BANNERMEN

BANNERMEN is a classical real-time strategy (RTS) game that evokes nostalgia for fans of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Age of Empires. Players appreciate its solid core mechanics, responsive controls, and a decent single-player campaign with a medieval semi-fantasy setting. The game features hero units, leveling mechanics, and customizable hotkeys, with active developer support and community engagement.

However, the game suffers from a lack of content diversity, offering only one faction and limited unit/building variety, which impacts strategic depth and replayability. Numerous bugs, crashes, and optimization issues—especially on certain maps—have been reported. Key RTS features like building rotation, wall construction, post-game stats, replays, and multiplayer matchmaking are missing or underdeveloped. The AI is considered simplistic, and gameplay is often described as shallow or repetitive. Many players feel the game was released prematurely and would benefit from further polish and additional content to realize its potential.

Highlights

Players praise BANNERMEN's classic RTS formula, smooth and responsive controls, and well-implemented hero mechanics. The game’s art style and unit designs effectively capture a medieval fantasy atmosphere, complemented by good music and sound effects. The campaign offers varied missions with an engaging story, and the developers are commended for their active communication and frequent patches. Fans of traditional RTS games find it enjoyable, especially when purchased at a discount, appreciating its modern quality-of-life features like customizable hotkeys and spectator mode.

Criticisms

Common criticisms include only one playable faction, which severely limits strategic options and longevity. The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches, such as crashes, broken missions, poor AI behavior, and problematic building placement. Performance issues cause low FPS even on capable hardware. Essential RTS features like building and camera rotation, wall construction, unit formations, and post-game statistics are missing. Multiplayer suffers from long queue times, lack of chat, and inactive player base. The gameplay is often described as shallow, repetitive, and lacking depth, with slow training queues and unremarkable combat mechanics. Many feel the game was released too early and is overpriced for its current state.