Large Scale Battle Video Games: Mastering Chaos to Win

A trailer for Middle Earth: Shadow of War was released not too long ago. Seeing it, I instantly got a jonze to return to a game that made me a battlefield juggernaut. While I recall the many adventures I had dicing up my foes and wrecking havoc in the midst of an entire encampment of orcs, there’s another reason why this sequel makes me so eager to play it. Instead of going it alone, this time you are tasked with building your own army and leading them in assaults and defensive battles. In the back of my mind, a geeky giggling voice says, “YASSSSSS!”

One of the biggest draws for myself in games today is the open world feature. Games like Witcher 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and more all deliver on that grand scale, immersing you in a whole new world to explore. While I enjoy that, I can’t help but desire a crew of followers that I can customize and command to populate and conquer all that I see! In each of those games, the adventure you partake in paints you as a lone adventurer that will save the world (or someone you love) in an epic way, picking up allies that assist you along the way. Fallout does have a settlement structure that makes you defend your newfound bases from attacks so that you can have new income and resource generation, thus pushing your adventures along. Your residents will defend these bases, but won’t attack for you. The whole dynamic feels a bit hollow considering those followers only can help you one at a time. “I can’t help but desire to …