Path of War is a futuristic game of war that tests your skills at combat strategy, resource management and base defense. Available for Windows 10 PC, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic United States where a cyber attack has allowed the evil Regime to take over most of the country. Your job is to work your way from California to Washington, D.C. and take back the country.
Graphics are nicely detailed and while gameplay isn't overly complicated, it may take a few gaming sessions to discover all the game's features. Overall, Path of War is a fun game to spend a little down time with.
As is customary these days with many games, Path of War opens up to a very extensive tutorial. The tutorial covers defending your base, attacking Regime strongholds, upgrading your troops and base structures and re-deploying your base as you advance across the States.
The tutorial does a good job of showing you the mechanics of gameplay and there's plenty of opportunities during the tutorial where you are on your own to strategize attacks, troop movements and other duties.
Gameplay centers around your base camp with controls lining the edges of the screen. Your player profile and gaming level sit in the upper left corner, base resources line the upper right corner, settings and gaming store access are nestled in the lower right corner and access to the world map and game achievements are in the lower left corner.
In a nutshell, Path of War has you visiting the world map to launch attacks against the Regime to increase your resources and drive them out of the U.S. You also have to ensure your base is defended against attacks by the Regime. In a nice touch, your base is protected from attacks until you reach level 10, giving you plenty of time to build up your defenses.
The base camp includes your training camp where you can upgrade soldiers, a steel factory to generate resources and a headquarters building. You can add to the defenses and infrastructure of your base by building new items that are available in the gaming store. These items cost resources earned during battle and take time to construct. You also have a limited number of construction resources, which limits the volume of construction you can do at one time.
Missions include raiding enemy camps for resources or acquiring new weapons — and they always involve combat to obliterate the Regime. Combat is a two-step process. First, you scout out your target and form your attack strategy. Once you've got a plan of attack in mind, you deploy your troops.
Troop styles will run along the bottom of the battle screen (foot soldiers, rifle corps, assault vehicles, missile launchers, etc.). Tap on the style of soldier you want to deploy and then on a square on the battlefield. Battles are time limited and victory requires you to destroy the enemy headquarters. If the timer expires or all of your troops fall in battle, you fail the mission.
You begin gameplay only having access to foot soldiers who have an endless supply of grenades to throw at enemy troops and facilities. As you advance through the game, additional troop styles become available and you have the option to upgrade existing troops.
Troops advance in a straight line across the battlefield and automatically attack enemy troops and buildings that are directly in front or adjacent to the troops. Troops with a longer range of attack can fire over troops ahead of them in battle. For example, you can deploy foot soldiers in front of rifle unit and the riflemen will fire at troops ahead of the foot soldiers.
Fallen troops can be replenished by using your base camp resources prior to each combat mission.
As you successfully complete missions against the Regime, you earn coins, gems and other resources that can be used to upgrade your troops and facilities. You also earn experience that eventually levels up your gaming profile, unlocking additional troop styles and buildings. Once an area is cleared of Regime forces, your base camp is relocated to another region of the country where you face additional Regime encampments and strongholds. As you travel across the United States, the Regime forces become more difficult to defeat and you need to continue to upgrade your troops and build up base defenses to keep pace with the enemy's abilities.
Path of War also includes alliances that can be established with other gamers and you can link the game to multiple devices. This is a nice feature to allow you to move from your laptop to tablet without skipping a beat. I did notice a few delays in loading the game, but nothing too frequent to cause indigestion. Closing out and restarting the game allowed things to load smoothly.
While gameplay involves many factors, Path of War is not as overwhelming as similar titles with regards to design or features. It provides a nice balance of combat strategy, resource management and defending your base camp. The tutorial does a solid job of walking you through all the aspects of gameplay and doesn't leave you hanging. The graphics quality with Path of War is top notch and among the best for this sort of strategic war game, and the gameplay has plenty of gusto to keep you challenged. All in all, Path of War is a fun game that's only bolstered by its free price.
