Do you like strategy games? If so, you might be turned off by mobile gaming, since many mobile strategy games are either too ambitious for the small screen or end up being too watered-down. Luckily, you can find a very happy balance in The Battle of Polytopia.
After choosing a tribe and game mode (more on that later), you begin with one village under your purview, and enough stars (the only currency in the game) to hire a soldier, which is probably the only unit available to you at this point. If you have chosen to play as the Oumaji tribe, you can hire a rider, which has a greater movement range than most units. This is because the Oumaji tribe starts with the “riding” technology, with other tribes starting with different technologies, such as climbing or hunting (technologies that come in handy later in the game).
You can explore the area around your starting village, and if you’re lucky you’ll run into an unaffiliated village. If you move a unit onto an unaffiliated village, you can capture it during your next turn (provided your unit makes it through the night). Once you’ve captured a village, your borders will grow, your starting village will become more powerful, and you’ll have another place to spawn units from. Your first few turns will probably consist of capturing villages, assuming you don’t run into any other tribes.
Before long, though, you will run into another tribe. They will not immediately attack, and you will actually gain a technology from your meeting (based on which tribe you’ve run into). This is where the real fun begins.
Depending on which game mode you have chosen, you will either have to be in first place after 30 turns (Perfection mode), or you will have to wipe out all the other tribes in your area (Domination mode). When you start the game, you can choose how many other tribes are in your area (from one to three), and you can also choose the difficulty level. Regardless of which mode you have chosen, running into other tribes is when the fun really begins because defending your villages and capturing your opponents’ is the heart of The Battle of Polytopia.
Capturing enemy villages is just like capturing unaffiliated villages: you have to move a unit onto the (unoccupied) village and survive there for a turn. By capturing enemy villages, you give yourself more villages to spawn units from as well as more stars per turn, while reducing the number of spawn points and stars per turn your enemy has. If you have chosen Domination mode, all you need to do to win is capture every single village in your area, since capturing a Tribe’s every village wipes them out of the game.
If you have chosen Perfection, though, you’re unlikely to wipe out all other tribes in a space of 30 turns. This means you’ll have to win by points. This can be accomplished by building up a strong army and capturing villages/defending your own villages, but it will also require technology research.
The Battle of Polytopia has all sorts of research options available, from battle-oriented research which allows you to spawn shielded soldiers, to star-oriented research which might allow you to fish and earn stars. You can even research and build roads to allow your units more freedom of movement. As I said before, stars are the only currency in the game, so you will have to use them to research new technologies as well as to start using those technologies.
The technology and research system is what makes The Battle of Polytopia feel so deep, despite being relatively simple, because it allows you to play each game in entirely different ways. You can build a naval powerhouse (complete with battleships) one game and a spiritual, pacifist sanctuary that focuses on meditation the next. While The Battle of Polytopia keeps it simple in terms of map and unit size, it has just enough depth to hook casual gamers and strategy lovers alike.
Go ahead and give The Battle of Polytopia a try. It’s free (and the only in-app purchases are additional starting tribes, which are totally optional), so you have nothing to lose. It’s a pretty small game, so it should easily fit on your phone, and it can either be played in short sessions or long, multi-game binges, depending on what you’re feeling. Just make sure you don’t blame me when you start losing sleep because you can’t stop playing just one more game.
Download The Battle of Polytopia for iPhone or Android
