Crownlings brings short, satisfying Advance Wars-style tactical battles to a medieval fantasy setting

There's always a place in my heart for straightforward yet satisfying strategy games. After all, getting a little rush from outsmarting your opponent doesn't always require layers upon layers of depth, as fans of Advance Wars will know. It seems that developer Angry Banana agrees, with their debut effort, Crownlings, scratching that specific itch quite well. 

Playing out in a turn-based fashion, the goal is easy enough to understand: take out your opponent's Commander and enjoy an amusing clip of your own performing a little victory dance. Of course, in practice, it's never that simple. Each turn, you can spend coins to summon units to fight by your side. The snag is, you won't make much money if you're not vigilantly capturing neutral buildings. 

That means rushing the opposing Commander isn't likely to work. Not unless they've also opted into an ill-advised slug fest. Instead, it's far more sensible and enjoyable to take control of the map first, holding various buildings to provide a steady income while chipping away at enemy units to prevent them from nicking anything back. That way, all the money flows in the right direction, allowing you to eventually overwhelm and brutally murder their leader. As you claim territory as your own, you feel the shift in power, and it's pretty exhilarating.

That's map control and economy management, in essence, then. None of which is new, though I'd argue that it doesn't need to be. Advance Wars-style strategy games aren't commonplace on mobile. The Battle of Polytopia shares some DNA, of course, though it leans closer to the 4X end of the spectrum than Crownlings, meaning there's absolutely room for one more. And when it's competently done like this, I can't see there being too many complaints about it being a mere clone. Even if it appears fairly uninspired on the surface. 

It's Elemental, my dear Dire Wolf

You see, the units themselves range from fairly standard swordsmen and archers to infinitely cooler things like Dire Wolves, Dragons, and Elementals. While that's all typical medieval fantasy fare, the polygonal presentation has incredibly affable vibes. In particular, the maps are incredibly cute with their little snow-capped mountain tops and not-so-imposing fortresses. Everything's just rather pleasant, to describe it in an incredibly British manner.

On the battlefield, each unit brings something different, with strengths and limitations to bear in mind. For example, elementals can glide through water without a care in the world, but they can't capture buildings. Meanwhile, soldiers can. Because they fight in melee range, they will get smacked back whenever they swing at an opponent. None of that is high-level stuff, admittedly. However, it gives you enough to think about each turn when deciding where to send your units, keeping your brain ticking over enough to make you feel like a budding tactician.

Outside of battle, you can upgrade your units by collecting cards. It's the usual “acquire duplicates, spend in-game currency” approach that's in almost everything these days. Once you have all the pieces, you then swipe to level them up before picking one of two stats to bolster. While it's a small detail, it means that even if your opponent has everything at the same level, their stats might be slightly different. 

Right now, it doesn't appear to make too much of a difference as long as you're matched up with a suitable opponent. Perhaps long-term, bigger gulfs in stats could appear, which could potentially spoil the tactical side of Crownlings, so let's hope that's not the case. Based on what I've played, though, I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone who enjoys this type of strategy experience. It has a clean, likeable look and provides enough tactical depth for your wins to feel earned.