Finally!

For over a year now Wargroove has been lacking cross-play on PS4, but that's going to change this week. Chuckle Fish has confirmed to Destructoid that Wargroove's Double Trouble DLC will be coming to PS4 tomorrow, with cross-play.

Why is that last part such a big deal? Well, if you recall, Sony was the last major holdout for cross-platform play, as a Sony exec called "PlayStation the best place to play," implying that you didn't need cross-play. Ironically PS4 was the worst place to play Wargroove, as PC, Xbox One and even Switch own?ers could all enjoy the benefits of playing ??together and sharing maps as one giant community, while the PS4 edition was left out of the party for over a year now.

Strangely, by the time Wargroove launched on PS4 last July, Sony's PS4 cross-play program was in "beta," and the CEO of Chucklefish (Finn Brice) decided to call them out on it, saying that Sony was playing favorites with the program: prominently featuring games like Rocket League and Fortnite without focusing on indies.

Brice called them out publicly hard, saying that he made "many requests for cross-play," but ?Sony did not budge. Obviously it behooves Chucklefish to make that happen, and oddly, Sony was maintaining the stance that the program was available to anyone who wanted it. Where the truth lies is probably buried within heaps of NDAs somewhere, but the good news is that after?? being the last holdout, Sony is finally playing ball.

Let's hope cros??s-play and cross-buy are as prolific in the next generation as they are now. Microsoft seems committed to making that happen, at least.

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Double Trouble Double Trouble Double Double Trouble Trouble!

Great news for fans of tactical adventure title Wargroove, as developer/pu?blisher Chucklefish has announced a new expansion is headed to the game in February. What's more, this new DLC will be coming free-of-charge to all players! Neato.

The Double Trouble expansion adds a new story campaign - to be enjoyed solo or in co-op?? - along with a new faction, the Outlaws, featuring a triple threat of new commanders: the ham??mer-swinging Wulfar, twins Orla and Errol, and the adventurous, whip-crackin' Vesper. I like her.

That's not all, as the expansion will also add new units in the form of Thieves and Riflemen, a new volcanic location, and an overhauled online/lobby system, allowing players to host their own matches and campaigns will friends?? and strangers. You can check out all of this great new content in the trailer below, ahead of its release on February 6 on PC, Xbox One and Switch. The PS4 edition will receive the DLC at a later, undisclosed date.

Wargroove?? is available now on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

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Plus new editor tools

Wargroove is kind of a fan-favorite strategy game at Destructoid, mixing old and new school strategy design while letting us live in a fantasy-oriented Advance Wars follow-up fever dream that Nintendo just isn't interested in giving us (yet?). Given that it has full multiplayer support and a map editor a lo??t of folks are still playing it, but this upcoming free DLC expansion is going to extend that party a while longer.

It's called "Double Trouble," and as the name implies is fully co-op oriented (with concessions for solo play). It adds a new campaign with three new ??commanders (of the Outlaw variety), two new units (Riflemen and Thieves), more arcade missions and quick play ma?ps, as well as the ability to play custom campaigns online with an expanded lobby system, and new custom tools like a volcano theme.

Chucklefish has confirmed that Double Trouble is coming to all platforms (PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One), with a release date to be announced "soon" after the update gets through the patch approval process. At that point we'll get a release date and a trailer. Not bad for people who invested ear?ly!

Introducing...Double Trouble [Wargroove]

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'PlayStation is the best place to play'

Every once in a while I still find myself chuckling over the executive comment that "PlayStation is the best place to play," when defending Sony's cross-play blockade, which roughly translates to: "wh??y would you want to play anywhere else?!"

Well, because other platforms (in some cases, literally every other platform) have cross-play, and hence a bigger community of players with more player-created content and more longevity. Also known as: a better place to play. Sadly, Wargroove is not going to be?? entered into Sony's holy altar of cross-play (which consists of a scant few titles that Sony deems worth of the feature, two of them are involved with Epic Games) when it launches this Tuesday on PS4.

Wargroove, which already delighted fans earlier this year on PC, Switch, and Xbox One, had its PS4 release delayed by Chucklefish. During that time CEO Finn Brice "made many requests for cross-play," and were "told in no uncertain terms that it was not going to happen,"?? by Sony. Brice says that they can "literally toggle a switch" to make it happen, but Sony is going to budge on their end.

It's less noticeable on a game like Fortnite with tens of millions of players, but rigid policies like this really hurt smaller projects such as Wargroove. While there was hope with the "beta" for games like Fortnite, Rocket League, Dauntless, and the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Sony still has a long way to go.

Wargroove PS4 [Chucklefish]

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It doesn't have to be all AAAs

Like Insaniquarium, Wargroove slaps.

It's an SRPG fan's dream, packed with a lengthy campaign, tons of ways to play both against AI and real opponents, and creation tools. What initially looked like a way to pass the time until the next Advance Wars game ?(whenever that might be) became so much more.

Starting on May 2, Xbox Game Pass owners will be able to partake in this lovely fantasy world as part of the program. It sounds like such a small announcement: an indie SRPG from Chucklefish is joining the ranks of huge big-budget games like Sea of Thieves and Halo.

But that's just it, it's not really that small anymore. Indies are ubiquitous when it comes to the industry, with projects like Stardew Valley selling more than many AAAs titles. Long story short, give Wargroove a try. It's not perfect, but it does what it sets out? to do and then some. If it's your first foray into the world of SRPGs, even better.

You do get a bit of everything in May though. Wolfenstein II, The Surge, Black Desert, Tacoma, For the King, LEGO Batman 3, and Surviving Mars join Wargroove as they roll out through May 16.

Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass [Xbox]

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1.2.0

Just over a month ago Wargroove was unleashed into the world and players immediately took to it. Partly because of the general lack of high profile SRPGs in the current market (Into the Breach comes to mind), but also no doubt due to its Advance Wars aesthetic.

It just got even better too with a large quality of life patch that smooths out some of the game's rough edges. The main event is the checkpoint system, which you can set anywhere and allows you to return to a sp?ecific point in a ??campaign battle after death. The difficulty system is also completely overhauled, with five settings (story, easy, medium, hard, and custom). The game currently defaults to "hard."

Multiplayer also got some huge enhancements, like the ability to add AI to online games (huge) and nine more co-op maps. General improvements include faster skips (f?or things like cutscenes) and reworked menus. In a game where you're going to spend most of your time in menus, that's a welcome fix.

Wargroove is current??ly available on PC, Switch and Xbox One. It'll see a PS4 release sometime this year amid a fi??ght from Sony to make cross-play as difficult as possible.

Quality of Life Patch [Wargroove]

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Fixes, updates, and DLC on the way

While I haven't jumped on Wargroove yet, I'm super thankful Chucklefish has given Advance Wars fans something fresh to chew on. Don't get me wrong, I'll never grow bored of revisiting Intelligent Systems' uncomplicated turn-based GBA titles, but I'm happy to see another take on this winning formul??a.

For all you master tacticians in the audience, Chucklefish has overviewed the days, weeks, and months ahead for Wargroove's post-launch support. To sum up the overall scope, you can expect to see time-sensitive bug fixes followed by game improvements and fin??ally larger-scale updates, including DLC.

The first post-launch patch

• Fix bug that caused online multiplayer maps against AI to sometimes go into a broken state.
• Fix bug that caused spectating online on Fog of War maps to not work correctly.
• Fix bug that caused issues around resigning on matches.
• Fix the display of some Japanese and Chinese characters.

This update is making its way through the approval process now, so it shouldn't be long?.

Short-term plans

• The ability to skip battle scenes more quickly. With various options on how this will work.
• The ability to force fast map movement to 'always on.'
• Tooltips and more info for the effective/vulnerable charts.
• In multiplayer, the host will be able to fill open spots with CPU players.
• Display S rank requirements. (Tip for now, it's always based on number of turns.)
• Make it more difficult to accidentally end a turn.
• Multiplayer Lobby improvements
• Various bug fixes

Aside from focusing on modding and Wargroove on PS4, Chucklefish has these features in mind. "It takes a little while to submit a patch on console, but we'll ??try to get things done as ??quickly as possible."

Long-term plans

The team says it's "looking into a larger content update, DLC, and more." While that's not a lot to go on, Wargroove isn't?? exactly a small game as is and user-made maps can bolster the experience eve?n further.

In a reddit AMA, Chucklefish noted that it's "taking th??e feedback from all our players on board and seeing what people most want to see. This may come in the form of additional map content, but right now we want to stay flexible and do our best to improve the areas important to the most players."

What's next for Wargroove? [Wargroove]

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Featuring: A war in which you advance

Wargroove is made explicitly for fans of the old Advance Wars games: the developers at Chucklefish have made no bones about it. Personally, I'm just a big fan of any turn-based strategy game, so I knew Wargroove would also be up my alley. Sure I really enjoy the Advance Wars titles, but even without the striking simila????rities, I would be totally on board.

No matter what year it is, it just?? feels great to play a ??well-made strategy game.

Wargroove (PlayStation 4, Switch [reviewed], Xbox One, Windows)
Developer: Chucklefish
Publisher: Chucklefish
Released: February 1, 2019
MSRP: $19.99

If there is one thing Wargroove does not lack in, it is content. Seriously, there is so much here and for $20, it's a steal. I'll just say this up front: if you like turn-based strategy games and have been pining for an Advance Wars spiritual successor, get it. Buy Wargroove immediately. Now, time to talk about?? the details?.

The campaign is likely where players will spend most of their time and the first thing to jump into. This mode does a great job of introducing t??he player to its many mechanics and unit types throughout the first handful of missions. All things considered, there aren't too many mechanics so that the game feels overwhelming with things to remember, but it doesn't feel all too simplistic, either.

Campaign missions start the player with a set of units and an objective, often to eliminate a specific opponent or building. Luckily, there are varying objectives to keep things interesting, and even the basic "kill these people" objectives are often more lively due to the map's design or the unit selection/placement. There are those missions that feel frustrating because something unexpected happens halfway through that makes it very difficult to win on the first go. I'm sure better strategists than I can deal with it and go with the flow, but personally, I can't stand restarting a failed mission with new knowledge of what the gimmick is and then ?stea?mrolling it because I'm now overprepared. 

There aren't difficulty options in the campaign mode, though there are in arcade mode, and instead, the game relies on a star rating system after each mission. Overall, I found the difficulty curve to be alright, though there are certainly some missions that really felt like they came out of nowhere and completely screwed me up. I'll put it this way, I've thought "is this a mission I'm supposed to lose?" a few times. Often missions simply require a new strategy (often a more aggressive one) with newfound knowledge, but given the time investment involved before a loss at times, it's de??finitely frustrating. 

As for the story, it's alright. A new queen and her crew set out and encounter all sorts of factions and their aggression and they need to beat them up. The story is generally told in little bits of cutscenes before missions, but the theme tends to be more cute and direct than anything too grandiose. The opening is actually rather epic and led to? slight disappointment when the first couple of acts were just "ARGH I hate you guys! Let's battle grrr!" It does do a good jo??b of introducing the various factions and their units, though.

Personally, I fell in love with the characters themselves and the designs of the factions. While things start off relatively familiar, soon enough I found myself going "wow that guy looks so cool!" Whether it was a main character or even just a new unit I hadn't seen before, the character/unit design in Wargroove is top-notch.

Mechanically, terrain and vision pla??y large parts in unit placement, while building act to create a mini-economy to manage. Don't get the wrong idea, this isn't anything on the scale of a real-time strategy game, but there are income and expenditures to manage. Capturing buildings around the map add to the income per turn, and that income can be spent at a barracks (if one is owned) to create a new choice unit each turn. This isn't an overcomplicated mechanic as it essentially boils down to "capture all the buildings and protect them, dummy." 

Each side takes its turn individually on a square grid-based ?map; one side will move all of its units, in any order, and execute any actions before the opponent gets to go. As always in the genre, where units end their turn is very critical and it's always important to be thinking multiple steps in the future. Gameplay feels like tried and true strategy games and any veteran will feel right at home.

On top of all ??this, there are various Commanders available to play as, each with their own special ability, called "grooves." Commanders on their own are very powerful, and their groove only adds to that. This is a move that is built up over time and can often greatly influence the battle. The best part is that each groove has their own strategy involved since using it replaces the character's normal attack. Will you use your Commander's groove to set up a defensive aura early?? so he can attack when more units are here? But what if the fighting doesn't end up taking place here? I don't know! Why are things so stressful!

As is typical in the genre, certain units are more effective and vulnerable to others. Luckily, the game has a handy codex embedded and easily accessed so that nothing has to be memorized. My only issue with the codex is that the units displayed as "effective" or "vulnerable" are in these tiny squares that? I rarely understand what they represent. So I need to go further into the codex to realize what that unit is and then go back to double check their picture is on the side I thought it was. I wish I could hover over the tiles on the main unit page to see exactly what they are best and worst against to remove this hassle.

Outside of the campaign, there are arcade and puzzle modes to enjoy the game's solid mechanics in. Arcade mode focuses on a single Commander and is a series of five battles that reveal more about the character and build toward revealing a "mysterious weapon." I ended up enjoying arcade mode way more than I thought I would; it really felt like I was demonstrating my knowledge of the ??????????????????????????game and even when I lost, I never felt cheated like I sometimes did in th??e campaign. 

The puzzle mode is also a blast. Given a set of units and an objective, players have a single turn to complete said objective. More than ever, the order in which units take their turn is crucial. A lot? of puzzle mode boils down to understanding the range and abilities of every unit (especially things like critical hits) and then figuring out the best order to execute everything in so that a single turn is just enough. I didn't know I wanted this m?ode, but it's a great idea and executed marvelously. Most of these extra modes are unlocked by playing through the campaign and completing side missions, so you have to work for it!all that! 

Still not enough content for you? What if I said that you can easily create your own maps and campaigns and share them online? I'm talking like, complete creative control and the ability to create your own cutscenes. The editor on Switch feels a bit clunky and is clearly designed for the PC, but it's fine after getting used ?to its quirks.

Oh, and did I mention that there's multiplayer for up to four players, online and local? Yeah, like I s?aid before: there is a ton of co??ntent here, and it all looks beautiful. The animals and pixel art are sublime, really making the world and character design come to life. The little battle animations are great, though I did eventually turn them off to speed things up a bit.

There's a lot to love with Wargroove. I definitely have my qualms with some of the campaign mission design and plot, there is so much here to love. I can't say that it's a completely innovate entry into the genre, but I think it's safe to say that Wargroove is a title that needs to?? be in? every turn-based strategy lover's catalog. 

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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And it's included on all platforms, not just PC

It's been too long since we've last touched on Wargroove, a turn-based tactical game from Chucklefish that should really speak to fans of Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. I know I'm not the only one around here who's supe??r into ?this idea and hopes they're able to capture some of that same essence.

Today the studio has shared another look at Wargroove's scenario and map editor, which will enable fans to make their own story missions complete "with sub-quests, plot twists, ambushes, and hidden secrets." Heck, you'll even be able to create whole modes and "let players make decisions? that affect the outcome of this AND of future mission??s (if you're making a campaign)."

Chucklefish's blog post walks through an example with gifs to help explain the process. The developer also notes that "this is the tool that we ourselves are using to make the campaigns of Wargroove, so expect to be able to do anything you'd expect to see in the campaign of a ga?me of this genre!"

While I still heavily associate the game with Nintendo Switch, it's worth stressing that Wargroove will also be available on PC, PlaySta?tion? 4, and Xbox One when it launches next year.

Make Your Own Adventure! [Wargroove]

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Grooveshark?

Previously announced for Nintendo Switch, Wargroove is coming to PC as well including a level editor. The very same editor Chucklefish, the publishers behind Stardew Valley, used to create the gam?e in fact. A "turn-based tactical strategy" game, controlling the m?ap is a critical step to success.

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