Deanaut is a hard game to categorise. It's Real Time Strategy for certain, however how it is handled is quite unique. When you launch the game from your Library you'll be presented with two choices. Launch Game and Read Manual (Recommended). My advice, even though you will be as eager as me to just jump in is read the manual. Otherwise you'll start the game, fumble your way in beginning a mission, usually purely by chance and then fumble along until all your little Deadnauts are KIA, or like me you achieve the Objective and Evacuate.
However, even if you win you will not know what winning means for the campaign nor how to replace your losses (Market Place or Cloning). So, you will, if by playing you are intrigued by what you've seen so far, you go back and read the manual.

Many reviewers have compared the game with "Aliens", and I can see why but to be honest if you are aware of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, I'd compare it more with "The Deathwatch", with your little Deadnauts being Deathwatch Space Marines in a Kill Team. Where this analogy falls down is the roster, found to the left of your three-faced monitors. It is made up mostly of female operatives and of course there are no women in the Adeptus Astartes, despite many dissenters now demanding equality. Let's face it, though. A brotherhood has no women, but I am getting off the topic.

As I said, your screen, on booting the game will be presented with a circular monitor being your navigation chart. Here you boost your ship to a target and drop your troops. There is much to explore on this screen, and I have only just re-started playing after being away from the game for some years. In fact on my first run after years away, I won my very first mission (I lost all my teams previously).

The screens to the left are for your troops, equipping them and viewing their stats, amongst other things.
The screen to right (and these screens are accessed by using the Q and [W[/b] keys) lists your Objectives, the Marketplace to buy items or soldiers, or Clone those you've lost in your mission, assuming you've enough Alien corpses to pay for this.

The gameplay is, as I've stated real time as you move your little circles, representing your troops (or Kill Team as I think of them) through a ship, or Space Hulk as I see it. Some of your 'nauts are equipped with sensors and equipment to unlock doors, Hack terminals to restore power, or lock doors. Move through, looking for your Objective and perhaps killing the occasional alien along the way (I think of Genestealers). Once you've achieved your Object, say "Locate the Ship's Journal", you must then escape back to the room you were inserted into (by boarding torpedo, as I imagine), but by achieving the Objective you'll have awakened the aliens (red blobs) that swarm you as you run, unlocking doors and locking them behind you as you go. Once you've reached the blue extraction circle, you press a button on the panel to the right, where the game is played and extract what is left of your squad (teleporting out in my mind).

That's the game, in essence. Of course there is more to it, as I've written, by equipping your troops with more or different equipment as you purchase them, replacing troops and finding your next target in the Campaign. For the price, especially on sale, the game is a worthy addition to any RTS player's library. Watch a gameplay video if unsure, but as I say at the this price, it's worth the time, and effort.

7/10

[b]Deanaut[/b] is a hard game to categorise. It's Real Time Strategy for certain, however how it is handled is quite unique. When you launch the game from your Library you'll be presented with two choices. Launch Game and Read Manual (Recommended). My advice, even though you will be as eager as me to just jump in is read the manual. Otherwise you'll start the game, fumble your way in beginning a mission, usually purely by chance and then fumble along until all your little Deadnauts are KIA, or like me you achieve the Objective and Evacuate. However, even if you win you will not know what winning means for the campaign nor how to replace your losses (Market Place or Cloning). So, you will, if by playing you are intrigued by what you've seen so far, you go back and read the manual. Many reviewers have compared the game with "Aliens", and I can see why but to be honest if you are aware of the [b]Warhammer 40,000[/b] universe, I'd compare it more with "The Deathwatch", with your little Deadnauts being Deathwatch Space Marines in a Kill Team. Where this analogy falls down is the roster, found to the left of your three-faced monitors. It is made up mostly of female operatives and of course there are no women in the [b]Adeptus Astartes[/b], despite many dissenters now demanding equality. Let's face it, though. A brotherhood has no women, but I am getting off the topic. As I said, your screen, on booting the game will be presented with a circular monitor being your navigation chart. Here you boost your ship to a target and drop your troops. There is much to explore on this screen, and I have only just re-started playing after being away from the game for some years. In fact on my first run after years away, I won my very first mission (I lost all my teams previously). The screens to the left are for your troops, equipping them and viewing their stats, amongst other things. The screen to right (and these screens are accessed by using the [b]Q[/b] and [W[/b] keys) lists your Objectives, the Marketplace to buy items or soldiers, or Clone those you've lost in your mission, assuming you've enough Alien corpses to pay for this. The gameplay is, as I've stated real time as you move your little circles, representing your troops (or Kill Team as I think of them) through a ship, or Space Hulk as I see it. Some of your 'nauts are equipped with sensors and equipment to unlock doors, Hack terminals to restore power, or lock doors. Move through, looking for your Objective and perhaps killing the occasional alien along the way (I think of Genestealers). Once you've achieved your Object, say "Locate the Ship's Journal", you must then escape back to the room you were inserted into (by boarding torpedo, as I imagine), but by achieving the Objective you'll have awakened the aliens (red blobs) that swarm you as you run, unlocking doors and locking them behind you as you go. Once you've reached the blue extraction circle, you press a button on the panel to the right, where the game is played and extract what is left of your squad (teleporting out in my mind). That's the game, in essence. Of course there is more to it, as I've written, by equipping your troops with more or different equipment as you purchase them, replacing troops and finding your next target in the Campaign. For the price, especially on sale, the game is a worthy addition to any RTS player's library. Watch a gameplay video if unsure, but as I say at the this price, it's worth the time, and effort. 7/10