War Wind is a science fantasy real-time strategy game developed by DreamForge Intertainment and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI). It was released in 1996 for Microsoft Windows and used DirectX 2.0. The game features four unique playable alien races on the fictional planet of Yavaun, each with their own histories, ideologies, and story campaigns consisting of seven scenarios each and an ending unique to that race. The story explores themes of authoritarianism, slavery, revolution, and mysticism. The game also features a map and scenario editor, as well as netplay with up to seven additional players.
A sequel, War Wind II: Human Onslaught, was released by DreamForge and SSI in 1997. Both games were digitally rereleased on GOG.com in 2016. War Wind went permanently free on GOG.com on June 3, 2020. War Wind was released as a free game on Steam on September 16, 2021.
Story
War Wind takes place on the world of Yavaun, where four races have ambivalently coexisted for millennia. The Tha' Roon—purple Nāga-like oppressors, overlords, and despots of the planet—have dominated the other races of Yavaun and erected a ruling domain known as the Empire; in particular, the Tha' Roon have enslaved the gentle and flora-like Eaggra, forcing the Eaggra to act as their builders and engineers under coercion by the Tha' Roon's acting military force, the elephantine Obblinox. The Tha' Roon accomplished their subjugation of the Obblinox through force of technological supremacy (a knowledge in which they partially shared with the Obblinox in the form of cybernetic replacements for amputations) and the exploitation of the Obblinox's strong intrinsic belief system of loyalty and a strict societal hierarchy. Lastly are the race of the reclusive and traditionalist Shama' Li, monk-like practitioners of spiritual and ancient magic, who desire to unify the four races into a single deific species that physically represents a combination of them all—NagaRom.
Plot
Yavaun has been under the oppressive control of the Empire—a merciless regime founded and led by the Tha' Roon—for a millennium, known by all as the Thousand Years. The Tha' Roon were once feared for their cruel and ruthless combat prowess, which they used to establish the very creation of the Empire; however, over the centuries, they have relied almost exclusively on the Obblinox as their force of arms. The Eaggra, their enslavement by will of the Tha' Roon and enforced by the muscle of the Obblinox, were obliged to construct and forge the original foundation of the Empire from the ground up, and have since been forced to maintain and expand it further throughout Yavaun. This reliance on the Obblinox for military power and the Eaggra for virtually all labor has progressively deteriorated the Tha' Roon's once unequaled self-sufficiency.
This oppression and slavery faced by the Eaggra over the age of the Thousand Years ignited the idea of revolution inside their hearts, and with the encouragement and inspiration from two Eaggra known as Colonel Khorn and Tywald Chainbreaker, they finally struck the first, powerful blow against the Obblinox. This started what was known as the First War of Yavaun. An Eaggra labor camp, of which its slaves formed a clan known as Faction E19, turned their picks against its stationed overseers and constructed their own base in the wake of its overtaking. From there, Faction E19 expanded and branched out to liberate other labor camps and spread word of their cause throughout Yavaun. The initial successes of their insurgency further inspired and reignited hope in other Eaggra.
Once word of the violent uprising of Eaggra slaves reached the Tha' Roon, the Tha' Roon immediately ordered a violent suppression of all rebellion, sending an onslaught of Obblinox forces to slay every last revolting Eaggra. The Obblinox, priding themselves as an honorable and noble race,
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| PCGUS = 90%
| PCZone = 88/100
The game was a finalist for Computer Gaming Worlds and CNET Gamecenter's 1996 "Strategy Game of the Year" awards, both of which ultimately went to Civilization II. Gamecenter's editors called it the deepest real-time game at that time.