First Impression: Kaiju Warriors

By Chris Picone, 29 April 2022

In Kaiju Warriors, Foolish Mortals have successfully recreated that B-grade Godzilla movie feel through a game that's weirdly modern and retro at the same time. It's a tactical turn-based game at its heart but it also includes base-building-style unit upgrades and resource management, and card-based special abilities. Like any good B-grade flick, Kaiju Wars doesn't take itself too seriously. I'm not far enough into the game to know where the narrative's going to take me but the game's brought to you through the help of your two bumbling advisors and plenty of humorous pop culture references. Also, the kaiju are nigh-undefeatable, so your overarching strategy revolves around pushing your tanks and military into the meatgrinder as you try to buy enough time to develop an "anti-kaiju serum." Seriously. Visually, Kaiju Wars is quite stunning, with in-game pixel art that's glorious on its own but made even better with the addition of special effects, smooth animations, and a comic-style interface.

I'm only 2.5 hours into the campaign so far (it's billed at 15+ hours) so I'm sure I'm only just scraping the tip here but already there's been a good range of ground and air units, economic and scientific special abilities and units, different kaiju with different abilities. The maps all look similar so far but the kaiju's predictable movement and the synergy with the kaiju's special abilities means the space is actually used quite well. The environment comes into play too, with volcanoes shooting fire everywhere (which kills you but heals the enemy). Each mission comes with its own set of limitations and challenges and the enemy also throws card-based special abilities at you each turn so it never feels repetitive. As if that wasn't enough, Kaiju Wars also features custom missions and a very simple-to-use mission editor.

The verdict? Hell yes! Fans of turn-based tactical games need to get this one. It's just so unique and cool, with plenty of new and innovative features so it feels like a very fresh experience while still successfully capturing everything I love about the genre. I can't wait to see what the rest of the game has to offer.

Links:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1508400/Kaiju_Wars/