Mordheim - City of the Damned Reviews
My experience of Mordheim: City of the Damned is one where knowledge of the source material is both a blessing and a curse. This isn't a bad game, and despite its flaws there is still fun to be found in the Empire's official worst city to live in. I am well aware that some of my criticism stems from my personal love of Games Workshop's ill-fated tabletop classic, but at the same time, this also affected my enjoyment in a positive way. A game which allows me to have online Mordheim-lite matches with friends is great, but ultimately its blemishes stop it ascending to brilliance.
Absolute confusing. Managing your faction is great, but the combat system, specially the display and movement of your troops are pure Chaos.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Not the prettiest game, not the easiest game, not even the most elegantly designed game. But a great game nonetheless. Painful fun for the whole family.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A brilliant strategy game that asks you to think carefully about every decision, pushing your tactical buttons in every conceivable way.
An authentic enough adaptation, Mordheim is deliberately hard and borderline impenetrable to the initiated. Approach with caution.
But if you were hoping for a new squad-based game with the finesse of XCOM, or the many tactical choices of Jagged Alliance 2, this is not it. Mordheim is dumb. Mordheim is flawed. Mordheim tries hard and doesn't succeed. This is not a happy Christmas, everyone, but the misshapen horror of Faschnat. It's your present from Krampus.
A finely tuned turn-based strategy effort that takes place in Warhammer's grim Mordheim game universe, Mordheim is furiously enjoyable but it demands both patience and skill from its prospective armchair generals in spades.
A solid tactical game centered around survival of the fittest and eking out every advantage..
I found myself wishing that something would appear to redeem Mordheim: City of the Damned, but as it began to feel like every action in the game was taking a few agonizing seconds too long, I realised that I'd lost hope in much the same way as the residents of the eponymous city. Mordheim isn't a dangerous place, it's just a bit dull.
Mordheim manages to create a turn-based experience that is not quite like the now seemingly industry-standard XCOM but which finds its own way to tweak the genre. Aside from the jarring nearly-first-person perspective the game really does feel like a tabletop miniature game, complete with randomization and ability checks. And at the same time this is probably the most natural way to design such a game. Tabletop miniature games are essentially the original "turn-based" combat games. Making a digital version of one of the lesser known entries in the genre is completely logical.
Based on a classic, but bringing new features and perspectives to the table, Mordheim: City of the Damned provides a challenge, with some interesting party and game management thrown in. I am not a fan of the wonky overhead map, and sometimes feel cheated in battle, but the over-the-shoulder camera is a pleasure. The end game of trying to keep in your benefactor's good graces, regardless of the outcome of each battle, and the variety among the factions, make for a good game that invites you to have another go—even after it leaves you bloodied in some nameless alley in the City of the Damned.
Mordheim is a game for fans of its tabletop sibling. As a strategy game, it offers enough depth and complexity to stand out from the crowd. As an RPG, it's simply burdened by too much complexity to reward the player. Sadly, thanks to a story that is difficult to appreciate and a heavy focus on run-of-the-mill missions, the gameplay becomes repetitive far too quickly as there are not enough interesting story missions to breathe life into the experience.
Mordheim is unapologetically hardcore, and if you're not the type to play the X-COM games in Iron Man mode then you might want to give it a miss.
Know what else takes a cult, niche audience willing to devote several hours to fully delve into an RPG campaign? A Warhammer tabletop RPG. If you're missing playing Warhammer with a local tabletop group of friends, then Mordheim: City of the Damned will be the next best experience.
Mordheim: City of the Damned is a solid game. I feel those looking to get into a game of this type or just Warhammer, in general, will get turned off by the difficulty. I was under constant pressure to keep my warriors alive and healthy, but when you're facing down a massive Skaven beast, you know that's not always going to happen. Aside from that, it was nice to return to the Warhammer Fantasy universe with a self-contained RPG.
Fans of Warhammer-related products and turn-based game aficionados will enjoy City of the Damned. It isn't a casual experience and mastering the many systems — as well as the flexible combat — will take dedication and time. It needs a little more technical polish and a much smoother learning curve to be considered for real mass-market appeal, but Mordheim: City of the Damned is a rewarding game for the right player.
Unlike Vermintide, Mordheim: City of the Damned is a harder recommendation for people who don't know the Warhammer franchise, as its the type of game with a big learning curve that makes it less open for people who just want to jump into a game.
I like Mordheim more than I should. The game is a turn based grind-fest with a tacked on story mode, yet I keep firing it back up to play just one more mission.
Ultimately, there are some big flaws here, and too much competition really with the recent release of XCOM 2 on home consoles that are much more complete, balanced and enjoyable. If you're desperate for some Warhammer strategy then this may do you, otherwise you'd be best to look elsewhere.
Mordheim is a lot of fun once you get past the difficulty and intimidating systems it throws at you.