Diplomacy is Not an Option Review

I’m not usually the type to play RTS games. When it comes to real-time strategy, I’m honestly not so good at them. But, Diplomacy is Not an Option promised a pretty funny twist on it, leaning more into a comedic element than anything else. So, I thought I’d give it a go.

In Diplomacy is Not an Option, you play as a Lord who has spent all his money on appeasing his family, and because of that, the peasants are revolting. The family of Von Bexington is in danger, so I must ensure that my castle remains strong.

Spoiler alert: my castle did not remain strong. In fact, it was very much destroyed by the peasants. But, I’ll class that as a learning experience. When it comes to Diplomacy is Not an Option, the controls are as you expect: Point-and-click, use your keyboard to move, and have handy shortcuts. They’re good to have. I ended up focusing too much on my walls when really, I should have spent more time building my troops and ensuring they didn’t starve.

The funny thing is, the developers warned me about this in their review guide, but like a fool, I neglected them. So, after spending more time building houses and building up my army, it was time to focus on getting rid of the peasants. There are base camps that the peasants are living in on the map, and it’s a good shout to get rid of them before the fourth and final wave of enemies comes at you. Otherwise, you’ll be overwhelmed, much like the house of Von Bexington.

By all accounts, it’s offered a fun challenge for me. Usually, I’m pretty abysmal at these types of games, and the good news is that there’s also a handy-dandy tutorial with 22 steps to familiarise yourself with the controls. So, that was handy to start off with. While there are hints, it can get challenging, and overall, the campaign consists of 31 missions for you to complete.

All you need to do in the campaign is survive and ensure you complete all of the tasks assigned to you. It’s not too difficult, so long as you strategise correctly, as I eventually learned to do. But of course, there are also other modes.

In Sandbox mode, you could create a specialised challenge for yourself. This would include the difficulty, of deciding on the number of starting resources, troops, and the availability of resources for your villagers to find. You can also enable or disable cheats, decide what tiers of research you want to be completed at the start, and if you want buildings for free. Essentially, it allows you to decide what type of game you want. So you could have it as chilled out as you want, or as difficult as you want.

There’s also a Challenge mode, where you can decide on what type of mission you want. These will all vary in difficulty, and you can decide the type of challenge you want to complete. So, whether you want a relaxing one to get used to the gameplay or otherwise, it’s a good place to start if you’re still uncertain of where you stand in your campaign mode. Challenge mode is a great way to gain more experience with RTS, as each challenge is in a different category based on difficulty. Of course, you can also adjust the difficulty settings, so you can even make the Piece of Cake ones more of an issue for you.

Of course, we also can’t forget Endless mode. Now, Endless mode will either allow you to focus on your city-building, or it will measure how well you’re doing by the number of days you’ve survived. You can use this mode to break your own record, or just sit back, relax, and focus on building. So, it depends on what type of gameplay you prefer. Personally, I would say Endless mode is perfect for anyone who wants to upgrade their Research. I

Naturally, a single campaign does take time to complete. When playing any session, you can’t expect it to be a quick match and you’re out. But with all the different versions to play, you can decide on which one you prefer. So, it offers a good amount of customisation for all players, regardless of experience. This was great for me, as I haven’t really played an RTS in a good while, so it was a great way to jump back in.

In terms of combat, it’s pretty intuitive. You can’t really just focus on simply building your settlement, as there’s a fog of war on the map. Due to that, there are a number of enemy settlements hidden, waiting to strike, so it’s essential to keep your troops built up. It’s why building houses, fishing settlements, and storage is so important. The last thing you want is a famine to build up (see my earlier point as I caused all of my peasants to just casually starve to death). The fact that you can look for enemies, hunt them down, and kill them before they kill you is always pleasant, and honestly? If you don’t want more troops attacking you in a final wave, it’s the best way to go.

That, and if you’re struggling to deal with enemies, if you reserve some magic crystals, you can summon more allies to help you battle. They’ll only be there temporarily, but you can get more of these crystals by destroying the enemy encampments around your territory. So, that simply offers more incentive to take down the enemies lurking about and prepares you for the waves coming in your direction.

I would say that the only issue I had came from the occasional shutdown of the game when I’d load it. Admittedly, this might be more of a personal laptop issue, but considering I could play the game, would suggest that there’s a bit of an issue there. While I could go an entire playthrough of a round without any issues, there were moments when it would struggle to start, and it meant that I would have to restart my laptop to load it. But again, this may be something some players may want to be aware of.

On another note, I do wish there was a multiplayer option, but then again, I do get that it wouldn’t be the easiest to implement as your main enemies are the peasants. Oh, the struggle of being a lord. But again, it would be a feature that could be fun in the future, especially as I know that Diplomacy Is Not An Option has had a huge player base since Early Access.

Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed Diplomacy Is Not An Option. It reminded me of what I enjoyed about RTS games that I genuinely forgot I had. So, if you’re looking for a place to start, why not here? And, if you’re a fan of fantasy settings and RTS, then feel free to have a go too. It offers the kind of fantasy setting I always appreciate, and there’s a tongue-in-cheek humour that I appreciate. (Having the soldiers say, “All right then,” and “You’re the lord” is just appreciated throughout). I’m sure that I’ll go back to this again, especially if I have a few hours to spare — or if I just want to mess around on Endless mode. Plus, I’m here for the steady decline of Lord Von Bexington with each cutscene through the Campaign, which really sets the tone for how unserious this game is.