We Are the Dwarves Reviews
We Are The Dwarves shouldn't be completely dismissed, as it still at least has some neat ideas, controls nicely and looks pretty, but it comes across being so viciously unfair that it can only be recommended to the most hardcore fans of this genre. I was constantly finding myself too frustrated at the game to enjoy it, but to those willing to invest hours upon hours of seeing dwarves die over and over, knock yourself out.
We are the Dwarves had all chances for success thanks to an interesting idea, but a unique game world was buried under a pile of numerous problems. A constant struggle with the controls on Xbox One and strange game design decisions did not give a slightest chance of tactical mechanics to prove themself. Jerky picture and low framerate do not add positive impressions and quickly become tiring. We can only rely on a big update that will fix all the technical issues, or try the PC version. Until then, the console version can be safely ignored.
Review in Russian | Read full review
It is wonderfully atmospheric, with the darkness of its caves contrasted with its artfully selective use of light, and the beautiful colour palettes of each level.
We Are The Dwarves is a brutally difficult tactical action game with some RPG elements thrown in for good measure. Learning the best way to utilize each of the dwarves' talents is the key to advancing in the game. The isometric perspective provides clear sightlines of the action, but I found controlling multiple dwarves much more difficult than controlling a single dwarf. With more characters on screen, things start to become more hectic, but in a way, the game relishes in the ensuing chaos.
If you are interested in We are the Dwarves - just avoid console version and give it a shot on PC. Poor controls, lot of spelling errors and awful graphics - it's not something worth that price.
Review in Polish | Read full review
This is a hardcore game. Honestly, if you're looking for a good challenge, then you've certainly come to the right place. The enemies are relentless, the environments are unforgiving and survival in multiple scenarios is the driving point of the title. We Are The Dwarves is not the best RTS game out there, but its difficulty is addictive enough to suck any good PC gamer in for more than a few hours.
Where We are the Dwarves fails to deliver is mission balance, plain and simple.
The core mechanics of We Are The Dwarves - the actions you can take and the strategies you can employ - are wonderful, well-considered, and fully featured. There's a depth to the lore and world-building that you rarely see at this scale. But the level design is so constrictive and the difficulty so fierce that it's a constant fight to have fun.
We Are the Dwarves paints a beautiful world and a challenging one, but one worth delving into regardless of dangers that await you.
Fights happen quickly and can get out of control rapidly if you're up against more than a few enemies at a time
Ultimately, We Are The Dwarves is jack of all trades, master of none. The game includes strategy, stealth and action elements but none of these mechanics are particularly well implemented.
We Are The Dwarves has so much potential that I can’t help but feel disappointed at the way the game has turned out. Good story, great background and awesome character design are sadly not enough to overcome frustrating, slow gameplay with minimal exposition of the abilities and what they can do, insta death mechanics and any real lack of desire to carry on after the 50th death in a row from enemies off screen.
A nice little real time tactical game that takes cues from The Lost Vikings and brings it up to date, let down by a frustrating control scheme and some odd choices that have made their way to the final game.
Whale Rock Games has put together quite a doozy for hardcore RTS fans. It's definitely not fitting for a casual strategy gamer like me, or those who prefer fewer moving parts in their RTSes. But even with the ragequit difficulty, it's hard to deny that the game mechanics themselves are as solid and fair as the environments are gorgeous.
It's not a classic by any means, but it's different, interesting, and often quite clever. This is a developer with a bright future.
We Are The Dwarves on paper sounds like it might be interesting to fans of isometric tactical combat, and players of similar games might be hungry for more of the same. In practise, though, it's nothing more than a sad rehash of new (and bad) game design that replaces depth with death. It that demands the player perform random acts that usually results in restarts at the nearby checkpoint, while occasionally, luck comes out in their favour, and they can move on to do more of the same. Fans of perhaps masochistic and random puzzles may paradoxically find a squad tactics game like this interesting, but others lured in by its veneer of a RTS/squad game are unlikely to find anything recommendable among the annoyance.
For those with a passion for intensely difficult games We Are The Dwarves could perhaps be your greatest challenge yet. Frustrating it may be, yet Whale Rock Games have created a title with an admirable amount of effort put into creating a universe and lore that draws the player into its innermost secrets.
We Are The Dwarves is, perhaps, the classic case of a debut: it has good ideas, it even implements a couple of them well, but its edges remain a bit too rough.
The developers tried to do something refreshing with We Are the Dwarves, but they failed to deliver the experience on console. It would take a lot more labour to make it fir the format of couch leisure, but the game is way more exciting on PC.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The developers can happily drink some Dwarven ale, We Are The Dwarves is a one-of-a-kind game that provides gamers with some great visuals and addictive and varied gameplay. I’m willing to forgive all the bad sections because they truly made something special.