Game Review: Banner of Conquest

By Manuel

​Players: 1
Platforms: PC (Steam)

I've been a sucker for anything in the survivors-like genre ever since I first played Vampire Survivors last year. I was a bit late to the party, but I've since picked up several other similar games, and I try to snatch every single one that comes across our desk for review. Banner of Conquest is survivors-like game that is set in China's Three Kingdoms Period, and it comes to us by way of developer Haojoy Game, and publisher 2P Games. It's currently a Steam exclusive, and is currently part of 2P Games' Steam Summer Sale at the time of this writing. Considering that this review has something of a time limit attached to it, let's just dive right in!

The story found in Banner of Conquest is one of its stranger aspects. It does take you through many of the famous battles from the Three Kingdoms Period, complete with relevant defending generals, but doesn't give you anything in the way of plot or background as to why that particular battle is/was so important. It also doesn't give them to you in any particular order past the first handful, and you can mess that order up further by unlocking new sets of battles as soon as they become available. The characters and setting are sure to entice fans of the Three Kingdoms, most especially fans of the related media that stems from the book Romance of The Three Kingdoms, but it's a shame that more effort wasn't put into capitalizing on the wealth of material available. All the important characters are here, upgrades have little references that only those in the know will fully grasp, and even the available mounts and weapons are taken directly from the source material. All the developers had to do was give players a single screen of text before a battle to appease people like me, but I guess that was a bit too much for a game of this size and scope. No point griping about that anymore I guess, so let's just move on.

With the story somewhat of a bust, let's hope things fare better in the gameplay department. Banner of Conquest is your standard survivors-like game where the only actions you'll ever perform will be the movement of your selected character. That's literally is, as this game doesn't have any extra mechanics for dodging or performing a special attack. Enemies will come at you in endless, random waves, with each battle being broken up into at least a dozen or so rounds. Each of these rounds last about 30-90 seconds, and all enemies will be cleared and your character will be healed if you survive. Defeated enemies will drop resources that can be used to purchase upgrades in between rounds, healing items, wine to boost your horse if you have one, and coins that are used to purchase permanent upgrades. You'll also recover life by killing enemies, but this is a slow process. Your character will take damage by getting too close to an enemy, being struck by one of their special attacks, or getting hit by a stray projectile. Unless you have a skill that revives you, dying ends your current run then and there. Enemy generals will often appear every fourth or fifth round, though you don't actually have to defeat them. The key thing to remember about Banner of Conquest is that survival is the only real goal. You don't have to kill every enemy or general, nor create the perfect character build. You simply have to survive whatever the number of rounds a battle has (Typical 18-20+), and move on to the next.

Even though creating the most powerful player character imaginable isn't necessary, it still is a lot of fun. Upgrades come in the form of cards, and they're split into two categories. The first of these are Weapon Cards, and you'll choose one of several at the start of each run. Your character is able to equip up to six weapons at any one time, and these can be Melee, Long Range, or Elemental as far as their types go. These weapons have sub-categories too, but I think you get the idea. You can re-open a weapon slot by selling the weapon currently in it, and you can upgrade a weapon by purchasing another Weapon Card of the same type. The other type of cards are Plot Cards and these grant you stat bonuses or skills. Detailing all the cards available to you in the category would take far too long, so I'll just give an overview. These cards can bestow better character abilities while lowering certain stats, grant you a special type of trap attack, boost weapons of a certain type, increase you movement and attack speed, give a stat a few more points, and so on. Plot Cards can also be dropped by enemies, most usually by defeated generals. Unlike Weapon Cards, there are no limits as to how many Plot Cards you can have at any time. Also, purchasing or finding another of the same time does allow the ability to stack, so you'll want to keep an eye out for repeats of cards you like.

First time players might be a bit confused as to how permanent upgrades work in Banner of Conquest, as you actually have to clear the first two battles fully before they open up at all. This can be quite annoying, as you'll only have two characters available to you, and you'll face enemy generals that can literally one-shot you if you're not careful. Once you do beat that second battle, the game truly opens up. Besides the permanent upgrades, you'll be given the option to unlock new areas on the map using coins, as well as start using mounts. Mounts are a unique addition to gameplay that requires a bit more explanation. Mounts grant you greater movement, and also add another attack beyond whatever weapon you have equipped. This means that they take up a weapon slot, and they also upgrade on their own outside of the card system. Instead of raising their stats by way of cards, you simply upgrade a mount in its own menu system. These upgrades still have the resource costs, and they're mostly stat based. These stats are all important though, as keeping your mount alive is extremely important if you came into battle with one. I'm not exaggerating when I say that mounts change the entire way the game is played, as having one means that all health pickups become wine that makes your mount go faster, and all damage will go to your mount before you. This puts you at a severe disadvantage if your mount dies and you're forced to fight on foot. You can revive a fallen mount, but it's best just to play more carefully when you go into battle with one. There are a few other cool things that unlock, but I'll leave those for players to discover on their own.

There are some other positives I could point out, like the fact that the game features a very impressive soundtrack and has well over thirty battles to unlock and play through, but Banner of Conquest isn't without its flaws. Besides the fact that many players will probably quit before things get good, the visuals and gameplay loop might drive away even those who are fans of the survivors-like genre. I personally don't think Banner of Conquest is an ugly looking game, but there is an undeniable generic feeling to the world and the characters. You'll fight in battles that only have a small handful of variants, and most of the enemy generals seem to use the same generic sprites. Coins are also handed out to players very slowly, and that means that it can take hours and hours to unlock and see everything the game has to offer. I'm a sucker for these types of games, but it just doesn't have the same feeling of fun as some of the greats in the genre have. I'd have to say that part of that stems from the lack of a proper level-up system, but it's also due to the fact that runs can end far too easily if you're not paying total attention. I very nearly gave up on the game when the general in the final round in the second battle kept killing me in one or two hits, and I only beat it once I realized I just had to wait the clock out. This isn't exactly intuitive gameplay to those familiar with survivors-like games, and it left a bad taste in my mouth that I never really got over. There's a pretty good game here if you're able to get past the rough opening, but I wonder how many potential players won't simply refund the game after the first hour.

Despite my issues with the game, I still feel like Banner of Conquest is worth playing for fans of survivors-like games, or of the Three Kingdoms Period in general. I played a ten hour marathon session of this game, and I still feel like I'm just getting started. I didn't even intend to play that long, I just get that addicted to games like this sometimes. It's not the best the genre has to offer, but it does capture a lot of what makes these sorts of games fun. I even picked up the Journey to the West-themed survivors-like from the same publisher, and will probably review that one here in due course. As I said earlier, both that game and Banner of Conquest are currently on sale at the time of this writing, and it can still be picked up for a very reasonable $4.99 even at full price. It's hard to be too harsh on game priced so affordably, so I guess I'll just leave it at that. Pick it up if you're a fan of either of the things I mentioned earlier, and be sure to catch me in my next review!

Check Out Banner of Conquest on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2483730/Banner_of_Conquest/

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Story: B
Gameplay: B-
Graphics: B-
Music/Sound: B+
Value: A

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A fun survivors-like game that has a few quirks that make it unique.
+ Even though the setting isn't fully capitalized on, it's a must-buy for lovers of all things Three Kingdoms.
+ Has an amazing soundtrack that is sure to keep you going just one more run.
+ Truly opens up after a less-than-smooth opening. There are multiple gameplay modes, a mount system, several playable characters, and well over 30 battles to play through.
+ Priced very affordably at just $4.99. Picking this one up on even a whim is easy when the price is that low.

Cons:
- The opening section of the game is very slow and rough. I can see many potential players giving up in the first hour.
- Being able to clear battles without defeating the bosses at the end just feels strange.
- Both the graphics and gameplay loop are a bit on the repetitive side.
- Seems a bit bare bones at times when compared to other games in the genre.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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i love Guan Yu!

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