This week, Geek Native have been lucky enough to review Barheim; a Tower Defense-style game with a challenging time management aspect that’ll be available after Steam‘s Next Fest.
I want to talk about my face!
Yes, I know, it’s a weird face, and if anyone were trying to blast booze across a famous bar with a cannon, my forehead would make me the easy target. That’s not entirely a bad situation for me!
I’m actually thinking about my facial expressions while playing Tetris. You’d have to go back many years, and thankfully, smartphones weren’t around to record this but my Tetris face would alternate between gargoyle-like immobility to a Poker hand-ruining page on which my every feeling was written.
Barheim does this to me, too. I’ve watched videos made while recording my first impressions of the game in which I smile in amused frustration when an angry beer Viking smashes the bar because they weren’t served swiftly enough.
There may be too much beer Viking in my own impatience. Despite playing the bartender in the desktop game, I might have too much sympathy with the customers here.
Playing Barheim
There’s a plot. A Queen is being annoying. Meanwhile, you’re a bartender who has lost their memory and thus needs to be tutored through the critical business of serving Viking customers with the beer cannon.
The controls are straightforward, but do not be deceived! Moving right, left, up and down are the D, A, W, and S keys, and you grab or release the cannon with the space bar. While you’re holding the cannon, W moves you up and S down. Left click to fire.
There are also recipes to page through if you get good enough.
I found my first couple of games were utter failures. How hard could it be to run to the table, get the drink, run to the cannon, load, grab, aim and fire it? I’d find myself loading the cannon, forgetting to hold it in my hurry, and rushing away, only to need to pivot on my heels and charge back across the bar.
The Tower Defense aspect is easy to get your head into. It’s the Time Management that piles the pressure on. There’s very little room for mistakes from the very moment the game begins, and then it gets harder.
As a good bartender, you must start thinking ahead and piling up tables or leaving mixing machines on their own while you multitask.
To be honest, I’m delighted Barheim is a game that I can remember the controls of and does not need an MMORPG-style heads-up display to play. I’m mortified that despite having put several chunks of time into it, I remain at the early levels!
It’s never been this fun being mortified. I’m back to my face again. The webcam has captured me grinning in delight even as I lose the level – again.
Final thoughts
I have a gamer PC, but that does not mean I’m immune to disk management and speed. I appreciate that Barheim only takes 2GB or so of my space. It starts and plays quickly, too. Dusk Wave Arts has used the holy trinity of Unity, FMOD and Articy to build the game, and we get the benefits.
Barheim is a lot of fun, and it’s one of the most approachable Tower Defense games I’ve played. It does an excellent job of levelling up and easing you into the challenge.
Perhaps most of all, and a bit like a second beer outside the pub in a summer day, Barheim is an easy game to reach for you. You can play a little and get a complete experience in. There’s no lurking commitment to embark on a two-hour do-or-bust Vex hunting mission in deep space. You can just try to serve one more round of rowdy Vikings, get to the next little bit of annoying Queen plot and walk away.
It’s incredibly satisfying levelling the cannon at a Viking who has been impatiently thumping the bar counter and shooting them in the face with a beer.
Dusk Wave Arts expects Barheim to release on Steam after Next Fest, October 21st.
🍻 Commercial Geek Native is a paid partner during DWA’s 10th anniversary.
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