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Expeditions: Rome
Game
Game2020
Iron Harvest
Developer KING Art
Iron Harvest is a real-time strategy video game developed by King Art Games and published by Deep Silver. Players control mecha and infantry in a dieselpunk setting. The game was released for Windows on September 1, 2020; and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 26, 2021. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
292 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Nov 3, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
68
Fresh
157 positive · 75 negative
95% range 61–73%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 157 | 75 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 15 | 2 | 33 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 2 | 7 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
5,958 of 8,228 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
67% recommend · 151 yes, 76 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 227 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (11,631 of 16,023 positive).
Many players praise the game's dieselpunk setting and art direction. [1][2][3] Some reviewers report game-breaking bugs that prevent campaign completion. [4][5][6] Several players compare it favorably to Company of Heroes but note flaws. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
Iron Harvest has a completely broken campaign. You cannot finish it. At a certain point in the mission, when the game tries to trigger a cutscene, it crashes. This happens consistently and makes progression impossible. I replayed the mission multiple times and it always crashes at the same moment. This is not an isolated issue. There are multiple reports from other players across forums and the official Discord …
- [9]
Avoid. Its not fun at all. Actually its UNFUN and just straight up frustrating. Its basically TEMU version of Company of Heroes but without anything that made the classic so good. There is so much wrong with it I could be here all day. So for brevity sake i will just try to keep it simple and point the biggest offenders: Game has very high lethality, zero balance and atrocious pathfinding. Mind you, when I say …
- [1]
Super cool setting and enjoy gameplay and actually has a good story with interesting ideas. Seen alot of people complaining about the 1st mission it takes like 10mins to finish and its a tutorial mission it really isnt that bad. If you dont even finish the first mission and slap a negative review on the game, you're just being a whiny child. the game has 3 campaigns (without dlc) all of them have highs and lows.
- [8]
I like this game even for it's problems. The art direction is fantastic, the gameplay's core is solid. The story and characters are pretty basic, they are a little hard to get attached to, but they serve the story which is fine at best. It scratches the itch of Relic-style RTS's like Company of Heroes and Dawn of War 2, along with some good old fashion dieselmechs. Now for the problems because they are very present. …
- [2]
Well Fun, really tickles the ww1 steampunk world in my brain. If you had HOI4 logistics/resources Mixed with Total War style of battles, then Dumbed all that down simplifying it, you would get the game play of Iron Harvest. 100% worth especially on sales
Summarised from 34 of the 287 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
67% of the 227 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Iron Harvest. The complaint that keeps coming up: game-breaking bugs in campaign. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Reviewing the March 2020 beta version, Colin Campbell of Polygon praised the game for "mak[ing] smart use of units, cover and terrain", positively comparing the game to the Company of Heroes franchise. Likewise, in the same month, Seth Macy of IGN called the game "awesome", praising in particular "detail given to the mechanics of the brick building's collapse". In another early review for PCGamesN, Ian Boudreau commended the game for "staying close to its game design roots", also highlighting visuals, this time the realistic destruction of the wooden buildings. Following the game release, Toby Arguello in a review for Screen Rant said that "Iron Harvest doesn't revolutionize the RTS genre,…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 292 · most liked firstgoodmorning🌥️ another busy night, thank goodness its Friday! planning on completing Resident Evil 2 this cold weekend🥶 seeing as I cannot play C&C: Red Alert 3 on anything I own, giving Iron Harvest a try. Whats your favorite Real Time Strategy game? Any recommendations? Keep on keeping on👍🩵
neutral · AI labelView post →Iron Harvest was one of the best modern RTS games, set in the same universe as the Scythe boardgame, and handing these devs the Dawn of War IP? That's like when they gave Desperados to Mimimi, a perfect fit. Colour me very, very intrigued. store.steampowered.com/app/826630/I...
neutral · AI labelView post →Iron Harvest has a completely broken campaign. You cannot finish it. At a certain point in the mission, when the game tries to trigger a cutscene, it crashes. This happens consistently and makes progression impossible. I replayed the mission multiple times and it always crashes at the same moment. This is not an isolated issue. There are multiple reports from other players across forums and the official Discord saying the exact same thing, sometimes even in different missions. There is no…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As someone who plays RTS games primarily for the single-player campaign, I can't recommend this. The WW1 + dieselpunk premise is better than the game itself, which is tedious. Another reviewer said the missions remind them of the worst aspects of the original Command & Conquer games and that's a useful comparison. In Iron Harvest, you'll also deal with terrible unit pathfinding and commanding a small group of units with constrained resources, all while wishing you could instead build a fat…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Huh... This one's by the Iron Harvest devs. A game which I liked but every time I mention it, people act like I've praised the concept of vomiting.
positive · AI labelView post →unfortunately stale and flat. Great aesthetics, but what is the point of having a giant slow artillery mech if you can't shoot more than an inch outside your viewpoint. Different units don't have significant differences in capabilities which makes the strategy aspect quite boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Avoid. Its not fun at all. Actually its UNFUN and just straight up frustrating. Its basically TEMU version of Company of Heroes but without anything that made the classic so good. There is so much wrong with it I could be here all day. So for brevity sake i will just try to keep it simple and point the biggest offenders: Game has very high lethality, zero balance and atrocious pathfinding. Mind you, when I say lethality, Im not saying its hard. Its just unbelievably clunky. Every combat is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As much as I do like this game and I have enjoyed what I have managed to actually play, the game is fundamentally broken. The campaign will softlock the game and make you lose your progress when cutscenes are meant to play. There is no way to even get past this which makes progression impossible. These issues have existed for years and they've not bothered to fix it. I am too far beyond the refund window at this point and I've only done 4 missions. I wish I read the reviews first.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the aesthetic of this game and really wanted to enjoy playing it. I don't know if it's the age of the game or if it was always this lackluster, but really my biggest complaint is that it just doesn't do anything particularly well. Massing strong units and death balling the enemy is about as complex as it gets. I have also encountered a few pretty bad bugs. I just can't recommend this game, sorry.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game actually started with a great concept and the artwork is quite impressive. yet, it can’t escape feeling like company of heroes with a little makeup. same gameplay, same units, same buildings, same missions. producing a steampunk machine instead of a sherman tank doesn’t feel different at all. fighting rusviet vanguards feels just like fighting german sturmtruppen; there’s no difference other than the uniforms. even cutscenes are not better than the first company of heroes game. I don't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is honestly so bad it makes me angry. The main attraction of the game is the mechs, but the game constantly deprives you of the opportunity to play with mechs. The story campaign is FILLED with mission after mission after mission of NO MECHS! Why am I constantly being deprived of mechs? And then you start a world map campaign AND THERE ARE STILL NO MECHS! Why?! It makes me so mad. I've put like 20 hours into this game trying to find the parts where I actually get to play with a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Six years later and game breaking bugs still exist, no developer workshop support means no community maps. You've got a COH2 game without all the things that made COH2 multiplayer fun, and a dieselpunk setting to boot. Clearly the developers have abandoned the title, and while the story is fun and engaging, the game isn't much beyond that aside from a few skirmishes you might play with your friends. So much, SO MUCH potential here for greatness that I was watching this title for years before…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super cool setting and enjoy gameplay and actually has a good story with interesting ideas. Seen alot of people complaining about the 1st mission it takes like 10mins to finish and its a tutorial mission it really isnt that bad. If you dont even finish the first mission and slap a negative review on the game, you're just being a whiny child. the game has 3 campaigns (without dlc) all of them have highs and lows.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Personally i really like the game but the community is shrinking, the dev-team abandoned this game and worse a lot of the competitive sphere is completely dead with a majority of the ways to play the game needing specific contacts to even get a game. Overall its a playable graveyard. it's fine to pass the time but it wont last long sadly enough. Sadly i can't recommend it even if the game it self is good, due to the multiplayer sphere being effectively dead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rumors abound that a second 1920+ video game is in the works, though whether it will be an Iron Harvest sequel is currently unknown. Thank you for reading - bonus art!
neutral · AI labelView post →An RTS, with mechanics similar to the Company of Heroes franchise set in the 1920’s alternate history setting with mechs that is also used for the boardgame Scythe. So, squad-based, smaller scale, cover, territory control from COH and steam powered mechs mixed with older style weapons from the setting. It is a well-designed game, with a meaty campaign of 21 missions (plus another 11 from DLC), many of which are quite lengthy with changing objectives. And the AI does a good job attacking you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Howdy folks, I'm Elliott! 🎲 Game designer of 6+ years specialized in progression systems. 🎮 Previously worked on Iron Harvest: a real-time strategy game with dieselpunk mechs. Now cooking something new! 🤵🏼 Never misses an opportunity to dress to the nines. 🦅 U.S.-made, EU-based. Glad to be here!
neutral · AI labelView post →The vibes, and Aesthetic of the game are absolutely immaculate the idea of steam punk mech battles between alternate history nations is incredibly appealing but unfortunately this game falls flat is the worst possible area the mech combat, the mainstay to all i can see of this series, the mechs. Mech combat feels like watching two infants in a slap fight, little to no damage and generally unappealing to all that witness it. the weapons feel like confetti cannons and you WILL win if you have…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is cool. Unfortunately it's also ♥♥♥♥. I love pushing into enemy base, and they just spawn a max level heavy mech, a level 1 mech, rocket artillery, and multiple mech suit infantry despite only having 3 buildings "Oh we killed an enemy wave! we can push in!" we push in, there's an even larger enemy force comrpised of 5 mechs, 8 infantry in mech suits. Also all the polish mechs suck except for the scout walker and walking bunker. Wojtek is cool. Also the Polish Mech Hunting Mech can not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played multiplayer with friends and ignored the campaign. Really like it. Started to play the campaign early 2026 and loving the game. Would advise to use native languages as it adds loads of atmosphere. Great buy. Also remember it was a Kickstarter game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm the guy that WANTS to like RTS. Still chasing that StarCraft high from 1996 or whenever. However, I'm old and feeble and can't click too fast. So strictly in terms of a single-player experience: I'm really enjoying this. It feels manageable. I'm a natural turtle, which does not appear to be a viable tactic in this game, so I'm being forced out of my comfort zone, which is fine. The game is about positioning and pursuing beneficial matchups. A smaller/weaker force can absolutely…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I expected to Harvest Iron, but all I found were fields of Mid. Interesting setting and aesthetic, awful enemy AI, slow, clunky units and controls. The last part is apparently deliberate, in a way it feels the designers/developers prioritized certain internal logic of world over gamedesign. But that doesn't make the game feel any better to play and it feels game keeps issues that the game that inspired it, Company of Heroes, has already solved it when it released in 2006. Game's not bad,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like this game even for it's problems. The art direction is fantastic, the gameplay's core is solid. The story and characters are pretty basic, they are a little hard to get attached to, but they serve the story which is fine at best. It scratches the itch of Relic-style RTS's like Company of Heroes and Dawn of War 2, along with some good old fashion dieselmechs. Now for the problems because they are very present. The balance is still pretty out of whack. I feel as though I am playing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good RTS with a solid campaign This RTS is much slower-paced than the Command and Conquer series. Emphasis is on holding strategic points while conserving units. One cool feature is that every unit has a dedicated "Retreat" hotkey that makes them hightail it back to the nearest resupply point for healing. I really liked the campaign for this game. The cinematics were pretty good and made me feel invested in the story. Unfortunately, multiplayer is kind of dead but the AI is pretty fun to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Like some of the reviews have mentioned, this is just a frustrating and disappointing game. It had so much potential to be great. They've nailed it in the art department with the theme of dieselpunk. The units and the mechs look incredible. But the gameplay sucks. It just turns into a huge blob fest with everyone spreading eagle as the AI struggles with its own pathfinding. I love Company of Heroes and this game has learned nothing about what makes Company of Heroes great. This reason alone is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like Iron Harvest but it's not a game you will play for years to come. The thing that make this game unique is the setting with its immaculate dieselpunk vibes and asethetics and that the people at Kingart Games really nailed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well Fun, really tickles the ww1 steampunk world in my brain. If you had HOI4 logistics/resources Mixed with Total War style of battles, then Dumbed all that down simplifying it, you would get the game play of Iron Harvest. 100% worth especially on sales
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best RTS game I ever play, The story is great and the background is great. World war 1 + Robot infantry. It was like Company of hero + Titanfall together. Highly recommend
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Skirmish ai is busted. Game is unbalanced. I remember this game being good I'm not sure what happened but aside from the cool aesthetic and mech units it's just mediocre. Played a skirmish. Saxony vs. Usonia on medium. 2-on-1 my smg's take on a rifle unit in heavy cover. One directly in front on the other side of cover, and one flanked behind to shoot at the back. It took ages to kill this one rifle unit, all while my units took damage. Charged my engineers into a field cannon to stop it from…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This tactical RTS is slept on. an underdog in the strategy genre. i expected this game to be more main stream to be honest. you get the point. whatever steam says, i have twice as many hours on xbox. i'm an rts lifer, been playing RTS/city builders since Red alert and ANNO 1602 (i was more in to 1503 and then heavy on 1701 even though gameplay changed). Iron Harvest makes you value your troops on the field more than those games because its very expensive to replace troops. having medics and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Review Although I am neither experienced nor particularly skilled in RTS games. It feels as though the developer’s prioritized artwork and design first, gameplay second, and added the story only after the maps had been completed. Gameplay If you are familiar with Company of Heroes, this game will feel very similar, aside from the addition of mechs. The core mechanics are straightforward: you have only three main buildings: the Headquarters, the Barracks, and the Mech Factory. Resources are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The campaign is interesting and so is the story but if you played any proper RTS game before and by god if you even tried Company of Heroes 2, you'll start begging for quality of life features back. It has the same mechanics of it but worse in every way, especially the cover system that is poorly implemented. Even then, I was reluctant to give it a bad review but Tesla City really cemented how bad the campaign is. It's not a skill issue for why Tesla City is so bad. The units for every faction…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The world of 1920+ would be further adapted into the strategy video game Iron Harvest in 2020
neutral · AI labelView post →Aside from scale models and historical wargames, I am going through painting the miniatures from the Scythe Board game. Even though I've only played the digital version, I love the setting, played Iron Harvest and wanted to have a go at painting the minis for hopefully a future game
positive · AI labelView post →Ever since the announcement of [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPm8fIy5mg] Dawn of War IV, I was curious to see how King Art(the developers of the soon to be DoW IV and developers of Iron Harvest.) fared in the real time strategy zone. So I played their 1920+ alternate history Europe ravaged with mechs and ya know what? Easily enough I was impressed. One key point caught my eye from what the developers proclaimed on their Steam page. Says “Strong Single Player Campaign & Engaging Story”…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hey everyone, I too have been affected by the wave of game industry layoffs. I worked at KING Art GmbH as a Game Designer for 4+ years on two unreleased projects (a Fantasy RPG, and an RTS) as well as Iron Harvest.
neutral · AI labelView post →I haven't touched the multiplayer and to be honest, I probably won't. Campaign is a 2/10. Really good lore but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is the entire thing a defense simulator or some weird single-character mission. Why is there stealth gameplay in the dieselpunk RTS? "Defend this point for 45 minutes too long." seems to be the go-to mission type. Most missions are just frustrating or outright boring, with your infantry doing little to nothing and your hero units doing literally all the heavy lifting…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The most boring RTS I've ever played that makes me have little hope for DoW 4 Sorry but a campaign thats without challenge and boring 80% of the time is just horrible game design. The entire Polish campaign EXCEPT FOR THE LAST MISSION is brain dead easy. The second Russian one has a few more out of ALL OF THEM and then at the LAST CAMPAIGN it feels like you get to play the game now but by that time you are just burned out. The world conquest mode is also a joke and half baked and the DLC is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Iron Harvest brought with itself fresh ideas to the RTS genre including huge mechs, robots set in a alternate reality of world war 1 1920 timeline. It has single player, multiplayer, and skirmish modes. Now I think up to date the multiplayer has died but the story is still original and good. To revive the franchise and continue with the story and theme there should be a Iron Harvest 2 game in the future. I recommend it for the story that is set in the same universe as the video game Scythe.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just finished the whole game now (including all the DLCs) as I write this review and I can say for certain that I like this game. It's not as complex as Red Alert, Command and Conquer, or Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War - but it definitely has its merits. From engineers charging alongside war machines to giant mechs that bombard the enemy base - every second of this game amazed me. For those who want to know more about the game, there are only 3 building structures that can be built for each…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its a really great game, with a good story and i dont get the recent negative reviews AT ALL.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →How would you describe your #TTRPG game? Oooo! Dieselpunk is Iron Harvest meets Film Noir meets Errico Malatesta. dieselpunk1921.itch.io/dieselpunk19... #ttrpg
neutral · AI labelView post →Good graphics and physics, and the units actually feel heavy as well. Has me some CoH vibes, while the setting and story are pretty original. A solid RTS overall. Really hope the devs take what worked here and make DoW4 even better
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay doesn't match the aesthetic, this is essentially a reskined Starcraft 2. It rewards overly aggressive gameplay, gives the ai stupid amounts of extra units in the campaign to such an extent it is a slog to actually do anything in a reasonable amount of time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Such an awesome game. Doesnt seem to be an online community. AI ali are god awful, to have them be useful is to dumb down the enemy AI to being too easy. AI needs rebalance
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The balance in this game is trash. The mechanics do not make sense. I do not recommend this game. Some how I denominated this map and yet I lost because the other team was able to build more advance units will less resources and overwhelmed me with lesser units. balance is trash in this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Storyline is more interesting
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game is decent but it dumbed down just about everything in the game and it is not that fun to me
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm switching my rating from negative to positive bc of Steel Harvest mod on ModDB, it fixes every single problem I had with the game. And only with it (or maybe other similar mods idk ive only tried this one) can I reccomend this. The main change is that it makes the gameplay faster paced like CoH while also giving a lil extra unit variety, the vanilla game is painfully slow for me and i found it completely unenjoyable, meanwhile with the small gameplay changes made I personally enjoy it about…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Underrated RTS, I wish it had more success. The setting of the story is also unique.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game but it's dead and can't do multiplayer
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like the time period and the alternate-history World War I setting, which is what initially drew me. Unfortunately, the campaign starts strong but loses momentum about halfway through, making it feel less engaging as it goes on. The game is at its most fun in skirmish mode against the AI and when played in co-op. I haven’t tried the multiplayer, so I can’t comment on that part of the experience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good game, well made, good UI, Good Story, I've never had a bug or crash. But for me it's way to arcadie. the way the characters move and the Very little damage troops take from point blank range. What made me write this that I tried giving it another chance until 3 of my units and 5 of the enemy's just stood face to face shooting at each other for like 40 sec it was just so lame to me. if your alright with that kinda fighting you'll love the game! if not just play Men of War
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hey All, new video on 'Howling At The Moon' by Jakub Rozalski is up. Werewolves, Dieselpunk & Polish Patriotism abound as we examine the worldbuilding of one of the world's foremost concept artists, responsible for the art of boardgame Scythe, and video game 'Iron Harvest'. youtu.be/yqp3S8QTxXc
neutral · AI labelView post →just a worse version of company of heroes (just with mechs...)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's 'Company of Heroes' with less of what feels like everything. No branching unit upgrades or upgrades to buildings beyond "structure > ADVANCED structure", no off-map call-ins, no faction variants like commanders, no starting base defenses, no nada. Also the average unit time-to-kill is way too long and makes all the weapons feel like they're made of cheap plastic and shoot mashed potatoes, save for some atrociously-balanced exceptions. Everything is slow and clunky, and to say the AI has a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mid at best, unfun and not that interesting for the most part… Setting is cool, themes are cool… Gameplay is lack luster, and story is just not interesting for what it’s doing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is very well polished in terms of story, direction, game maps, visually, most things. Can't recommend though for the bad A.I. It becomes apparent quickly its weird blob tactics that aren't fun. Maps can get drawn out and its more of a chore rather than an engaging strategy game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Such a cool game with so many possibilities, ruined and abandoned. The actual board game Scythe is amazing to play, and the artwork created by Jakub Różalski is incredible, it really nails that dieselpunk, war-era aesthetic for me. So when I saw a game based on the board game, I was excited. I did enjoy playing it, although there are many things that could have been designed better, along with lots of bugs that need fixing. Sadly, this game seems to have been abandoned by the developers.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent vision, fun units, decent mechanics, really excellent environment destruction, but not fully developed as much as you would expect a 2020 game to be. **** No way to disable edge panning **** Graphics and audio are not quite as polished as they could be Really out dated 2003 style main menu Glitches/bugs, enemy AI is limited doesn't always behave correctly. Sometimes units will get stuck on the environment for minutes at a time and will no longer be usable. Friendly units will…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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