XO
(I backed this game on Kickstarter, and helped out with alpha and beta testing…)
XO has a lovely mix of tactics and strategy within a relatively short three to five hour game run. But learning XO well enough to survive that final run will take you much longer. It’s a game to be played many times as you learn more about the ships, the factions, the enemies, weapons and circumstances. Each time you’ll learn how to survive longer, how to make better use of the ships, systems and resources you encountered, and how to better choose through the event paths in order to win faction allies as you go.
– Real player with 89.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Early Access Roguelite Games.
I’ll split this review to what I enjoyed and what I did not.
What I enjoyed
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You really get the feeling of trying to build together a rag-tag fleet of military and civilian ships, fleeing away from a seemingly unstoppable enemy while building up your arsenal, firepower and the capacity to support your fleet. Awesome feeling. :)
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Lots of interesting concepts, boarding, resource harvesting, different kinds of weapons to counter different enemies. Really enjoyed different weapons, upgrades, ship types, keeping civilians in cargo holds (then performing a crew transfer to abandoned/disabled ships) and the ability build up my fleet. :D
– Real player with 51.9 hrs in game
Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness
Cant recommend this yet. I have no problems with the usual early access stuff; broken game mechanics, bugged quests, and balance issues. Those are all easy to fix. However, I do have some main concerns that the small dev team may or may not be able to fix for main release:
1. Performance issues. Long load times and poor frame rates on high end machines with SSDs. Not acceptable from a game that looks like 1998. Since you get a loading screen every time you enter/exit an area or building, long loading times severely impact the overall experience. Pretty much every streamer who streamed this said the same thing.
– Real player with 66.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Early Access CRPG Games.
Party-based computer rpg similar to NWN, Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, et al. If you like those type this game should fit your needs. It is RTwP for those who only play one type of combat.
I think there is enough here to support for sure:
Pros:
Quite a large variety of stuff to find for the hoarder in all of us.
Melee combat is fairly robust and healing gets the job done.
The painted map backgrounds are mostly pretty.
Good variety in classes.
I will cover cons in detail since they need fixing:
– Real player with 23.3 hrs in game
Galactic Ruler
I love the way they take ground combat seriously in Galactic Ruler. In most 4x space games ground combat feels like a barely thought of after thought.In Galactic Ruler its the main focus. You can be fighting large scale invasions/wars on multiple planets/moons with thousands of units on each planet/moon all at the same time.
You can automate these wars, or manage them yourself .It really shines though, once you learn the combat and manage the wars on your own.Got a tough frontline your having trouble breaking thru ? Airdrop troops behind it and cut off its supply.Got a series of close together urban areas with garrisons you just cant manage to push thru ? Bring in the art and aircraft and bombard it ,heck level it if you have to .
– Real player with 583.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Early Access Strategy Games.
//Update - Oct 10, 2021
Nearly a year has passed since my original review. A lot has changed with this game, but not enough. I speculate that UI design problems are ones the company are not aware of because they got used to it, while the rest of us struggle to figure it out. In time and with patience, you will also figure it out, but it will break the immersion continuously still. Lots of clicks for little things like loading units into transports. It’s just kind of bad design so far. I do have to be pretty critical about that.
– Real player with 42.3 hrs in game
ShemHaMephorash
A historical low fantasy strategy game surrounding the Great Game and Golem technology at the end of the 19th century
Long ago, humankind received special grace in the form of “words.”
“ShemHaMephorash”, which moves clay dolls and gives them miracles, supported civilization.
In addition, the world called and praised the people who manipulated that special power as “Scribe (Rabbi).”
Over the years, humankind has been devoted to battle, just like historical facts, and rabbis has been deeply involved in battle.
That didn’t change during the 1878 Afghanistan’s war and The Anglo-Russian Great Game.
Now, at the crossroads of civilization,
lead your chosen nation to victory and unravel the mystery hidden in the miraculous language “ShemHaMephorash” while following the stories of the rabbis.
■ Game system
This game is a derivative of the strategy game “Vahrentuga”, which consists of a turn-based strategy phase and an RTS-style tactical phase set in the Second Anglo-Afghan War that broke out in 1878.
The purpose of the basic game is to expand your territory and use the income from that territory to take advantage of the battle and keep your army alive until the end of the story.
In addition, you must achieve the victory conditions set for each story.
- At the lowest difficulty level, you can ignore this victory condition.
■ Strategy phase
In the Strategic Phase, you can hire soldiers, select territories to attack, deploy defense forces, and improve territories as use special compartments.
The most important thing in battle is a stable logistics.
Let’s prepare the military and domestic affairs suitable for the war situation and steadily grow the power.
■ Tactical phase
In the tactical phase, RTS-style battles that mainly combine four types of infantry, artillery, cavalry, and rabbi are fought.
Your tactics can easily overturn sometimes inferior situations.
■ About operability
Basic operations can be performed with just the mouse and space key,
and in the tactical phase, you can operate each unit while pausing the game at any time.
Industries of Titan
There are already a lot of excellent (constructive) reviews here already for the 21 June 2021 Steam release but I’ll add my 2 cents here to talk more about the side elements of the game and offer some advice for potential players who are still sitting on the fence.
What do you get when you combine the macro-management aspects of SimCity 2013, with FTL-like micro-management in factory management and combat, then slap on a UI that’s reminiscent of grand strategy games? You get the absolutely fascinating city builder that is Industries of Titan (IoT for short).
– Real player with 115.3 hrs in game
My first impression of the game:
The beginning is a bit confusing. You have different management levels:
1. Production
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Collect raw materials (initially from ruins, later in mines)
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Collect artifacts (also from ruins)
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Produce fuel and electricity
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manage garbage (a lot)
2. Citizens and workers
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Buy and house citizens
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Earn money from citizens watching advertisements
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convert some citizens into 24/7 workers (who then stop watching ads)
3. Build on two different levels
- Inside buildings on a square grid (reminiscent of Tetris blocks :D )
– Real player with 54.8 hrs in game
Net King’s Call
lotta fun, each unit is fun to play and switching up the troops prevents it from getting stale.
– Real player with 8.9 hrs in game
10/10, almost as good as committing tax evasion
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
NovaMundi: The Spear of Chaquén
I love the game. It is very refreshing to find a game in a new world and based on a new-old mythology and set up. This is not a medieval fantasy or your generic story. This is about real events, with some changes in order to improve gameplay and storytelling but in such a way that is interesting. Of course, because it is in early access it has a lot to improve and tweak but I recommend to give it a chance and help the developer to develop…
Now, gameplay wise you have a party and you need to explore the (huge) map to finish missions. There are towns with markets where buy supplies and hire party members. At least for now and for me, the game can be hard. But there is a lot to learn that scratch that final part.
– Real player with 8.6 hrs in game
I’ll update my review as needed, but so far…
The game has huge potential. There are a few bugs, but it just released in early access, so give it a minute. Other than the bugs, I really like some of the game concepts.
The map is pretty big. I’m in day 35 or so and have only explored maybe 1/3 of it. Combat can be optimized, but it’s still pretty rewarding to watch 40 dudes just melt to your warband.
Excited to see what the coming months bring.
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution
Species: ALRE is a game for those of us longing for the glory days of SimEarth and though those days are long gone we can atleast see some semblance of evolution happening here.
The Good
Species ALRE gives players a wide range of options to steer how evolution will occur throughout their playthrough. There are map-wide effects such as raising or lowering the sea level, increasing or decreasing land fertility, screwing around with the global temperature and more.
Other effects are to introduce artifical selection pressure for traits that the player finds (un)desirable. This is achieved through rovers, spawnable autonomous entities that are given a single mission, to either feed or kill those with the trait in question. This allows the player enough freedom to have his creatures evolve however he wants, such as giving them enormous necks or creating a biome consisting only of hyper-aggressive huge herbivores.
– Real player with 49.7 hrs in game
I want to be clear: this is not a “game” for everyone, but if the idea is intriguing enough to you and you have some spare cash I would say take the risk and invest in it. There is nothing like this anywhere else. This isn’t some sort of half-assed early access stuff that will poorly mimic other titles then end up abandoned. This is a legit playground for anyone with a fascination with biology, genetics and evolution. If you want to make it a “game” and actively set goals you can. However, a good question to ask yourself is whether you’d be interested in letting the simulation play out without any interference.
– Real player with 45.5 hrs in game
Naval Battles Simulator
The more I play this game the more I see the potential but more the really bad failings.For those old enough to remember, this looks like a re-vamp of an old DOS Game, I think it was something like Great Pacific Sea Battles which was on Amiga and had about 5 different versions.This game reflects that in most ways with a modern twist.It is a slow time, strategy game where you put ships against each other. Its very basic but kind of addictive and will bring out the inner tactician in you.I wish I could give this a neutral review because the developer would appear not to be English, and the English is fairly poor - understandable, but for an English speaker it loses gloss.A lot of the controls are not perfected. For example, if you click on your own ship in the “Damage” screen with your right mouse button, you will either damage your own ship or flood it. Additionally, when you try to purposely flood parts of your ship, you can’t stop the balance of water when it stops. It’s little things like this that need to be tweaked as they are frustrating parts of gameplay.Additionally, if you choose a battle you can flick between the Axis and Allies - which takes away the fog of war element depending on which side you choose.The Campaign part is the most promising but also the most frustrating - the tutorial gives you a basic idea of how to operate your ship and this works well for the Battles only element. But the Campaign is just difficult to understand.I would love to work on the developers with the English and suggestions on how to make this game better and more usable. For the older generation who don’t want all flashy graphics but the equivalent of a large tactical naval game of chess, this game has potential - but needs to be improved to give a solid thumbs up.In its current state its not worth the price tag due to poor English, buggy controls and lack of a Campaign tutorial. But the simplicity and playability of its game is worth investing in, if it was under 10 pounds.Good potential, not finished article yet.
– Real player with 124.5 hrs in game
As said somewhere on Community Hub “Don’t let simple interface fool you”.
You can decide how deep you want to dive into management. Either CPUvsCPU strategy and clicking on Automatic battle (to be able to replay if not satisfied with outcome), or manually design route to each convoy and control every battle same way manually.
Game have clear representation model of major naval objects enough for good variety and complexity of gameplay. There is some drawbacks and some advancements, but when you get understanding what exact action does and what does not you get some clear way to do the things.
– Real player with 36.7 hrs in game
Trigon: Space Story
Space roguelike adventure. Take a chance to become a spaceship captain and lead your own crew, make pivotal decisions, and inevitably win tactical battles. Uncover the mysteries of the galaxy, among which is the star of Trigon, the most sinister and enigmatic one.
TACTICAL BATTLES
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Enjoy epic ship battles in wonderous parts of the universe. There is a deadly spaceship with multiple combat subsystems at your disposal. Just don’t forget that it’s important to take care of both the ship and the captain. Since it’s you who are the captain!
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Fight in your own fashion. Overwhelm the enemy’s defense with your powerful weapons or force their ship’s life-support system out of action to watch them die of oxygen deficiency.
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Secure a tactical victory by using your crew’s unique abilities. Send your landing force to unexpectedly board the enemy’s ship, or be savvy enough to exploit your crew members’ abilities and take control of the other party’s ship without damaging its valuable cargo.
SPACESHIPS
Brave captains like you can enjoy a wide range of spaceships. There is a great deal of choice between classical Human ships, energy-efficient Etari ships , biomechanical Rakkhs ships , and the high-tech Taertikons ones. It’s up to you!
RICH ARMORY
Lasers, turrets, plasma-cannons, bombs, drones, and many more to try. Don’t be afraid to accumulate your own unique battle experience using them alone or in combination with various ships. Feel free to play around with it!
CREW
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Face all sorts of moral issues and test your people’s loyalty during revolts, vagaries of fortune, wars of words, and difficult life choices. Your subjects will also be prone to love and hatred, granting themselves buffs and debuffs.
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Check out the unique features, passive perks and specializations. Feel free to try them out and combine the uncombinable to find the combination that works just for you.
ABILITIES
Apply the unique features of your units as well as powerful abilities that will get you unmatched advantage over the enemy. Complete key quests and defeat bosses to enjoy even more abilities, turning each playthrough upside down — like extrasensory perception, telepathy, hacking, battle fury, and many more to go!
NEW ADVENTURE EACH TIME
All and everything can be generated: space clashes, events with various outcomes, as well as social interaction with the crew. Each game follows a different path, and each time you can take on a new role. You can play as a good-hearted captain eager to save the world one day, whereas the next day may turn you into an evil pirate, killing and robbing everyone on your way. Or you might want to try the role of a soldier of fortune, hired by a large corporation and doing things only for money. Whatever your choice is today, your experience will be unique.
RICH WORLD BUILDING
The Universe is inhabited by:
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Savvy and adventurous Humans
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Warmongering and dangerous Rakkhs
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Sophisticated and supercilious Etari
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Mysterious and shrewed Taertikons
These are the key races, with their own peculiarities, ships, and mindsets. Apart from the major races, there are different factions in the game, like space pirates, who are not averse to profiting off of a space traveler they come across; soldiers of fortune, or venators, stalking the galaxy and hunting you; merchants ready to trade everything and everyone for their own gain — and it’s just to name a few.
Each race boasts its own history and has its own opinion about the things going on in the galaxy. Are you taking their stand or choosing your own path? It’s up to you!
YOU ARE TO GO THROUGH
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Dynamic events, new and interesting each time! Your spaceship went through the system smoothly the other day; but what if there is a traitor among the crew this time? At least your mechanical engineer is pretty sure about it. Well, sort of.
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Space stations, deserted colonies, a spaceship that disappeared long ago… You can encounter anything and everything! Your exploration is, however, bound to taking risks — who knows what your decisions would lead to.
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Moral dilemmas. Would you opt for saving people from a burning spaceship or for helping the pirates ravage it? Or would you do something else instead? Whatever you choose, there is no chance for boredom!