Diplomacy is Not an Option Review | Early Access

The City-Builder RTS genre has seen a steady stream of games over the past many years, but few that really deliver in terms of quality and addictiveness. Having said that, though, there aren't many games that can be considered really exceptional in recent years. Diplomacy is Not an Option is a city-builder that heavily emphasizes real-time strategy and attempts to make medieval warfare fun with its clever approach that is sure to inspire you.

The game, however, comes from an indie studio, Door 407, which is relatively new, having formed around 2022. Not much information is public about the company, including where they are based or key staff members. However, their website does mention that the members have "experience" with Warcraft, Age of Empires, and Civilization. Diplomacy is Not an Option is their first official game, though it has been in early access for some time. In the interim, they have also released URBO, a more casual city builder focused on population management.

In Diplomacy is Not an Option, you take control of a greedy and bored King. His family desires new and expensive luxuries requiring large amounts of gold. At first, the King expects your loyal tax collectors to keep the coffers full. But, soon, the peasants refuse to pay even a cent. Rather than negotiate or threaten, all-out war is declared. Now, the goal is to use your armies and fortifications to outright slaughter the rebellious peasants.

Diplomacy is Not an Option is a city-builder real-time strategy game that focuses heavily on combat. You constantly build a bigger army, fortify your walls, or find a way to deal more damage. The combat system is dynamic, with various units and strategies to employ. Any form of city building or population management is all for the larger war machine. Despite being an RTS, the game utilizes mechanics from the early Age of Empire titles and allows pausing at any point.

Upon starting Diplomacy is Not an Option, you are prompted to try the tutorial, and sadly, there is almost no guidance when on a real mission. In the tutorial, your advisor gives out a 22-part course to teach the basics of the system. You are tasked with gathering wood, building barracks, and placing archers on your guard towers. Similar to games like Patron, when you want something built, you must wait for workers to wander over and complete the task.

The main goal of this tutorial is to make a fair-sized war band of around 15 or so soldiers that can defend the kingdom and defeat raids. However, you are asked to build defensive walls before knowing your enemy's position. This can result in fortification and troops simply being bypassed by the foe's approach. However, after wiping out the enemy, the tutorial concludes, and you are free to start Diplomacy is Not an Option fully.

Currently, the game only features a few missions in specific regions of the larger world. To make up for this, they can branch off in six possible ways depending on your actions. You can pick how difficult the scenarios are, increasing the power of foes or your supply. The missions begin with an animated intro showing the King and advisor. This cutscene is a little jarring as it jump-cuts too quickly, often showing split seconds of the King for no reason. It also goes for far too long, as it is easy to understand the King wants money within the first few seconds.

The first campaign mission, "Wake-Up Call" focuses on your wanting to make a new legacy from your grandfather, Sir Duncan Ironbow, who gained territory for his valor in the war against Samreignia. However, as time passes, you become a broken shell and seek out any meager form of glory, even if it is against the innocent.

For this mission, there are advancing armies planning to attack your keep. Additionally, various random bands of rebels are roaming the forest. If you defeat the bands, they cannot reinforce the army. You begin with a population of 29, divided into six swordsmen, six archers, a catapult team, and the rest of the peasant workers.

With a lack of resources, you must get those peasants gathering wood and ore. This involves clicking the dual hammer button to bring up the build submenu, then resource generators like the lumber mill, stone mine, berry picker, and fisherman's hut. Your Townhall can only hold around a few hundred goods, making it important to have storage units like granaries. The game's resource management system is straightforward, focusing on wood as the core resource.

Housing is also necessary to increase the workforce and grow the army. However, you don't want to bring in too many people, as your population could outpace your food supply. Whether from war or famine, your people will eventually die. This also makes it key to have civil buildings like graveyards and hospitals.

The standing army doesn't need to just wait around and defend. They can raid the enemy camps, killing potential foes and looting their goods. This may be your fastest means of collecting stone, food, and soul crystals. The latter is used to cast magic, a system that can come into play in higher-level scenarios.

Investing in technology, on the other hand, can improve your overall settlement. There are branches to improve production, decrease building time, or enhance the army with better armor or new combat skills. There is no unique resource for research, with many of them utilizing wood or stone.

Mostly, the entire economy is based around wood as its core. The peasants are totally fine working for free as long as they are fed berries and fish. You can eventually unlock gold, which is used to hire the highest level of knights. But even they don't have an ongoing salary and just want food to keep fighting.

While city building is the first part of management, actively fighting is the core of Diplomacy is Not an Option. While you start with just swordsmen and archers, you can eventually hire all kinds of troops with upgraded barracks. Crossbowmen deal more damage but are a little slower than the basic archers. Spearmen have more reach and can deal with extra damage to cavalry. Healers can restore the health of allies but don't fight themselves. Axe warriors deal huge damage but have no defensive advantage. Hammerguys hit groups of enemies and take less damage in return. Finally, foot knights can brush off most melee or ranged attacks.

Stables and engineers can also build more specialized units. Horsemen move quickly but might take extra damage from melee hits. Horse archers are fast-moving ranged units but cannot man-watch towers like normal archers. Mounted knights are immune to arrows but still take bonus damage from spears. Catapults hit in a large radius but are defensive against melee attacks. Ballistas can damage up to three targets if they are lined up. Bruddam chimera explodes on command, harming enemies caught in its sacrifice blast. Finally, trebuchets hit even harder than catapults but require a massive tower to be placed on for more height.

You will want to bring in a mix of troops, some melee, ranged, and support for most missions. However, you don't need to go overboard for most objectives. Try to gauge what the enemy has by scouting and building what is needed to combat those forces. Additionally, you can often peck off some stragglers by provoking and kiting them away from the main army.

For the most part, the enemy AI is not smart and can be easily tricked by movement, retreating, or blocking paths with walls. They are typically only a real threat by raw statistics, having a large number of enemies or certain units that hit extra hard or over a large area. Being able to pause at any time makes it fairly easy to manipulate a battle and be clear of danger. This makes it feel in some regards to fights in Baldur's Gate 2 or Pathfinder: Kingmaker, where preparing is way more important than the moment-to-moment combat.

Once the campaign is finished, there are a few other modes to try. Challenge mode gives you a set number of buildings and troops and tasks you with clearing out a certain group of enemies in time. These can also be raised in difficulty if you find them too easy. Sandbox mode begins with a fully upgraded Townhall and all technology unlocked, allowing you the freedom to build - though the goal is still to beat the rebels. Finally, there is an endless mode where the rebels keep coming, and the only objective is to survive.

Diplomacy is Not an Option is an eerily quiet game. There is no bombastic music and very little environmental sound. The soldiers make grunts or simple remarks when clicked on, but for the most part, no one feels like they are human, just pawns to be commanded. Even once in combat, it can feel like things are muted unless you zoom in very closely to hear even the faintest clangs and ricochets.

Diplomacy is Not an Option does have a great foundation for an RTS, and there is a lot of potential and room for future improvement. Door 407 has yet to implement a lasting hook to entice ongoing gameplay. With its promising RTS mechanics, it has the potential to evolve into a captivating game. However, at its current stage, the game’s campaign mode has a mediocre storyline. You should consider playing Diplomacy is Not an Option for its sandbox and endless modes. But it is best to wait for future updates if you need an in-depth tutorial or rich campaign mode that doesn’t need to be replayed.