Vestiges: Fallen Tribes Review - A Unique Strategic Board Game

First available on Steam Early Access, Vestiges: Fallen Tribes enters full release this week on PC VR and Quest with plenty of strategic board game action. Read on for our ongoing thoughts.

Greeted by an eye-catching CGI cutscene, Vestiges: Fallen Tribes explains how the world arrived at its current fragile state. With a brief overview of water becoming scarce due to a severe drought, it's now become exclusively obtainable through a life-or-death board game called Vestiges. This brief premise allows for the game's real bread and butter to flourish: its increasingly complex board game mechanics.

Each turn consists of two phases: positioning your cards in the desert landscape and throwing a die to signal the game, so the battle can continue. Putting each battalion on the field costs a determined amount of energy that is given on each turn. It's a moderate amount that does not allow for much use, so it's important to carefully choose which card to apply. Forming a strategy with three well-placed troops rather than one godlike entity that could be easily overrun by the enemy can be better.

Vestiges: Fallen Tribes is an Autobattler where your main focus is on your card's abilities and the foes you will be facing in combat. Accessing your cards, dice and seeing the number of phases on each mission is implemented intuitively by looking at your left wrist. A welcome detail is how the cards all have a three-dimensional look to them, resembling a holographic foil akin to rare trading cards in games of that ilk.

After strategically placing each of your armies on the diorama, vertically or horizontally, throwing the dice sets the autobattling in motion. It's entertaining to see how your troops behave, as it feels like there is an element of chance at play. At times, winning a battle by the skin of your teeth with one soldier standing, or at others by obliterating the competition thanks to a well-placed ballista, the open-ended combat engagement allows for different playstyles to thrive.

Starting with a set amount of enemy units in the first phase and progressively adding more as your campaign succeeds in each battle, your set units will respawn after each turn. Cards like Tactical Retreat let you remove soldiers that may not be as effective against different types of enemies during a new round. Considering each mission has a distinctive map layout, knowing how to use it to your advantage can tip the scales of battle.

Dropping the dice in one of the latter turns with your army, now in the dozens, is undeniably enjoyable as you clash with the enemy, applying new tactics and earning a victory after failing to obtain it. On a much smaller scale, fans of RTS games like Starcraft or Age of Mythology will feel right at home with the mechanics in Vestiges: Fallen Tribes. Knowing which battalion to deploy is half the battle usually, especially so in the latter part of the game. Some missions require careful strategizing, and considering there are no difficulty options, paying attention to every variable pays off in the long term.

From basic infantry like gladiators who rush foes to protectors that defend from snipers at the map's edge, there is a rich amount of options to engage with across each fight. Heavy artillery with slow movement, but more damage is unlocked later on. Buildings that spawn new troops so you do not run out of soldiers in an encounter cost more energy, but open up new possibilities with a well-placed healer. Finally, each tribe has a godlike beast that can be summoned at the end of certain battles, which can turn proceedings in your favor.

Story Mode naturally expands the initial cutscene shown, with much more in-depth tales of how the three tribes in this unforgiving world arrived at this conflict. Throughout 21 story missions, the world of Vestiges: Fallen Tribes takes shape via brief snippets before each mission. Every couple of quests delivers more narrated cutscenes, while each tribe - known as the Adrariis, Illustran, and Amonset - is characterized by its god, one more cutthroat than the other. With only one room to play in, though, the lack of environment variety means the game’s depth relies solely on its strategic gameplay mechanics, making it a missed opportunity for increased worldbuilding and lore.

The extensive main missions and mixing and matching of custom decks and cards are strong out of the gate, but clever implementation of its unique mechanics has only room to grow. There also appears to be an emphasis on the matchmaking mode that Vestiges: Fallen Tribes offers. Leaderboards, stats of your wins and encounters, and personalizing your online profile are on full display.

Online multiplayer combat is a beast of its own. The match started within 30 seconds once I tried joining a matchmaking session, so for a Saturday afternoon of the game's week release, that's an encouraging sign. You have a set amount of time to confirm the random cards you are given from your starter or custom deck, or be shuffled a new hand. With both players having 100HP that will be slowly chipped away, determined by how many soldiers are standing once the dust has settled on every turn's clash, the stage is set for an intriguing combat loop.

Positioning your armies works just like the main game, with a small caveat that basically changes the rules of engagement. Unlike the story missions, where you can see what your armies will be facing beforehand, the enemy troops in PvP spawn at the same time as the turn starts. This forgoes any sort of tactical preparation that you may have planned in advance.

At the end of each fight, you're rewarded with less or more experience based on who won, and the option to rematch your opponent or go back to the main menu is offered. After being notified that my opponent wanted a rematch, I found myself going back for three more skirmishes with a different outcome each time we sparred. With these variables set in place, there seems to be no shortage of quick 5-minute matches for you to prove your mettle against the world.

A new element at play is the clever use of the game's mechanics with real players that is not present in the solo experience. The true final bosses are certainly the best rankings on the leaderboard. What could seem like a certified win could easily be changed by a late-game lucky hand of well-placed snipers. There are nearly endless strategy combinations that you or your opponents will find for themselves to become the best at Vestiges.

Vestiges: Fallen Tribes Review-In-Progress - Final Verdict

To deliver a consistently engaging tabletop game with intuitive pick up and play mechanics that only get deeper as you progress is no easy feat. Vestiges: Fallen Tribes is a VR experience that will satisfy those craving a strategy-laden campaign without the need to sink hundreds of hours into it. And that alone might be appealing enough for some with not much spare time on their hands.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.