Recent reviews by Tardigrade

Captures the vibe of the Aliens film which is exactly what I hoped for and though the story is a bit weird, obvious and cheesy at times, I still found myself thoroughly entertained throughout and routinely found my heart pounding and my anus puckered while trying to extract my squad from yet another sticky situation.

The XCOM meets RTS was interesting and though simplified/shallow it plays well EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT CONTROLLING A SINGLE MARINE IS MADE EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL!!!! (There is no drag an select or clicking on an individual marine.) Though you can work around it: tab for selecting Marines to interact or perform actions the only way (I found) to get an individual into position is to move the whole squad and the clicking the stop order for each of the other members of the squad. As many as 5 clicks to move one Marine. As the battlefields are fluid the difficulty in positioning will routinely lead to silly tactical blunders that break immersion.

There is also a mechanic where the performance of your team degrades as they are exposed to combat. This "stress" adds a neat bit of management and adds to the tension and stakes, but the way you alleviate this (by resting in a room in the middle of a mission) is kinda silly...there are Xenomorphs in the vents and my dudes are somehow taking a nap? Also your mission controller will...as your team is being swarmed by acid spewing aliens and comrades are dropping like flies...constantly tell you "stress can be as deadly as a bullet"...lolwut

"If I don't solve this murder case in the next hour an entire village is doomed. Fortunately I've found this critical piece of evidence. Better take a lunch break."

Visually beautiful game that they clearly put a lot of effort into but I found the story predictable and full of tedious interactions. I also did not enjoy the time pressure mechanic as it didn't really gel with the way events in my playthrough were unfolding.

If you liked the lock pick mini-game in Skyrim this is the game for you.

I love this game. It is simple but challenging with a great story that has a good number of twists based on your stats.

I like the fighting mechanic and while a little bit different it makes a lot of sense once you get used to it. It is unforgiving and that's exactly as it should be.

Now, there is certainly a bit of an RNG element to the game BUT you can mitigate this with technique AND the dev WANTS you to die and play over and over: your 10 best characters (dead or retired) create an aggregate that add to your next play through's starting points/stats and this will make things progressively easier.

I can testify to this having come back to play multiple times

Best described as "Battle Brothers" lite.

Imperfect but fun with good story elements and a good challenge. At the "75% off" price I feel like I robbed the developer a bit...but I'd be interested to see what they release in the future.

In 9 hours I have played two "normal" difficulty games: the first one was a loss because I didn't fully understand it and learning from this I won my second game with months to spare before the end game.

I think I have seen everything there is to see but I might come back to it in a few years.

Just not...compelling...

Bought in Early Access...waited for release and installed.
Played on easiest setting

My first 10 hours were awesome and interesting. Next 5 were repetitive. Final 10 were boring.

- A.I. of NPCs (yours and enemies): terrible
- U.I. and resource management needs work on efficiency/sorting
- Missions = limited
- Resource gathering = inconsistent
- Crafting mechanic = shallow

The first 100 (in-game) days are entertaining and challenging but after that the game is repetitive and boring...

At around day 280 I left the game running while I was AFK for about 6 hours to unlock the 365 day achievement, only occasionally checking in to close reports about catastrophes or base attacks.

Could get better over time with DLCs and mods...but I would wait for a sale if I were you

Based on first play through which did not end well for me or the country:

Very enjoyable!

It is a complex, immersive choose your own adventure/political thriller...

Does require a fair amount of reading and concentration so not a causal play and watch TV kind of thing...

Might look simple but it is fairly complex and polished and the challenge it provides is quite rewarding. Not a casual game, requires more planning than I thought and I suffered because of my lack of attention! If you liked panzer general/panzer corps then you'll probably enjoy this game too.

Also, aside from the planning please play consider the tutorial/watching videos...I didn't and I had to replay my campaign twice because I missed out on key mechanics/options. See below for some tips/pointers.

Critique: I would have liked to see better continuity between maps as you'll sometimes gobble up every seemingly inconsequential hamlet on one map only to fight to the death over the same tiny, but now critical, towns in the next...also some more 'what-if" scenarios would have been cool...

Essential knowledge:
Supply:
The supply mechanic can severely hamper your movements but makes the game very rewarding when you surround whole German armies. Always, always check on your and your opponents supply. Repositioning your depots is critical (and takes one turn for trucks to return to your motor pool) but railway networks are even more so: make sure you have every hex of rail secure in your territory before rushing off! Some enemy areas in later maps will ALWAYS be in supply even if surrounded.

Movement:
You can choose between an attack move or a pure move which gives extra distance by using your mouse wheel. Can be critical for seizing objectives or cutting of enemy supply

Recon Planes:
Revealing hidden units and stragglers can stop your advance even if you have the movement points. Use the recon planes before approaching a critical objective to avoid frustration

Pontoon bridges and river crossings/assaults:
Upgrade or HQs to have pontoon bridges and assault crossings...otherwise some later scenarios are pretty unwinnable

Unit abilities:
Set piece attack and artillery don't always create suppression but pin down generally good for one suppression.

Cards:
Airborne cards are awesome always take them.
Naval bombardment cards are great too but you aren't always engaging units near the sea.
Strategic Bombing can damage all units adjacent to the target, even your own.
Codebreaking/Ultra is good for one turn only...can help with paratroop drops or deep armor thrusts

Your HQs:
Keep an eye on what unit belongs to which HQ when moving around the map. And make sure your HQ moves up. Often found myself on the last turn with units out of range of HQ so unable to make special attacks.

HQs also have a cool down when you move them...so moving them in consecutive turns will shutdown many of their and their units abilities!

Enemy HQs:
Smash them whenever you can or they will blow up the bridges in front of you or resupply their units and delay your advance.