Cossacks 3: Guardians of the Highlands PC Review

In the seven months it’s been out, Cossacks 3, a remake of the original Cossacks, has received its fair share of updates and DLC. New factions and campaigns were introduced, alongside other requested changes. The latest offering from developer GSC Game World is Guardians of the Highlands, a DLC, or mini-expansion as it’s been dubbed, that focuses on the nation of Scotland while introducing an AI helper tool, that’s meant to aid players with certain aspects of the game.

The structure of Guardians of the Highlands is fairly similar to the other DLC packs Cossacks 3 has received in the past. Scotland comes with its own campaign, set during the time of Charles I. A text description prefaces each mission, with the occasional text pop-up following certain events during the missions. It’s very much familiar Cossacks territory, yet, overall manages to remain fun all throughout. As a new faction Scotland comes with a number of new units. The Sword Clansmen, in particular, stand out as very powerful infantry units with the Bowmen, recruitable from the same Castle building, being found not far behind. I feel that the difference Scotland brings to the faction roster pertains more to nuance, rather than going crazy and changing anything large around, though.

The AI helper is an interesting addition to the series. Foregoing any sort of fancy presentation, it can be found at the top right of the screen, in a small window. Using it, allows the player access to two types of options. Firstly, it can offer suggestions as to which buildings to build next and what research to focus on. These also appear on the top right, being clickable right there, which makes things easy enough. While I’m not the most decorated of officers when it comes to Cossacks 3, I found its suggestions to be largely sensible. Then again, nobody’s forcing you to listen to the helper. Secondly, the AI helper can take control of a number of tasks related to micromanagement. You can have it continuously build peasants, making sure they are assigned to mines and other resources. You can have it recruit units like officers, drummers and set guards to buildings, so that you don’t lose them when a stray enemy unit passes by them.

These additions are undoubtedly welcome, especially for new players. Remembering to place guards, take them with me while attacking and then re-assign them, is something I lost track of easily when I started getting re-acquainted to the series. When controlling lots of mines, it’s often difficult to find the ones that aren’t working at full capacity. From what I’ve played, the helper does its job when it comes to these things, taking these chore-like activities away from players who’re maybe struggling with other aspects of the game. Certainly, the helper could benefit from some kind of better initial explanation, or introduction into how it works. During my very first match, I found it taking all my peasants off resources whenever I set a new building down, assigning them to its construction. It took a bit of tinkering to get it to work my way. The helper’s features can, undoubtedly, come in handy to experienced players as well. Should they, however, decide upon controlling everything themselves, deactivating the helper can be done with a simple click. It’s also worth mentioning that in multiplayer, if someone with access to the AI helper enters a lobby, everyone there will have access to it during the match, regardless if they own Guardians of the Highlands or not, thus removing any possibility of an unfair advantage.

It’s worth mentioning that the mini-expansion isn’t part of the Deluxe Edition content, the explanation being that it simply wasn’t planned, yet the developer started working on it because the community asked for it. Guardians of the Highlands will not bring a ton of new players to the game, as it doesn’t go out of its way to shake any foundations. It’s more Cossacks 3 and, thus, intended for people already invested in the game. The AI Helper is a nice addition to have, while Scotland comes with a neat soundtrack and units. If you enjoyed Cossacks 3’s offering of old-school RTS action, Guardians of the Highlands is more of that.

Check out our Cossacks 3 PC Review.

Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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