Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin Multiplayer Hands-On: Bringing the Tabletop to Life

At Gamescom, we got a chance to look at the campaign mode for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin. In that short burst of gameplay, there wasn't really enough time to do anything apart from admire the pretty visuals and the effort that had been made into making this narrative stand out within its genre.

Now we've had a good amount of time with the game's other modes, both the roguelike Conquest mode and multiplayer battles. There was more of a focus placed on the latter, as we teamed up against the seasoned play testers to test our mettle.

This point will be brief, but it's worth drawing attention to the visuals again, especially now that we've seen the customisation options players will have. Just as you can paint your army how you like on tabletop, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin lets you pick from a variety of colours to make your army feel unique. You can mix and match palettes to create red goblins, bright-pink skeletons, or choose from one of a few premade looks. We spent a good few minutes making our Orruks look as bloodthirsty as possible before letting them loose upon our enemies.

It was very good to see that all the factions have their own unique style of play. It's one thing to hear that they'll each operate differently on the battlefield, and to see that the units each look unique, but when you quickly learn that the Nighthaunts are best at swarming in melee while the Daemons of Tzeentch want to keep as far away as possible, you can see how your strategy will have to change depending on the faction you and your teammate choose.

It's probably worth going into a bit more detail on the Daemons of Tzeentch. The game's fourth and final faction brings a good dose of Chaos into the mix, complete with incredibly weird units that look like they've crawled their way out of the far reaches of the galaxy. We didn't play a lot with them, but from the time we did spend they seemed an incredibly fun faction, especially when you get to summon in massive, bird-headed Lords of Change that can wipe out an entire army with one spell. Perhaps it would've been interesting to see some other factions take this final slot, as we do have enough evildoers in the game already, but then again there's always the chance of dwarfs, elves, and more getting included later down the line if the game does well enough for DLC.

While that might sound incredibly busted on paper, in practise each faction has its own super strong unit that gets pulled out in the late game. It's important to know when playing Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin that the game does sort of exist in stages, especially in multiplayer. The early game is for grabbing resources and staking your claim on capture points, whereas the mid game is a bit more of a desperate battle as you try to upgrade your units and base while not letting the enemy get too far ahead. Then comes the late game, where you just throw everything you can at your opponent in a glorious mess of melee with spells and arrows flying overhead. Some factions do a lot better than others at different stages, which gives another layer of depth as you head into multiplayer. Orruks, for example, struggle to match the power of other factions in the early game, as they're really waiting until they can get their big monsters before they can start making an impact.

In the hours we got to spend in Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, changing factions and seeing different maps kept the game incredibly entertaining, but there was a sense that this wouldn't last forever. From what we saw, it doesn't look like there's a lot of variety in the game modes. Mostly just capture resource points, objectives, then hold them until the enemy comes to attack. Depending on how much you enjoy RTS games, you may not be able to repeat this formula for very long without wanting something else. Then again, the core systems are very fun, with an emphasis clearly placed on giving the player thrilling, cinematic battles.

What isn't particularly thrilling is the walk to those battles. Units can move very slowly, even cavalry, which seemed odd, and can break up the action. Of course, this does mean it's more punishing when you lose an army, but it slows down the early game as well, when you're just trying to move around the map as quickly as possible.

When you do get into the thick of it, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin uses a sort of rock-paper-scissors type of system, where each unit has a role to play. Some will work great against melee troops, but struggle when put under heavy ranged fire, and others can't survive even the lightest of bonks to the head, but will rip through archers like there's no tomorrow. It's simple, but it works, letting you dive straight into the fun stuff without having to read page after page of a unit's description.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin continues to impress with its multiplayer and Conquest offerings. The visuals again just feel like the tabletop has come to life, and while there may be a few warning signs in the gameplay and its longevity, it was a lot of fun to gather our armies and have them rip through our opponents in the time we were given. The game launches on the 17th of November, so keep an eye out for more news.