Let’s just say it: Border Pioneer is an absolute joy to play. It’s a town-building strategy game with a dash of deckbuilding, but not in a hardcore way, just enough to keep things interesting. Everything is wrapped in a wonderfully chill art style, and while it includes some real-time strategy elements, it’s not a fast-paced, reactive game most of the time.
Instead, you’ll be dealt cards that represent buildings like farms, logging camps, and other structures to help you gather resources. You’ll need to manage those resources wisely as you grow and evolve your settlement, keeping a close eye on how everything fits together. That alone would be fun, but there’s a twist: random portals can open at any time, unleashing waves of enemies eager to tear your village apart. Luckily, you’ve also got cards for defences such as towers, magical cannons, and even troops.
The trick is in how you lay things out. You’ll want to create open paths for enemies to follow, then carefully place your defences and maybe even throw in some flashy spells to keep them at bay. After each battle, you can choose upgrades to improve your build, and the game keeps rolling. You’ll also face random events that offer choices and shake up your strategy.
It all adds up to a game that’s easy to drop into for five minutes (or five hours) as you try to push just a little farther than your last run. There are multiple characters to unlock, and the gameplay is just plain fun. If you love strategy games but want something more approachable that throws you straight into the action, Border Pioneer is a brilliant pick. It eases you in, then lets the depth grow naturally as you place buildings and units. Don’t sleep on this little gem.
