Paul’s an expert in Videogames, Star Trek, flannel shirts – in that order.
Published:
Verdict
Iron Nest: Heavy Turret Simulator is a claustrophobic 9 to 5 where loading 12-foot explosive rounds and triangulating enemy artillery becomes second nature. It also has the best notepad in all of gaming.
You might think the most important tool in war is the gun, or the tank, or maybe even the aircraft, but really, you’re wrong. Instead, it’s the humble notepad. Iron Nest is a test of my organizational skills, my ability to read instructions, and a lot of pulling various levers – there is also a giant artillery battery on legs.
I’m a soldier in a war against seemingly anyone around me. The totalitarian government I work for wants to suppress insurgents and many of the surrounding countries in what is an obvious attempt at total domination. That’s slightly above my pay grade however, but there’s enough going on inside this walking bunker to keep me busy.
Iron Nest is a heavy turret simulator, just like the title says. The super basics are: I’m given a target, and I must then eliminate said target with the giant cannons on my walker. This isn’t an action game, though, and I can’t see outside my mobile powerhouse; I must triangulate, calculate, and then do the heavy lifting from inside the Iron Nest artillery unit to complete my mission.
At first, this was all a bit confusing, but I ordered things in my head as follows: find where I was on the map, find where the enemy was on the map, and draw a line between the two. This gives me a bearing and a distance. Now I know what direction I’m shooting, and how far. From here, I feed that information into a machine that tells me the angle to set the turrets, so my shots land where I want them to.
Then, I have to order the munitions, load the correct round, followed by the appropriate number of powder pucks, and then manually adjust both the turret direction and elevation – do you see why I need a notepad? Thankfully, the Iron Nest dev thought of this and supplied me with an in-game one that attaches whatever information I need with a click of my mouse. I genuinely couldn’t live without it.
As confusing as it was at first, it really wasn’t long before the act of firing became second nature. A deadly flow state was achieved with the pulling of levers and the turning of wheels, and before long I could get a round off – and on target – with no bother or second thought. It’s like when you get really good at a manual job, so you can start daydreaming at work.
I’m glad this did become second nature, as Iron Nest ramps up fairly quickly. Triangulation of unknown targets becomes the norm; using spotters and their information to draw my lines on the map. After each successful mission, I’m given different types of munitions to play with and support abilities that aid in uncovering the battlefield.
What begins as a simple ‘hit target A at these co-ordinates’ evolves into moving map states, supporting infantry assaults with smoke rounds and tear gas, and – my favorite – hitting a moving train using its schedule and my own watch to time the bombardments.
I’m surprised that I found myself getting so into it; the process of orienting myself on the map and pinpointing the exact enemy locations is fascinating – it’s basically just drawing lines and figuring out distances, but it’s immediately engrossing. The act of manually loading and firing adds a weight to the decisions and calculations, especially in the latter missions where time is of the essence.
The entirety of Iron Nest takes place inside the body of the mechanized unit, and while most of the time I’m on the job, there are still other places to explore in the squat environment – a downstairs section is where I sleep, where I can make a coffee, and where my cat lives. Upstairs, there’s a record player that can provide me with some background music if the constant blasts are wearing thin.
While the complexity of the missions ramps up, to me, in a satisfying way, I could see someone bouncing straight off this if the nitty-gritty micromanagement doesn’t appeal. Everything is a bit of a faff, nothing happens quickly, and making a mistake means doing it all again, but that’s kind of the point. It makes hitting that target so much more satisfying knowing that I did everything with my own two hands. And the notepad. Can’t forget the notepad.