Besiege has been released on consoles. While it has been available on Steam for several years, console players can finally try this relatively obscure indie title.
But should you? That is the question that we seek to answer. We’ll examine the game’s strengths and weaknesses and determine whether it is worth picking up, or if you should stay far away.
The Good
First, we’ll talk about what Besiege does well. The building in Besiege is quite fun. There are numerous parts that players can build with, ranging from wheels to drills to balloons. This gives a lot of choices in what they can build with the variety of parts at their disposal. This is the game’s greatest aspect as it gives players the freedom to create what they want and play the game in whatever way they want to.
The in-game workshop is also a great addition. This lets players upload their creations and download other players’ vehicles. I do wish there were more vehicles to download from the workshop, but for what’s there, it’s a great feature. There are so many unique machines for players to try out. From planes to trains to tanks, there are plenty of machines for players to discover.
The single-player campaign itself is also pretty decent. It’s quite simple — you go from stage to stage and use your machine to clear the designated task. Those tasks range from destroying structures, killing knights, and even flying towards checkpoints. There’s a wide variety of tasks that test the player’s skills. This is a great way to browse parts for your machine and find creative ways to complete a level. There are also a lot of stages for players to complete, giving them a significant amount of content to work through.
The Bad
Now, let’s talk about the bad. Firstly, the controls aren’t great. Trying to move the camera is quite a pain. You can’t freely move the camera and zoom in at the same time; you have to press down on the stick to change the camera mode. This can make it frustrating to see at times and makes building more tedious. I also don’t like the controls while controlling your vehicle. The terrain and physics make the vehicle hard to control, which can sometimes be frustrating but not too bad. I do like how you can customize what each button does on different components, but it can be hard to remember what each button does from machine to machine.
I’m not a big fan of the price either. The game is $20, which isn’t too bad for the content, but I think it’s still too overpriced. $15 would be a more appropriate price, though even then, other games cost a similar price that players can get way more mileage out of. I think that $10 would be a much more reasonable price for the game.
The menus also aren’t great. Most of the menus are fine and standard, but the main menu is awkward to navigate. You have to use the left stick to move the cursor and the right stick to move the globe. It can be a little annoying to locate the areas in single-player due to the clunkiness of the menus. It’s obvious that they were originally designed with a mouse in mind. They’re passable, but I wish they would have reworked them for easier use on consoles.
Another problem I had was with the game’s performance. Now, this wasn’t too big of an issue, but certain machines from the workshop caused my game to slow down considerably. It got to the point where I thought my game would crash. Thankfully, this issue isn’t too common, but be careful what you load from the workshop. It can slow down your game considerably.
While I like the single-player, the game is lacking in content overall. The only two modes in the game are the single-player and the sandbox. The single-player is quite substantial, but the levels can get repetitive at times. The sandbox only has three worlds — the Barren Expanse, the Misty Moutain, and the Ancient Grounds. None of these modes offer much substance, just little worlds that exist to test machines. Each world lets you test machines in different ways, which is nice, but besides this and the single-player, the game has nothing else. That is ultimately my big issue with the game, as once players have gotten through all the content, there’s not much left for them to do. And when there wasn’t much content present in the first place, it left me wishing for more.
Final Thoughts
While Besiege has its charm, it’s a tough recommendation for most players. I think the building is cool, the single-player can be fun, and the workshop is a great addition. That said, the game is hindered by its controls, lack of content, and price. This is definitely a niche title that I’m sure several players could pour dozens of hours into. So, if the game looks interesting, it might be worth a try, especially if it goes on sale. Otherwise, I can’t recommend the game. It’s an easy pass.
Besiege is available now on Nintendo Switch, Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.
The Review
Besiege
Good
