Swords and Soldiers 2 : Shawarmageddon
Nintendo Switch

Developed By : Ronimo Games
Published By : Ronimo Games
Category : Strategy, Action, Arcade
Release Date : Mar 01, 2019

Do you like battle games? Enjoy eating Shawarma? Have you been waiting for a game that involves Vikings, Persians, and Demons? Well, my friend, kick back and look no more, because Swords and Soldiers 2 : Shawarmageddon is here to deliver on all of these fronts and more.

In the single player campaign, the story that focuses on the Vikings actually starts without the Vikings at all, but rather a band of demons and their quest for some treasure. Specifically, they have been sent into a Persian cave in hopes of snatching up a special lamp that their leader desires to have in her possession. Before the demons can reach it, the leader of the Persians sends one of his minions to yoink the lamp and hide it in a super safe place.

From here, our story shifts to the Vikings where you control Redbeard and his army amidst their battle against Blackbeard (who’s beard isn’t so black as it one was). After rescuing their family members and defeating Blackbeard, Red and his band of merry Vikings head off to celebrate at his favorite Shawarma Shack. Once they arrive, they learn that the shack’s sheep have been shtolen…um…stolen. Now, Redbeard vows to locate and retrieve these sheep, which sweeps them up in the potential plot to unleash Shawarmageddon on the world.

Swords and Soldiers 2 is broken down for you through an overworld map which is how you’ll travel to each of the game’s levels. You’ll start at the top and as you pass each level, you’ll unlock the next and any other encounters along the way. From here, you can also replay any older levels that you’ve played in an attempt to achieve the bonus objectives.

While the levels will vary in their settings, from Viking woods, to Persian deserts and demonic hells, they are still presented in roughly the same way. Things will be splayed out in a side-screen pattern stretching from left to right, with either an objective that needs to be completed somewhere in the middle, or an opponent to defeat at the opposite end.

You’ll have an arsenal of units, spells, and buildings at your disposal to help you in each level’s battle. In the earlier level of the games, the different units are pretty much just ready for you to use instantly. However, you’ll soon need to unlock these units by purchasing them in the in-level upgrade menu.

Purchasing units is done by spending gold which can be collected in one of two ways within the levels. One way is by mining it from the gold mine, which there is one of these on each side of the level (the enemies must respect the same rules that you have to). The other way is by picking up and returning any of the treasure that you can find on the level itself. With this gold, you can utilize the upgrade menu to unlock units to put forth into battle, spells to cast either on your enemies or yourself, and towers for either defense or helping produce mana which is needed to cast your spells.

The types of units that will be at your disposal will depend on which army you control. If you’re playing the main campaign, you’ll utilize the Viking army, but outside of the campaign you’ll have access to both the Persian and Demon armies. You’ll be able to use a number of minion types that can be ushered out in numbers, leader types that have much more health and higher attacks, but can also potentially buff you minion types. There’s also spells which allow you to directly attack enemies, and buildings which help you in any number of ways. Just remember, each one of these units costs money so if you don’t have the funds, you won’t stand a chance. There is a great deal of strategy that goes into how and when to spend your gold on active units, or choosing to upgrade and get yourself access to more things to use.

Swords and Soldiers 2‘s main campaign is scoured with levels that each have three different objectives. One of these is always to just obtain a victory in the battle. Of the remaining two, one is usually a “speedrun” to complete the level under a certain time. The last objective can usually be the toughest, since it will generally put you on your toes. For this objective you’ll need to not lose any of a specific unit, or to not use any spells, something that will restrict an area of potential playstyle and make you work for it.

Outside of the campaign, there are local and online multiplayer modes, as well as the ability to make a custom game, or face off against some challenges. Unfortunately, I was unable to get into an online quick match, but I was able to do some custom ones against the AI. These are a lot of fun since you can use either of the three armies, or play mix-and-match combining any sort of units and spells that you enjoy using.

Challenges are pretty fun as well. There are two of them. One involves you controlling a Viking that is auto-running through a level, and you needing to tap the screen or press a button to make him punch. Your goal is to continuously punch other Vikings up into the air and deposit them in a pen at the end of the level, and if they touch the ground beforehand you lose them. The other challenge involves you defending a sheep from being attacked by a constant flow of enemies.

I haven’t always been a fan of the side-scrolling strategy games, but Swords and Soldiers 2 really sticks out for me. Where other games felt just like a boring, repetitive system of spamming out as many units as possible to complete the objective, this title actually felt like they focused on putting some strategy into the game. The levels are a lot of fun, using units from any of the three factions is such a blast, and if you follow along with all the flavor text that comes along with the story you’ll be laughing non-stop. Join the search party in rescuing the lost sheep, and save the world from Shawarmageddon by picking up your copy of this great game today!