It’s been less than a decade since the armistice was signed and the great conflict that tore
Europa apart finally came to an end.
Peace may reign across the continent, but even now, the great powers are preparing for
the next war, one that will unleash strange new technologies and terrifying weapons.
This is the world of Iron Harvest.
And it’s also a world I’d like to talk about.
Iron Harvest, for those of you unaware is an upcoming real time strategy game by King
Art games based on the 1920+ universe dreamed up by Polish artist Jakub Różalski.
And while the game itself looks incredible, a modern take on classics like Company of
Heroes, Command and Conquer and Starcraft, I’d instead like to focus on the worldbuilding
of Iron Harvest, its themes and influences and then do a quick breakdown of the major
factions, what I like and what I think could be improved.
Now it's important to note before we get started that Iron Harvest isn’t the first game to
be based on the 1920+ universe, but as far as I can tell it exists within its own continuity.
There’s also precious little information regarding the history and state of the world
so I’ll be making a lot of assumptions.
One thing we don’t need to assume is when Iron Harvest takes place.
As the name of the universe suggests, it is an alternate version of the 1920s in which
huge walking tanks and flying battleships have through, some unknown means, entered
mass production and now form the core of modern armies.
Whether this is a separate alternate universe or our own world after some point of divergence
remains unknown, although the names of certain factions seem to indicate that if there was
a split between our timeline and Iron Harvest, it happened hundreds, possibly thousands of
years ago.
Much of the story seems to be based in Eastern Europe, or at least the 1920+ version of it.
Now while the science fiction elements of Iron Harvest are awesome, I think the historical
influences are just as interesting.
There’s a common perception that between the two World Wars nothing really happened.
But it was an era rife with political upheaval and intrigue.
In just a few short years you had the complete collapse of the Russian Empire, secret plans
for German rearmament and the Polish-Soviet War.
It also saw the rise of a great ideological struggle between democratic capitalism, fascism
and communism.
What I think is most interesting about the 1920s though and something that Iron Harvest
represents incredibly well, is how at the time, the entire world had to contend with
the collapse or transformation of social, economic and political structures that had
existed almost unchanged for centuries.
It was perhaps the greatest and most obvious example of tradition clashing with progress.
At the beginning of the First World War, French and German armies looked remarkably similar
to those fighting in Napoleon’s time but within just a few short years, they’re starting
to resemble in both their equipment and tactics, the forces of World War Two.
The pace by which technology moved forward was astonishing.
So while it might seem kinda ridiculous to have giant mechanical walkers marching past
a quaint little farm or village that might have been from the feudal era, it's a scene
that played out countless times in our own world only with panzers and jet aircraft.
Now another thing I think Jakub Różalski has captured in his artwork and something
I’m happy to see that Iron Harvest hasn’t tried to ignore or water down, is the somber
depiction of war and its aftermath.
While most rts games are promoted with a bunch of imagery of giant battles and people shooting
each other, Iron Harvest has done the exact opposite.
It’s gritty and realistic, where people are struggling to live their lives in a world
that's becoming increasingly unrecognizable as technology and industry moves forward.
Depictions of soldiers just enjoying a moment of peace and quiet, peasants working to bring
in the harvest, or a family mourning the loss of a loved one makes the world feel like an
actual place with real people and not just bunch of units mowing each other down.
Hearing “unit lost” in Command and Conquer never made me feel that bad, but the
same might not be true for Iron Harvest.
It is still an RTS game though, which means a few, in this case three factions are going
to be fighting each other.
Given that investigating the nations, organizations and factions of alternate worlds is what the
Templin Institute is built on, let's move onto a brief rundown of my thoughts on the
factions of Iron Harvest.
The Polania Republic, Saxony Empire and the Rusviet Union.
Polania is clearly the underdog of Iron Harvest and the faction most resembling its counterpart
from our world.
It is a country situated between two powerful neighbors and struggling to maintain its status
and territory against foreign aggression.
If we assume that Polania shares a similar history to Poland, then it is most likely
a parliamentary republic that maybe hasn’t existed for too long at this point, having
declared independence from Saxony and the Rusviet just a decade earlier and there’s
been a few hints it might have been occupied or invaded once again.
The emblem of the Polania Republic is almost identical to that of Poland, which is good
because it’s a great emblem.
I also really like the name, close enough to Poland while remaining distinct, if it turns out
it's a monarchy though, I’ll have a problem with it being called a Republic.
The Saxony Empire is the Iron Harvest equivalent of Germany and is described as being bitter
in defeat following the Great War.
They boast a powerful industry and economy with a strong military tradition.
My guess would be that in this version of the country, Saxony rather than Prussia emerged
as the dominant state during German reunification and for whatever reason they decided to keep the name.
Which leads me to the one major complaint I have about this game.
The name is wrong, and not like “in my opinion it's wrong” but grammatically it's wrong.
Now I’m not an english teacher but I am 99% sure that a Saxony Empire is an Empire of
Saxonys not of Saxons.
The nation should be called the Empire of Saxony or better yet the Saxon Empire.
You wouldn’t say Germany Empire or Egypt Empire.
I'm pretty sure this is just a small translation mistake, rather than a critical part of the story,
so hopefully it gets fixed before release.
Apart from that, I really like Saxony, the golden wolf on a black field is a great emblem, distinct
from the traditional imperial eagle while remaining evocatively German.
So that leaves us with the Rusviet Union, a huge powerful country with an enormous industry
and population.
The main distinction between the Rusviets and the Soviets seems to be that in Iron Harvest,
the country is still ruled by the Tsar, although his popularity is weakening and revolution
is in the air.
Now, I have a few problems here.
Starting with the name, I’m not 100% sold.
Combining two different words, in this case Russia and Soviet, to make a new name can
come across as a little goofy, in this case I don’t think it’s terrible, but it’s
still just a little weird.
My real issue is with the emblem.
The Red Star and hammers is certainly evocative of communism although if the Tsar is in charge
and the revolution hasn’t happened yet, I’m not sure what it’s doing there.
Red has always been a prominent color in Russian history, Red Square afterall pre-dates the
USSR, but the 5 pointed red star is so clearly based on Soviet iconography it seems a mistake
to include it if the government is unrelated.
I don’t think the hammers really add anything to it either, as by losing the sickle, you lack any
sort of representation for the peasants, which at this time would remain a key part of Rusviet society.
Either drop the hammers altogether or replace one of them with some sort of farming tool.
One way I guess you could explain all this is if the Tsar relinquished much of his power
to the legislative assembly, the Russian Duma,
and a coalition of Social revolutionaries and liberals and maybe
some remaining royalists assumed control over the country and adopted some provisional iconography
in place of the standard Imperial Russian eagle.
So I’ll bring this video to a close by addressing perhaps the natural question you might have
after watching this video.
Why does any of this matter, who cares if the Rusviet Union is an absolute monarchy,
provisional government or socialist republic.
What does it matter what Saxony is called.
Iron Harvest is first and foremost an RTS game and none of these details will affect
gameplay in the slightest.
And I think the answer is that, especially in RTS games, factions and nations are often
just as important as characters and story when it comes to making an interesting and
memorable world.
A well thought out faction with great iconography and a compelling backstory can add so much
to an RTS experience.
I think there’s a reason that the people still shout out “Peace Through Power”
whenever we mention the Brotherhood of Nod.
My favorite strategy games are the ones where I’m not just sending masses of units to
their death, but fighting for the glory of Kane, or to expand the Horde or protect the
Higarrian Empire.
Iron Harvest is a game with an amazing amount of potential and I’d like to see it succeed
as much in worldbuilding and story as in gameplay and design.
Thankfully, apart from those few mirnor qualms I have,
it seems to be well on its way to achieving exactly that.
But to succeed, the game needs to come out first, and you can help make that happen.
Right now Iron Harvest is live on Kickstarter and well on it’s way to reaching all its
goals before the campaign ends on April 14th.
You can find a link below in the video description.
Now full disclosure, The Templin Institute has pledged to the Iron Harvest Kickstarter
and King Art Games did provide us with an early copy of the Alpha.
So if you think that this might constitute some sort of conflict of interest, feel free
to take all our words with a grain of salt.
And speaking of that alpha, if you’re watching this video within a few hours of it going
live, the Templin Institute will be streaming a segment of the game over on our Twitch page.
I’d encourage everyone to check us out there if they haven’t already.
If you miss the stream, not to worry, it will be stored within the Templin Institute Archives,
you’ll find a link to that as well in the description.
So that about does it.
What do you think of Iron Harvest?
Are my complaints valid?
Do you not care at all as long as the gameplay is good?
Let us know!
And if you liked this style of video and would like us to talk about the worldbuilding of
other games and series, let us know that too.
So until next time, thanks for watching.
The Templin Institute investigates alternate worlds and realities.
If you've enjoyed this video and would like to directly support us,
vote in polls to determine future topics, and receive some cool rewards,
please consider pledging to our Patreon page.