Clash II in review: With strategy through the dark world of Karkhan

After almost 1,5 years, Clash II is leaving early access and starting again with a full version and many new features. Based on the first Clash part, which was released over 25 years ago, strategy fans once again set off on a journey through the hotly contested continent of Karkhan. This serves as a battlefield between the "Pure Ones" and the "Old Ones".

Starting with a snappy short film, you are thrown straight into the campaign of Clash II. From here you are immediately confronted with the first mission. Elena's brother, Hjarn, must be freed. He has been captured and is currently being held hostage in Dochas Ur, one of the many cities of Karkhan. But take it easy. As in all other strategy games, you shouldn't rush into anything and should first familiarize yourself with the situation. It is not entirely clear and takes a bit of time to understand.

As a player, you start directly in the open game world of Karkhan and could therefore set off straight away, but the first tasks are already waiting for you in your own base. First of all, you have to put together your own army. Without this, you will have almost no chance against the numerous (final) enemies that lurk around every corner. They also have different strengths and you often have to optimize your own troops before you send them into battle.

auto-battle action

The battles themselves can be fought in two different ways. The first option is to fight the battle yourself. The second option is to simulate the battle. The latter obviously saves time, but you cannot react to your enemies during the battle. In addition, as already mentioned, the enemies have different levels of difficulty: easy, medium and difficult.

Before you go up against enemies in the "Hard" category, you should first prepare your troops properly. This starts with recruiting. To do this, you can look around your own camp. Whether in the barracks or the huts, there are potential soldiers everywhere who can help you in battle.

Up to eight players can fit in a squad - the more the better, right? Well, as we all know, quantity doesn't always beat quality. As a player, you can go into battle with just four or five warriors if you want. However, if they die during a fight, they are no longer available. This means that a fearsome squad can quickly become a one-man army.

From Chapter to Chapter

You could say that Prime Bit Games has really gone wild when it comes to chapter design. No two chapters are the same and you can expect plot twists here and there. Although the setting remains relatively dark in all chapters, each one tells its own story that is worth exploring. Despite the constantly changing missions and tasks, you have the feeling that you are following a common thread that slowly but surely leads you to your goal.

On your journey you will not only encounter enemies and creatures that want to kill you, but also people who are well-disposed towards you. If you are lucky, some of these people are soldiers who can help you in future battles. Civilians, on the other hand, can be used to increase the population in your own base. This should not be ignored either.

If you want to recover from the exciting battles, you can do so in your own camp. However, as a player, you are challenged here yourself, because there are numerous tasks to be completed in the camp too. New buildings must be constructed and existing houses spruced up. This is desperately necessary in order to unlock new skills that could be vital to survival over the course of the game.

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Conclusion

Clash II is not perfect, nor does it have to be. However, the game simply lacks that certain something. It does meet the basic needs of any strategy game and definitely attracts a few players with its auto-battle component, but the game does not offer much more recognition value. The lack of a tutorial to familiarize you with the game mechanics also makes it difficult to get started.

A short film at the beginning of the game does help to familiarize yourself with the plot, but not nearly as much as you would like. The controls don't seem particularly intuitive at first and the fact that almost the entire story is based on the first part makes it difficult for newcomers to find their way around the game. That's a shame considering that the story offers a lot of depth.

The possibility of continually expanding your own base and recruiting your own "armed forces" is nice, but the options are very limited and leave little room for maneuver. The game is aimed more at older video game fans, ideally those who have already played the first game. Clash II probably won't really blow the new generation of video game fans away. With Clash II you just don't get the feeling that you're holding something "new" in your hands.

From a purely technical point of view, there is little to complain about with Clash II. It runs smoothly, even without the latest hardware. There are practically no bugs. The only thing that stands out is that the mouse sensitivity tends to be increased a little after you've won a battle. However, you can see that Prime Bit Games has put a lot of effort into this over the last 1,5 years. Whether that's enough to convince strategy fans of their game remains to be seen.