[Originally posted January 18, 2024]
“Narrative Strategy-RPG Set in a Dark and Collaborative Sci-Fi Universe”
TLDR:
Strategic deliberate play
Deep variety of heroes
Decent variety of map
The controls and camera are a little wonky
Decent graphics but UI needs work
How to play
The game is closed testing
Available to wishlist on Steam and Epic
Game Loop
In the chaos theatre, there are currently 3 game modes and a tutorial.
You can pick, free for all, 1v1 and 2v2.
In the testing, there were 3 maps to choose from
Each map had a different theme but with similar points of interest
As you load into the game your first decision is which heroes to deploy
Each hero has a deployment cost, and you get a pool of deployment points to use.
This pool refills as the game progresses allowing you to deploy more units later on in the later deployment phases
When picking a deployment spot it is key to consider the points of interest on the map
The map has stand items, such as obstacles and cover, it also has different terminals you can activate.
These terminals offer a range of things to assist in the battle, from an attack robot, a healing droid, or just a healing point, plus more.
Each player then takes it in turn to deploy their units.
Once deployment is finished you then take control of the heroes.
Each turn/hero has an action point pool.
These action points are used for movement, attacks, skills, and interactions.
As it is turned-based, it is important to guess what the opponent will do so that you avoid leaving your units in trouble
Each unit has health, shield, and movement
They also vary in how powerful their attacks are
In general the more powerful the attack the more action points it took.
Your goal is to clear the map of all the enemies
Game feel
The hero models and animations are decent. Whilst there are also skins these are pretty low variations, with some just being the model in a different colour
Before loading into the game the hero screen doesn’t give information about them, which means you have a lot of reading to do during your turn or remembering
Control of the camera during deployment was a little tricky to get the hang of at first and did result in my missing a couple of deployment phases
The trickiness with the camera continued with the unit movement, with the camera often getting stuck underground.
Outside of the camera issue, I found it to be a very strategic game
The variety of heroes and moves meant I was constantly trying to get the best position for my opponents.
When we played a 3 person free the map did feel a little large and we spent a lot of the first turns trying to find each other
The animations and movements were decent and the opponent's reactions were good, if sometimes a little over the top - as I sent a body flying.
Picking key terminals to activate can help swing the battle - but beyond symbols, it is a little unclear what each will do
Similar to learning the hero abilities, this leads to a steep learning cover for new players
Whilst the fighting feels pretty action-packed, it is important to come in with the right expectations of game speed - it is more like chess in terms of speed than an action game.
It could also do with a little work on the UI which was a bit confusing/hard to interpret at times.
Rating
The steep learning curve makes it a bit more niche to those willing to learn
Very strategic, so should appeal to deep thinkers
The models and aesthetics are pleasing and set in their wider sci-fi universe
It is slow, so don’t be fooled by the action animations
A narrow recommendation with a caveat because of the slow gameplay
Web3 integration
To be announced.
For more information follow their Twitter to keep up to date.
Comments