Indie Game Club Issue 6: Loria

Hi all! This month, you're stuck with just me while we play Loria, an indie RTS lovingly crafted by fans of Warcraft. I always invite anyone to play along, as our showcased games are independently published for free by their creators. You can download Loria for free from its Steam page.

Next month, we will be diving into the self-proclaimed "anti-game" The Dark Queen of Mortholme by Mosu. A 20-minute narrative adventure about being a boss (of a video game, not the slang meaning). If you want to play along, you can download next month's game for free on Mosu's itch.io page.

So, allow me to awkwardly present my thoughts on Loria!

Nathan Kelly

The real-time strategy game has evolved little since competitive StarCraft 2 entered the scene, with gameplay that demanded lightning-fast decision-making and faster reflexes. Loria claims to harken back to a time of Warcraft, but did we need to?

The formula is tried and true. Most RTS games that followed in Blizzard's footsteps haven’t touched the two main focuses that have defined the genre since. Manage the microeconomics, then destroy your enemies with macro strategy. Loria offers the simplified experience that Warcraft offered, making tresource management as visual as possible while focusing your attention on what you really want to do: draw that box around 50 units and ram them into buildings and soldiers. Admittedly, Loria does this extremely well, easily conveying its information. Players are seldom left wondering how they are doing, and that is the true mark of a good real-time strategy game.

If anything, Loria’s campaign could do better when onboarding its new players. The start of the campaign has a good learning curve and gradually introduces new units, so players aren’t overwhelmed. This would seem to make the campaign a great place to start, if only a tutorial for the game's economy had been included. The game lacks any direction at the start of the second act to show players how to get wood, mine ore, or utilize those resources meaningfully. If I hadn’t been an avid player of StarCraft 2 at one point in my life, I most assuredly would have had to Google many things, or more realistically, given up.

I really liked Loria. I wish that it had an art direction that made it stand out amongst other options. But really, it's best appreciated as a free alternative to much more polished games. This can actually be a great selling point if you are younger and don’t have expendable income yet, or are trying to convince 3 of your friends to try a new game with you.

If you have the options, I would recommend picking up Warcraft 3 over this game. However, you could do much worse if you just want to feel the excitement of fast-paced army management again.