Against The Storm: Every Species, Ranked

Every species in Against the Storm has its strengths and will be useful depending on the modifiers of a given map. Most of the veterans can take any of the three species and get to a respectable prestige level. Even so, the experts certainly have their favorite species when given the choice in their loadout.

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Player preference, as with many games, plays a role when choosing favorites. Victories through high resolve bonuses must be balanced with fuel and food needs. Gamers have different priorities on how all this balances out. Still, the Against the Storm community win rates are simply higher with some species and lower with others for a reason.

Keywords

There are a few words to understand that will be important to figure out what makes each species special.

• Base Resolve: The baseline Resolve a species has without any needs fulfilled or effects applied. The higher this number is, the more negative buffs the species can endure before leaving.
• Break Interval: The amount of time between breaks. The higher this number is, the more work will be done with fewer breaks.
• Resilient: How fast Resolve reacts to changes. A high resilience means the species will have its Resolve fall and rise more slowly.
• Demanding: How much Resolve is required to gain Reputation. A high demand means the species will need more of its need met before yielding Reputation points.
• Decadent: How far the Reputation bar moves after gaining a Reputation point. Highly decadent species need more Resolve to generate subsequent Reputation points.
• Hunger Tolerance: The maximum amount of hunger stacks a species can withstand. Every time a species takes a break and has no food, they accumulate a hunger stack. The higher the hunger tolerance, the more stacks of hunger the species can acquire before dying.

5 Foxes

The fox does have a few important perks. Lowering hostility for opened glades becomes important after opening more than a few, so it's wise to switch to a fox firekeeper toward the end of the game. The low demand also makes this an easy species to gain Reputation through Resolve. High prestige games make earning these kinds of Reputation points mandatory.

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Unfortunately, the fox just doesn't bring enough to the table. Rainwater is already easy to gather and cutting down on scout time is mostly irrelevant so long as players wait to open glades and start events immediately following a storm. They're also quick to die of hunger and have particular dietary and service needs. Anything less than an ideal start for the fox species means this game will start to feel like one of the longer roguelike games out there.

4 Humans

By virtue of being powerful farmers, maps with fertile soil and humans can make it so food is never in short supply, a key factor toward winning games. They also have a great base resolve so they're very likely to survive punishing weather and other negatives.

Their demand is so high that they're the hardest species to get Reputation points from even when their needs are met, which is a pretty decent drawback. Use them to cover food needs but don't expect many contributions anywhere else. Beginners to this game will find humans are a very safe choice, especially on lower difficulties.

3 Harpies

The harpies start off with some tough drawbacks. They've got a low base resolve and their boosts to alchemy and clothing jobs are fairly niche. Gaining 50 coats helps with early clothing needs but these kinds of benefits usually only matter later on.

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What makes the harpy incredible is that it is the best species in the game at giving Reputation points with low Decadent and Demand needs. On higher prestiges, players need a few Reputation points gained through Resolve and the harpy is the best at filling that need. Players that can meet the harpies' needs will rack up wins and find out why this roguelike game deserves more attention.

2 Lizards

The Lizard is the ultimate support species and that starts by having one as a firekeeper to get an extra resolve point for all species. Ten tools would ordinarily cost a ton of amber and Lizards start off with them. Their ability to cook meats makes them capable of feeding themselves and others.

They won't be contributing points with Resolve toward Reputation but they won't be losing them either as the high Resilient score stop their Resolve from going negative most of the time. Finally, Lizards can go a long time without food, allowing players to focus on other aspects of victory in one of the best strategy games available.

1 Beavers

Gamers that climb up above twenty prestige levels are well aware that fuel is the biggest issue. Beavers are the greatest antidote to that issue with their perks toward bringing in more wood to convert into fuel. In a tight spot, having a Beaver as a firekeeper also helps fuel burn longer. Newcomers to the RTS genre will love how Beaver lumberjacks simplify the game.

They don't need breaks and only eat two items. They have easy needs to meet and a high base resolve so they won't be leaving anytime soon. Granted they aren't the easiest species to get Reputation points through Resolve from, but they enable the other species they are with to live long enough to knock this goal out.

Against the Storm is available in Early Access for PC.

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