Take As Needed
Set in a dystopian world, “Take As Needed” has a “Papers, Please” vibe.
You are a chemical engineer developing new pharmaceuticals at Mazer.
At the end of the day, you’re graded by how well you perform in combining compounds to design formulas that meet three criteria:
Reach the minimum/maximum price, use a certain amount of a particular compound, all without going over the maximum volatility.
Different color strands, open or closed, play a part in raising and lowering the volatility for each formula.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
The molecule building mechanics and the procedural generation of molecule goals is awesome and makes for a really challenging and fun puzzle solving game.
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game
War of the Human Tanks - Limited Operations
Warning: 1000+ word review from a guy that’s way too passionate about a trilogy that features chibi girls that shoot at each other and explode. Please read if you have spare time.
The first two War of the Human Tanks games are among my favorite PC-exclusive games I have played so far. So, I bought the third game on the same year it was released and… it wasn’t my cup of tea. What made the Human Tank games so special to me is the ability to break the game with overpowered tanks and pit those tanks against other overpowered extra stage enemies in a game of dark chess. This game takes that away and makes you play fair and square with the opponent in a normal strategy game.
– Real player with 34.1 hrs in game
I’m going to write a lot of words about anime tanks because I really like this series and I don’t think anyone else knows it exists. The last game in the series, Limited Operations, has been out for around 9 months and has about a dozen reviews. Here’s a really long one and consider this a review for the series in general.
The War of the Human Tanks series is essentially anime Battleship. Fights are real time and pause when you click a unit to choose an action. There’s always a large fog of war and most units are of the one hit, one kill variety. Tanks are of the mass-produced style, outside of a couple of special NPC’s, and are permanently destroyed when killed in action. Tanks can also equip modules that you can create which do things like increase shooting range and area, increase movement and so on. Limited Operations changes the last few parts up, though.
– Real player with 31.1 hrs in game
War of the Human Tanks
Battleships and chess with lolis.
Fantastic fun, interesting story with many twists and several endings, engaging gameplay that demands strategic thinking and an incredible soundtrack throughout.
The game’s story is told through visual novel format, which sets the state of affairs and the stage for the battle to follow. Battles are fought in real-time, but with a sort of turn-based system that runs on ticks, for example after giving a unit orders to move you must then wait for it to radio in asking for new orders before it can be moved again. Battlefields are presented as a grid of octagons, and before the round commences you must first place your units as in Battleships. Each unit has it’s own special properties and characteristics similar to chess, for example some may move 2 spaces at a time whereas others may only move 1, or one unit might only be able to attack horizontally whereas others must attack at least 2 spaces ahead of itself. The aim of each battle is to eliminate the opponent’s ‘Command Tank’ before they destroy yours which, regardless of how many units they have remaining, wins you the battle. The battlefield is covered by a shroud as seen in most real-time strategies with sight range varying between your different units, so early game tactics may usually consist of Battleships-esque artillery strikes into the dark hoping you’ll hit something, as your units gradually advance closer to the enemy, thinning out their ranks until their command tank is within firing range.
– Real player with 73.6 hrs in game
The first time I saw War of the Human Tanks, I was put off by how obviously low-budget it is; that was a huge mistake. Apparently, the art style just needed some getting used to, because once I got into it, I thought the graphics were actually pretty good. There’s full voice acting, fun animations and even some really catchy music that makes me itch to buy the soundtrack.
But what about the meat of the game? That, for me, comes in two packages (or perhaps Amasson boxes): the story and the gameplay. Let’s get this out of the way: The story is awesome. I loved it. This is definitely not a “skip-the-dialogue” kind of game; in fact, after a certain point, the story became the main appeal. It’s simultaneously lighthearted and grim, with a really interesting setting that ends up being much more detailed than you might suspect at first. There are four endings (two main paths, with two endings each) that all end up being pretty radically different and are all fantastic in their own way. I’m really in love with the setting, and all the little things you can learn about the rather disenfranchised battle-androids they call Human Tanks; the story really exceeded my expectations in every way. The translation is great, and the writing is clever, funny and serious when it needs to be; some of the big twists were huge gut-punchers. I’d definitely say the story was maybe the best part for me, and it’ll stick with me and inspire me for other personal projects for quite a while.
– Real player with 53.0 hrs in game
War of the Human Tanks - ALTeR
Welp, this certainly was a pleasent surprise. who would have thought that having a cute army of tank girls would be so interesting. The music is also interesting and I never tire of the battle/death cries of my, and my enemies, troops.
In the story there are acouple minutes of dialouge then a skirmish. For the battles, you must deploy a tank that acts like a king in chess, if she dies you lose (you can even have multiple). then you can make other units (if it is within the maps unit cap) like artillary (slow but long/wide range) shock tanks (fast/cheap/suicide explosion), assault tanks (medium speed, medium attack range) and much more. There is a fog of war, so you must proceed with care to find the enemy through scouting and prediction based on where you see them fire. You must build and upgrade your units by using supplies from winning or losing battles, so you may have to grind in the caverns or in free battles if you cannot preserve your troops.
– Real player with 70.0 hrs in game
This game… this goddarn game.
I’m not exactly sure where to start, so first off: this game is absolutely fantastic! I haven’t played EVERYTHING yet (still need to get Glitch-Heshiko and play the 2 or 3 optional Floor 90+ Battles), but still. The combination of Visual Novel and (Semi-)turn based Strategy game is beautiful and really well balanced, most if not almost all the tanks have their use and encourage players to figure out their favorite strategies and the Modules and combination of them just add to the fun (I still have fun giving my Peko-Peko a Tank Life ensurance and just making her explode, achieving absolutely nothing… I’m an Idiot.).
– Real player with 69.3 hrs in game
Zenith Frontier
Zenith Frontier is an interstellar strategy simulation game. Explore and colonise hostile exoplanets and help humanity survive the struggles of 2040 and beyond.
Zenith Frontier features several novel mechanics in the context of traditional 4X and grand strategy gameplay elements. Experience visionary strategic gameplay set in an evolving procedural galaxy populated by billions ot autonomous citizens and private companies. Build a faction with a rich background and strong identity, then oversee their interstellar efforts to advance their position within the precarious New Space Age.
New Gameplay Features:
-
A Shared Origin: Factions start in the same overpopulated, suffering home system and compete to expand outwards in the year 2040. This is made possible by the recent discovery of –REDACTED– which allows high-tech spacecraft to slip into subspace.
-
Volatile Subspace: Exploration of this newly accessible subspace is incredibly dangerous. This chaotic region is thick with dark matter and swirling dark energy fields, but the ability to travel interstellar distances in considerably shorter timeframes may be worth the risk. Known safe routes will become critical to sustaining your remote holdings, but beware - subspace is neither static or stable and these routes may change!
-
Information is Essential: Unshielded signals will be destroyed in subspace and must be carried through by comm drones. News that arrives at your capital from a distant colony will be out-of-date - the situation will have evolved and you will have to consider this when planning your response. Additionally, perhaps the illegal hijacking of another’s comm drones will glean some strategic information - and prevent it from arriving at its intended destination!
-
Special Relativity: Spacecraft travelling at incredible speeds and colonies established within deep gravity wells will experience first-hand the effects of special relativity and time dilation. Time will progress more quickly for the crew of your –REDACTED– spacecraft making a long journey at high speeds than the colony they are destined for.
-
Geospatial Resource Pricing: A supply and demand model for price determination within a dynamic economic system that includes taxes, import/export fees and transportation costs mean that resource prices will vary throughout the galaxy. Plan your economic developments accordingly - or invest in this interstellar network infrastructure to take a slice of your rival’s operations.
-
Top Level Direction: Shape your faction from the top down by issuing orders, directives, and edicts to your military staff, governors, and private sector. These are executed autonomously, which can lead to surprising outcomes. This indirect control poses interesting strategic challenges.
Traditional Gameplay Features:
-
Diplomacy and Politics
-
Research and Technology
-
Military Conflict
-
Management and Governance
Zenith Frontier’s Design Pillars:
Zenith Frontier is being designed and developed in line with these pillars.
-
Emergence - A rich, living world that generates unique emergent scenarios.
-
Strategic Depth - A semantic network of interconnect systems.
-
Gameplay Over Graphics - A high quality interactive system that priotises gameplay.
-
Self-Directed - The player is primarily working towards self-selected goals in open gameplay.
-
Top Level Decisions - The player provides direction from the top-down to autonomous agents.