I said I abandoned this game, but I ended up retrying and after several attempts I was able to complete the main campaign. It was very interesting as much on the writing plan, the story follows three splinter factions, and successive missions put the player in charge of different faction, than on the gameplay plan.

Missions aren't repetitive, objectives are varied and rarely involve razing the opponent base which I appreciate. For each mission the AI is given constraints on how to engage the player and it becomes macro-puzzles to figure out how to thwart the aggression and overturn the tide of the battle often initially unfair to the player.

The graphics are very bleh, it's a lot of green-ish, but special effects are discrete and leave a clear battlefield. The terrain deformation feature is very enjoyable, sieging a base often leaves visible scars on the ground which prevents claiming valuable flat lands immediately after wiping an outpost.

The in-game help is precious but limited, each unit is ultra-specialized and their exact mode of attack is unclear until used for the first time, and the Steam-provided manual will be of little help for anyone not reading Russian.

Overall an excellent #videogames experience spread over 60 hours of playtime, even 17 years later.

Many thanks to Sleepyjoe2 on YouTube, whose long Perimeter play gave me hint to progress in the campaign and whose soothing voice eased the frustration after the umpty-umpth defeat.

Hypolite Petovan

2021-07-13 15:28:09

Hidden video game gem: Perimeter (2004)

When dematerialized #videogames became a thing thanks to Valve's Steam platform around 2010, I started wondering whether I missed on earlier games because I simply didn't know they existed.

The answer was mostly "no", but every now and them I rediscover a forgotten gem like Perimeter (2004) by K-D Lab. Featuring innovative features like deformable terrain and flexible squad, this real-time strategy game is unlike most games I've ever played, and the single player campaign kept me interested until it became a little bit too tedious as all RTS tend to end up for me.

However, at a modest US$3.99 on Steam, there are way worse ways to spend one's time and money.

perimeter on steam

Perimeter on Steam

Perimeter is an innovative Real-Time-Strategy game that pits players against each other or AI opponents in a life and death struggle to seize territory and establish crucial protective “perimeters.

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