Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal

Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal brings the series back to its roots and expands on their original idea of battling an overwhelming-apocalyptic force in several clever ways. The original Creeper World was an indie favorite for the RTS community inspiring games like Grey Goo and even Stellaris. However, the change of viewpoint in its sequel had some concerned about how substantially it made the game different to play. Creeper World 3 returns the players to a top-down view of the game and also adds a lot of quirks from the sequel to refine and enliven the series.

Captain, We’re Surrounded

One of the best ways a game can expand on a gameplay mechanic is to make that decision story-driven. The original Creeper World had the players defend only one location, Odin City.

In this sequel the player is tasked with placing Command Nodes in place of the City which, in service of the story, takes the fight back to the Creeper and allows for the excitement of a battle on multiple fronts. Additionally, the objective of the game is different and allows for conclusions more than simply, ‘escape to fight another day’. Instead of escape by connecting relays, the player is tasked with destroying the actual Creeper emitters, stopping the flow of the creep—something that couldn’t be done at all in the original.

Unleash Your Arsenal

In addition to the story, this sequel offers a variety of new tools at your disposal to dispatch the enemy in interesting ways. With the inclusion of more missile variants, battleships, aircraft, terraforming of the world to change the layout, and a large bomb to detonate on the emitters—the gameplay has a whole new bag of tricks to keep it addictive and rewarding. On the other hand, to keep the fights equally engaging, the Creeper has also been given new tools at its disposal. The most notable of which are the spore launchers that send sludge over your defensive walls and have to be destroyed quickly before they spread. And they spread fast. Additionally, the speed at which the creeper emitters start to send out the purple wave of death is insane in the later levels—350 to 400 units every half a second.

Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal is exactly what you hope for in a sequel. It takes the original idea and expands on it in compelling ways. With new tools for both the player and the Creeper, this game is constantly engaging, requiring the player to think on their feet and be consequently rewarded for those decisions. Unfortunately, the gameplay design, though amazing is one of the few areas where the series has seen vast improvement. Aesthetically, Creeper World 3 is still simplistic in design and other than some more streamlined UI changes has not seen huge enhancements in that regard.

Pros

• A battle on all fronts and expanded tools to play with
• Campaign with more nuanced story
• Addictive battles and clever enemy construction
• Intense challenge and a plethora of levels

Cons

• No real graphical upgrade
• Some dated UIs
• Limited direction for systems at the beginning