HOARD

Are you tired of all those medieval fairy tales always having the same development? Are you tired of going into dungeons and slaying dragons, questing for the king and listening to the same story of wizards, warriors, ghouls, ghosts and goblins? Then here comes a game that puts a 180 degrees spin on things and lets the ultimate bad guy take its time in the spotlight.

Welcome to the murderous world of Hoard.

Hoard is the story about the dragon’s woe and his plight for supremacy over the surrounding lands. This cute strategy title is played on a tabletop platform, where up to 4 dragons compete in several modes to be the first to reach their goals of money, princesses or survival. The cute board-game tablet is divided in sections for castles, knight keeps, windmills, farms and more rural goodies. From the moment these sprout to life, the magical experience of burning it all back down may commence and quickly, the buildings will start interacting with each other by producing carts filled with food, goods or royal carriages. Additionally, units will periodically appear to protect the fair lands from the evil fire breathers. And while the overview is rather restrictive, there’s always a sense of lively activity present on the tabletop. Sure, it’s rather rough around the edges, which might be tricky to work around certain parts, but the medieval charm is sure to keep things flowing. Unfortunately, the music can get rather repetitive with what seems like a small handful of tracks, but it’s hardly noticeable due to the constant action hogging all of the attention.

Yup, Hoard achievements take up about 1/3 of your screen, but they'll be gone soon.

Yes, hoard offers a lot of fast-paced mayhem, which eases in slow but always ramps up rapidly. There are four modes, each with increasingly hectic sceneries as their world grows larger and more populated. Choosing between Treasure, Princess Rush, Hoard or Co-op, the goal of each will be to use the dragon’s fiery breath to destroy everything and reap the rewards from the destruction. In a simple but effective manner, a dragon can fly and use its flame attack or take power-ups from points on the map and unleash them to boost its abilities. These are divided in 4 groups, being speed, fire power, loot carrying and toughness. By amassing more treasure the dragon will level up, after which accessing and upgrading these skills is a mere button press away. This keeps game progress simple but fulfilling, as each match the dragon naturally grows along with its surroundings. Additionally, excelling looters can unlock a multiplier which significantly boosts the amount of gold brought back to the dragon’s lair.

But even towns can be manipulated, as dragons can instill fear in the inhabitants, after which they will stop attacking the winged reaper and pay tribute to its greatness. Rather than attacking carts and villages for loot, villagers will now simply send goods directly to the lair and add to the amount of goods. It’s like a dragon is a personal one-beast mafia. Of course, opponents can do the same and thus the dragon that does the most damage to a certain town will be its conqueror. Revisiting towns and adding insult to injury is therefore recommended to maintain alpha dog status. This and the large amount of activity available on the playing field offer a nice tactical factor to the game that can run pretty deep and swift, depending on the chosen mode of play.

Ice breath does wonders for stopping everything dead in its tracks. Even pesky towers.

For instance, in Princess Rush the goal is to kidnap 15 princesses from royal carriages and keep them cooped up in the lair until ransom is paid. Knights will flock to a damsel in distress call like flies on sugar and in competition other dragons can steal a maiden as well. So, to make sure the princess doesn’t go to another castle, a dragon must stay vigilant. Hoard mode is a brutal fight for survival as the only goal is to stay alive as long as possible while the whole board vehemently thirsts for dragon flesh. This is a lot harder than it sounds and as the board fills with waves upon waves of enemies, merely dodging and surviving alone will become a quest of its own.

But the fun really starts in the Treasure mode, where the goal is simply to amass as much loot as possible and destroy all who come in the dragon line of fire. Capturing princesses, destroying towns and making them fear a fiery death, toppling towers and giants; it all comes together in harmonious chaos and there will always be some action and things to burn. This can also be done in co-op mode with up to 4 dragons, but as it’s hard to maintain a 4-headed multiplier, going solo offers just that extra amount of friendly competition.

The Hoard overview screen can get a little cramped.

The only real downside is that the overview may sometimes run fairly out of hand as the game progresses and tons of activity clouds a thorough vision. A multiplier is easily lost as thieves snatch treasure from the lair or princesses get stolen. This may become a little too hectic for its own good, but Hoard does make a good effort of balancing risk and reward at other times. As a multiplier is needed to reach an additional medal, it can sometimes be difficult to reach the top level, but at least trying always remains the same amount of fun it’s always been. An added array of achievements and goals will also offer incredible replay value, even above the many levels and modes available.

In all, Hoard is a very enjoyable strategy romp for fast, accessible fun that reminds of other farcical titles such as Fat Princess. The cute spin, amount of action and more importantly, the incredible longevity provided by the replay value make Hoard a game that works despite some unfortunate restrictions.

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Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@DaavPuke)