The basic idea baked into a city builder is that I'm creating something to last. So when Against the Storm presented me with the premise that each of my handmade habitats would be wiped away by a terrible tempest as part of an unavoidable, cataclysmic cycle, I wasn't sure how to feel about it. But it is one of the most clever, engaging, and endearing strategy games I've played in years.
In the, some kind of horrifying, magical disaster has turned the once-idyllic fantasy countryside into a rain-soaked, ruin-strewn morass in which everything outside of the magically-shielded capital, The Smoldering City, is annihilated by hurricane-force gales every year. As the queen's viceroy, your job is to set out during the brief windows during which the land is traversable to found productive settlements that will take you closer to a set of mysterious seals. By completing these seals, you will permanently lengthen the storm cycle and draw closer to understanding what happened.
