From Glory to Goo is a horde survival RTS developed and published by Strategem Blue. It was released into early access on Steam on April 2nd 2024 and has received a few big updates since then. So, I figured I'd sink some more time into it and give you an early look at this especially given it's in what is becoming one of my favourite sub-genres. Not sure what it is but the idea of building and defending a base against vast hordes of enemies is very appealing to me. Probably has something to do with how much I love Stronghold (another game I'll be reviewing at some point.)
Much like They Are Billions which essentially kick-started this sub-genre, you start off with your command centre and a handful of troops and resources. Your task is to expand and find more resources to grow your base while fighting off the enemies lurking on the map and the large waves that will periodically swarm in from off the map. Surviving a set amount of waves wins you that mission unless you are playing in endless mode. Pretty much as expected though FGtG has some unique twists of its own to add into the standard formula. The foe itself being the exception, I've only really fought the goo so far and the enemy numbers get rather insane quite quickly. Also, a quick tip from me is to make sure your air defences cover your base even from sides where land enemies can't reach. Totally not because I let my command centre get munched on by a couple of flying units and lost a good run.
Combat itself is your standard RTS fare alongside how you control your units. The difference is the scale, your own army can become dozens of units very quickly. You'll need it to be as well as the waves on the harder difficulties are huge. Add that onto the occasional enemies deciding to sneak in through a gap in your defences to munch on your solar panels. You'll have to be alert as you can go from a solid base to a smouldering ruin pretty quickly. That does make it all the more satisfying the defeat a large wave by the skin of your teeth though!
You get a hero unit, the captain, chosen before the game starts who levels up and gets equipment and passive perks. There are a variety of captains in the works, each with pros and cons. The roboticist is a favourite of mine so far as they can get a lot of free troops, even if they aren't as good as regular units. I do hope they really expand on it too as it's a fun system. There is also a second thing, specifically you choose a ship to have in orbit which you repair and upgrade in addition to your base. The ship does various things such as boosting your resource income, helping with research and even being fitted with weapons to help you fend off the Goo. I found doing a mix of things was best, you do have to ensure there are enough armouries on board in case enemies board it otherwise things can get rough.
There is even a system for meta progression present, unlocking new captains, ships and perks you can use to tailor a battle to your playstyle a bit more. The new captains are all very different and do genuinely feel like they offer differing playstyles thanks to their abilities and unique units and traits. The perks are generally rewards for finishing certain maps, usually giving you small bonuses of which you can select three. The ships need some more unique traits beyond how damaged they are and how much space they have to upgrade.
Now, it's early access so it has issues so let's cover those now. Clarity is the biggest issue which is in part due to the graphics style and how small everything is. There are options to turn outlines on which helps though I think the UI could do with some more readability, just to make things clearer, a few quality-of-life pop-ups to zoom to places or inform you could be nice too. Hopefully, those things are in the works!
The only other gripe I have is the lack of unit variety for friendlies. Though I know a part of the meta-progression system unlocks different unit variants, I'd love to see it expanded a bit more. They do have a campaign planned on top of the survival mode, which should be interesting to see, but right now, only the survival mode is available. There is a lot planned though and for the price you already get a lot of game to enjoy, I'd say.
So, the all-important question now. Is it worth it in its present state? I'd say yes if you like games like They Are Billions, this is a solid entry into the sub-genre that has a few unique twists of its own that make it stand out. The only downsides are mainly to do with readability and how easy it is to see what is going on at a glance at times. Still, it's relatively early on its early access cycle and the game isn't so pricy as to make it a risky choice. It is at the time of writing only available on Steam.
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