixel animations, well worthy of wandering off the regular treaded path of larger name titles to appreciate a unique and original style of this development team.

If you have a knack for a thinking game matched with a classic strategic turn-based experience, this title is well worth diving into to keep your brain thinking 5 steps ahead as you fight through the levels of the kingdoms of Hell, or die trying. The design and music are  just the icing on a well made cake.

Score: 7 / 10