Colony Siege Rapid Review

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fast Facts

Title: Colony Siege
Developer: Finifugal Games
Publisher: Finifugal Games
Website: https://colonysiege.com/
Genre: RTS/Tower Defense
Platform: PC – Steam
Age Rating: TBA
Release Date: Summer 2020
Price: TBA – Rapid Reviews UK was kindly provided with an early access code for this title.

Colony Siege is a unique take on the strategy genre, seamlessly blending RTS (Real-Time Strategy) and Tower Defence without either side feeling left out. After over 4 years of development, Finifugal Games are nearly ready to launch their first release.

The story starts with an alien race known as the Xenos invading and destroying earth along with most of the surrounding solar system. You are tasked with defending the remaining human colonies spread out throughout the galaxies. While fighting against the Xenos, you will also encounter the Riven, a race who used to be human but used Xenos DNA to become immune to their attacks. You will have to use varied strategies to defend and attack against the two diverse sets of enemies. 

Colony Siege has many unique gameplay features to keep each mission varied, such as hazards. From a mining laser on one map which kills any enemies who pass through it, to ice on another planet which slows enemies who go over it. Players can strategically place towers and barricades to form a maze that the enemy has to pass through, and can, therefore, take advantage of these environmental hazards. 

The player can, in true RTS fashion, also construct their own army while defending, to be used for defence or attack. Mechs, tanks and other units can be built along with airstrikes to get an advantage on the battlefield.

The levels play out on a star map with a shop available to buy new towers, units and upgrades. One unique aspect of Colony Siege that I thought brought something new to the genre was a player-controlled commander. The command ship allows you to buzz around the terrain constructing and repairing defences while also directly engaging one of the 44 different enemy types, and it is also highly upgradeable.

The enemies are highly varied. The Xenos like to try and swarm you with high tech equipment and creatures that can, for example, clone themselves. The Riven, on the other hand, act a lot more human. There are also boss enemies near the end of each level that can make a giant hole in your defences. They can find a quicker path to the goal, meaning your well thought out maze might be made completely useless.

Graphically, the game is excellent. Each level is visually unique, from ice planets and volcanic worlds to levels set in outer space. The game did feature lacklustre visual options to change, but the game is in early access, and I am hoping these will be added later in development for lower-end systems.

There are currently 23 levels in the main campaign, but there are also two extra modes – endless and survival, to keep the replayability high with online leaderboards. The full campaign is also playable in co-op with a friend, so grab a buddy and start defending your colonies!

One of the few drawbacks, however, was the quality of the audio. Some of the voice-over in the cutscenes and pre-level dialogue sounded quite messy and very out of place. The overall sounds of the voices reminded me of games from the late 90s and early 2000s. 

Colony Siege brought back my memories of classic real-time strategy games while also keeping me hooked for hours with its addictive gameplay.  Finifugal games are very invested in community feedback, through their social media, while they come up to their summer launch window. Not a lot of games that combine genres work, but Colony Siege is a perfect blend, and it is clear the Developers have a clear goal in what they want their game to become.

Rapid Reviews Rating

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