WARNO is a Eugen System’s game through and through, and I’m glad to say that WARNO is the most refined version of their formula. Set in 1989, it’s another Cold War gone Hot kind of game, where the forces of the Warsaw Pact fight against NATO for the future of the European continent. This review is solely focused on the multiplayer portion of the game since I don’t play strategy games online.

• Genre: Real-Time Strategy/ Real-Time Tactics
• Developer: Eugen Systems
• Publisher: Eugen Systems
• Release Date: 23th May, 2024
• Price: $39.99/ 39,99€/ £34.99
• Buy at: Steam
• Reviewed On: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.70 GHz, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX 2080

Eugen Systems’ titles are either highly praised for the complex, high-level competitive multiplayer community, multitude of units and decks, beautiful graphics, and fast-paced high-level tactical battles. These games are, however, criticised in the exact same fashion: too fast, too complex, too APM dependent, and lack of single-player content. After spending a couple dozen hours getting the hang of WARNO and going back and forth comparing it to the Wargame series, I’m glad to say that if you have those criticisms of WARNO, these might disappear once you played a couple of hours.

So yes, let’s get this out of the way first since this is the question that everyone makes whenever I write about Eugen’s title: it does appear that the gameplay has been slowed down. It’s either that or the maps are bigger. But since I don’t have any metrics to present you with, it’s just “it feels slower”. And it’s either that or there are a lot fewer units on the battlefield. One thing I know for certain, there hasn’t been a single moment, when playing WARNO that I have felt overwhelmed by the amount of stuff happening all at once, no matter how large a battle was. Yes, you can also pause the battle if you would like, to reposition your troops and issue them orders.

This sense of control is further emphasized by the introduction of the line of sight tool from the Steel Division games. Now, at the press of a button and by hovering the mouse around the map you can see the line of sight of a specific location, allowing for much better positioning and the creation of ambushes, kill zones and overall advantageous lines of fire. In one of the available operations, called “Black Horse’s Last Stand” you’re tasked with holding against the Soviet Offensive that’s going to try and steamroll Bad Orb. Having identified clear lines of approach, using this line of sight tool I was able to position my units in such a manner that the 2 only possible ways to enter the town had the majority of my firepower concentrated: the main road north, and the industrial complex on the west. This line-of-sight tool also works great in helping you better position your sourcing troops. In the same example, my scouting unit on the eastern road never fired a single shot, but being able to spot the main road from afar allowed them to relay information to the mortar teams in Bad Orb that constantly pounded the road and nearby fields.

Another major improvement is the way the game handles urban combat. In the Wargame series, houses seldomly appeared on a map, and when they did, they were spread out, looked all the same and more often than not, they would be good enough for a couple of infantry units to hide, ambush an armoured vehicle and be promptly shelled by artillery. WARNO still uses the same system of blocks, instead of individual houses, but there are hundreds of those blocks across the maps, with urban areas having 30, 40 or 50 you can now use and move your units in between when they get spotted. Urban combat is tense and deadly, as it should be, and the number of buildings available makes levelling out a single location either impossible at worst or resource-draining at best. Add to that that destroyed buildings now offer protection to infantry, and even if whole blocks are levelled to the ground, the infantry will still be able to hold its own. This massive improvement in urban warfare and its environments means that holding and securing cities is as important as it should be and that single-player missions can be built around that concept.

Speaking of which, while WARNO single-player content is not overwhelming, it sure as hell isn’t lacking either. There are 20 tutorial scenarios to help players get going with the game’s mechanics. Having completed all of those, they are excellent at teaching you how to use the line of sight tool and the stealth mechanics. There are 8 operations- these are essentially missions- with varying degrees of difficulty and complexity. These scenarios are fun, custom-made and curated scuffles, with well-defined objectives and victory conditions. I just wish there were more of those.

The meat and potatoes of the single-player experience is going to be the Army General mode. If you haven’t played Steel Division 2, where this concept was introduced, it’s very similar to a lighter Total War experience, exclusively focused on combat, with none of the base building, empire management and diplomacy. As a commander of a sector of the front, players will be ordering around their troops-chits on an operational level map. If they decide to attack enemy formations they’ll be prompted to either auto-resolve the affair or take part in a real-time battle. There are currently 5 Army General campaigns, with varying degrees of longevity. The smallest one can last for about 4 to 5 hours (if you auto-resolve most of the battles), with the largest one lasting for over 30 to 40 hours. If you decide to fight every single battle, the largest scenarios will last for hundreds of hours.

Now, I wouldn’t say that the Army General mode is the most interesting thing around. Yes, it’s very barebones, and exclusively militarily. There won’t be any unit creating or reorganization of your order of battle. It’s basically a “make do with what you have” kind of situation, where players will mostly move units around trying to pick up the best fights and probing for weak spots on the frontlines. And that’s okay, for the most part, just not the most exciting of prospects when you play those campaigns one, two or three times. Instead, what I wish Eugen would do was to go for a grand-strategy approach with their Army General mode, and giving us control of everything. Yes, this is not fair criticism because that’s not what the game is aiming to be, but I sincerely believe that would be fantastic. Can you imagine a grand-strategy title with the real-time tactics battles of a game like WARNO? Absolutely glorious.

To round things up, WARNO is one of the most graphically impressive titles in the Strategy and Wargaming genres. Eugen has always been known for creating some of the most detailed battlefields and units around, and WARNO is no exception. Look at this direct comparison between the Abrams M1A1 and Bradley IFV between Wargame and WARNO.

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

Sound-wise WARNO has gotten a significant upgrade too. Every unit sounds very unique. Gunshots and tank rounds have that satisfying “thump”, and artillery shells land with impressive grandeur. The only complaint I currently have is that the planes sound a bit muted, but if I’m not mistaken, I remember them sounding absolutely deafening in the first Wargame Airland Battle and that annoying me as hell, so maybe being a bit quieter isn’t so bad after all.

Overall, WARNO’s presentation is fantastic, and if every strategy and wargame had this kind of graphical fidelity the world would be perfect. Still, on the presentation side of things, I don’t know what the community thinks of this user interface, but personally, I think it’s the best in the series (pretty sure this was lifted from Steel Division 2, but don’t quote me on that, and I’m not installing 80 GB to check it out when this review is one month behind schedule). There’s no need for hidden sub-menus, and unnecessary fluff information, everything needed to command your troops is on full display with simple buttons with text, and if you want to know more there’s a side window with a lot of bars and information. A great way of managing function and information separately. Love it. Also, the mini descriptions of the unit cards that say things like “anti-air”, “anti-tank”, and “support” go a long way to help players who can’t spot the differences between two similar-looking units armed with very different weapon systems make decisions under pressure.

Now, my main problem with the game: The AI isn’t amazing (but it isn’t terrible either), but I’m either too off with my knowledge of soviet doctrine in the late 80s (which is possible), but I don’t think that rushing down the same location of the map several times is supposed to be a valid tactic. I had this happening more than once, in both Operations, Army General, and even Skirmish battles. I don’t see the AI using combined arms tactics to overwhelm a position, and a lot of the time they would just go piecemeal into the kill zones I had prepared in advance, with specific locations like bridges being particularly problematic since you can hold the AI there and just pound that very small stretch of terrain with artillery. I would rather have the AI either rush to the other side of the bridge, suppress my forces, or use a counter-battery. Just having the AI doing something other than half-regretting and stopping the attack, and getting confused while being destroyed. Is it reminiscent of what we’re seeing from the Russian troops in Ukraine? Yes, yes it is. Is that something we want in our video games? Probably not. The AI could use some work, and sometimes just waiting to muster enough troops to push with an attack would be enough to make it look and feel more competent.

Final Score: 7/10

If you’re looking for a single-player experience set in the Cold War that’s complex, beautiful to look at, massive in scope and will keep you occupied for hundreds of hours, WARNO Army General might be the fix you’re looking for. Pair that up with the slower unit movement and more focused unit selection decks, and everything is easier to learn, manage and experiment with. I’m glad to say that after a rocky release in Early Access a couple of years ago, WARNO’s full potential is starting to show, and my only hope is that Eugen gives WARNO the same kind of post-launch support they gave all their other games.

Pros:

1. A lot of singleplayer content;
2. Slower gameplay allows for more intense battles, with more back and forth;
3. Beautiful graphics and animations alongside a simple and very intuitive user interface.

Cons:

1. Might still be too fast for some people;
2. Poor AI;
3. Army General mode might disappoint some players with its limited scope.

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