Where to get it

2016 · Petroglyph Games · Indie · Real-time strategy

8-Bit Hordes

From the team that brought you 8-Bit Armies comes a new fantasy RTS as fast-paced and friendly as the original! 8-BIT HORDES is a colorful strategy-arcade game that is easy to learn for players of all skill levels. Collect resources, build up and defend your base, amass your army of orcs or humans and ultimately crush your opponents! 8-Bit Hordes features offline single-player missions, two-player cooperative missions, AI skirmish mode, and Player-vs-Player Multiplayer modes running on dedicated game servers.

Released: 12 August 2016
Platforms: PlayStation 4 Windows Xbox One
Genres: Indie Real-time strategy Simulation Strategy
Developers: Petroglyph Games
Publishers: Petroglyph Games
Series: 8-Bit Armies series
Modes: Co-op Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Fantasy Historical
Country: United States
Age ratings: PEGI 7 CERO B ESRB E10+USK 12 CLASS_IND 10 GRAC 15+ACB PG
Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Spain) and 1 more
Time to beat: 8hmain story20hcompletionist
Composers: Frank Klepacki

About

8-Bit Hordes is a real-time strategy video game developed by Petroglyph Games, which was released on August 12, 2016, for Microsoft Windows. It uses the same engine as its predecessor 8-Bit Armies, but is now based in a fantasy themed scenario.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

8-Bit Hordes is a real-time strategy game designed to mirror the look and gameplay of classic RTS games of the 1990s. It features a single player campaign and a multiplayer mode in which players battle each other or the AI in the cooperative game mode. The game takes a simplistic approach in its gameplay and graphical elements. The graphics feature an 8-bit retro-art voxel style with partially destructible terrain.

Gameplay is similar to the Warcraft franchise. The player starts with a castle which is used to expand the base and build military units to fight opponents. Resources are acquired via lorries that gather gold from nearby mines to the main castle. Units and buildings are constructed via a clickable menu on the right side of the screen, similar to the Command & Conquer franchise.

Development

8-Bit Hordes is the sequel to the game 8-Bit Armies, which uses the same engine and interface. After the release of 8-Bit Armies, Petroglyph Games wanted to release more factions via DLC, but then decided to make an entire spin-off, which led to the release of 8-Bit Hordes a few months later on August 12, 2016. Due to their similarities, both games offer various crossover functionalities.

Reception

com on August 12, 2016. Reviews of the game were mixed to positive. Reviewers acknowledged the game as a homage to the classic Command & Conquer franchise with a similar simplistic gameplay approach and a classic retro graphic style. The classic RTS gameplay has been praised as the core strength of the game.

Some reviews criticized the lack of variety: the campaign features no distinctive storyline and the gameplay may feel repetitive, as simple aggressive rush tactics usually lead to a fast victory. The lopsided AI opponents that are just enough for warm-up play as well as bad pathfinding were also criticized. It has also been noted that the game is essentially a reskinned version of 8-Bit Armies, now with dragons instead of tanks. The soundtrack, which was composed by former Command & Conquer composer Frank Klepacki, has received positive reviews.