Hot Brass
This game is just lovely.
This does have that SWAT 4 tactical style of gameplay, and it’s a lot of fun, even in solo. The game is very nicely polished and balanced.
While when I first saw the trailer, the icons instead of player sprites seemed a bit of an odd aesthetic choice, I quickly got used to them, and gotta admit that it was an appropriate choice for this kind of game. You get information about your unit and their weapons displayed very neatly and visibly and it puts more emphasis on the actual tactics. The minimalistic design of the game allowed the developers to polish the main gameplay loop to a point where it just… FEELS really good to play.
– Real player with 21.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real Time Tactics Top-Down Games.
Most of the complaints about this game seem to revolve around the theme of “This isn’t how I think it should be so it must be bad”. For every complaint I have read, I also see a lack of understanding about a game mechanic or tactics in general. There were a few instances where I had no idea why certain things were happening only to find out there was something about the game that was not specifically addressed in the tutorial or any particular level, so I did not know to look for it. But once I realized what it was (specifically, the icon distinction between holding a weapon and pointing a weapon), I could adjust. I played through the entire game solo with only a handful of trouble spots, so the whole “difficulty is built around multiplayer” argument is completely invalid.
– Real player with 20.3 hrs in game
Magi
This is an old and fun game that used to be sold by the standalone developer. It’s a shame strategies are not still posted, for it can really be challenging to win. Music soundtrack is pretty iconic… I don’t think the developer supports it anymore but if you’re into magic duels then you’ve probably spent worse money than this.
– Real player with 8.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real Time Tactics Tactical RPG Games.
It’s “TUG-OF-WAR” with fireballs and techno-liches.
Other games come to mind, like
“Aeon Command” (space battles)
“Samurai vs Zombies Defense” (goofy samurai warfare)
and
“Puzzle Chronicles” (the illegitimate child of Tetris and Mortal Kombat)
These game elements are constant:
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try to hold the line
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manage your defences
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beef-up your attacks
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spam your enemies to death
In Magi, you start by opening magical “channels.” These channels enable your spells and strengthen them. Then, it’s a real-time battle as you queue-up spells for casting. It’s like the building queue in Starcraft or Civ… only it’s your shield spell, or a magic missile, or summoning an imp. As your mage is casting one spell, you have time to set up the next. And the next. You can plan a bit… or panic. Apparently, I’m still fond of panicking.
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
Wonhon: A Vengeful Spirit
After playing the demo I waited for this for so long…. and the full game surpasses my expectations. More enemy types and mechanisms and more brain racking to finish a mission. Also if you played the demo, the full game lets you CARRY OVER YOUR SAVE FILE. Awesome.
So what’s this game? Well in addition to the descriptions above I must say, the AIs can be pretty aggressive… not knowing the map fully on first tries, you are prone to die a lot. (remember: your hon gauge fills up when newly possessing someone and use a bit of that to dash through walls at the end of the gauge to get away) The game does let you play with fewer enemies if you die too many times or are having trouble but no real manual difficulty setting which I like. It’s immersive. You can’t choose the difficulty in life. It was nightmare mode for the Koreans in 1920 every day.
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
I was captivated by the E3 presentation so much that I had to play. I love horror, especially eastern stuff like Fatal Frame, so I might be a bit biased.
It’s a fun game, but quite repetitive. There are a lot of bumps that I’ll explain, but nothing to serious to stop you from playing. It’s significantly easier than it looks, even offering to replay missions with fewer enemies when you die often, and never (visibly) penalizing you for it.
Much of the game consists of three different types of missions; slaying, in which you’ll kill everyone in sight, fetch quests, where you’ll sneak around to get something for some spirits eternal rest, and the unfortunate bulk of them, will be rescue missions (escorts). The Ai can only really get stuck in the same places you would, which you will likely memorize and avoid, which is bearable, it’s okay as they follow you quite closely at an inconsistent speed. Most of Challenge mode consists of escorts, which is off putting, but the main game is enjoyable enough for 4-5 hours, especially in terms of rich atmosphere, and locations through different seasons, the best part.
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
Broken Lines
It is an “ok” game if you have no better alternatives. The reason I gave a thumb down is because of so many super positive reviews with which I disagree and think they distort the picture here.
TACTICS / GAMEPLAY - 3/5
The challenge curve is rather flat, mostly without any complex or demanding situations. Maps are all very similar in terms of combat challenges (very similar setups of obstacles, terrain, challenges etc).
One of the top reviewers here complained about pulling extra pods in Xcom due to bad mechanics - IT IS THE SAME HERE! Once you spot 1 enemy then the time does not stop when you discover more enemies. So you end up pulling more and more enemies and your soldiers once told to go somewhere, will never abort the order even if going straight into the enemy guns.
– Real player with 37.0 hrs in game
I would recommend Broken Lines for those seeking a simpler, yet more raw/ intense tactics gaming experience than XCom. If you’re just a fan of third person tactic games and want to try something with a neat tactical twist, Broken Lines is a great purchase.
Differences from your average squad based tactics game:
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Biggest difference is the 8 second command increments. You provide your soldiers a series of orders to execute in sequence, then let time flow and see how they worked out.
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Set characters means being able to bake in things like how your soldiers work together or interact based on your back story.
– Real player with 20.7 hrs in game
4Line
hi
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
yes
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Mud and Blood
I love the Mud And Blood saga.
I’ve been a fan for 15 years of the games and the concept behind, which is kept in its Steam version.
It’s a one man army of a game which provides you with a strict and unforgiving challenge.
The game requires you to be alert and actively playing, focusing on each decision and movement in order to avoid certain defeat. This causes the player to descend in a trance, in which you need to be at 100% of your playing capabilities.
The game “fuses” MnB2 and MnB3 togheter, and are now being called classic and campaign.
– Real player with 333.1 hrs in game
As a tester for this game, there’s a reason why I have played this many hours of this game. I’m not the kind of guy who’s a masochist, especially as someone who can remember plenty of times raging at this game. Some moments will be easy and some moments will be randomly challenging. But for new players, especially those unfamiliar with the older Mud and Blood flash games, you will get screwed really hard in the first few or even several hours until you learn. However despite all those moments, I still come back and play this game again and again because its difficulty is what makes winning rewarding, and its randomness is what makes the game replayable. I’ve lost lots of men to standard rifleman, and other times I managed to beat back a element of infantry backed by armored vehicles.
– Real player with 220.5 hrs in game
Project: Cow
Different and fun.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Reloader: test_subject
Reloader: test_subject is a bullet-counting reload action game. It is inspired by numerous masterpiece gun action movies and indie game ‘Receiver’.
In Reloader, you can experience both realistic gun maneuvering and movie-like gun action. Become the Reloader who have the amazing gun shooting skill but no knowledge about the gun, and experience realistic CQB (Close-quarters combat).
Features
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Insert magazine, pull the slide, and insert bullet in camber. You need to handle all reload actions manually.
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Poor and the untrustful firearm will make unexpected malfunction and make you fall in danger. keep calm and response to malfunction as fast as you can.
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No one tells you how many bullets remain in your magazine. count bullet and make the best timing to reload!
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Experience tactical combat with realistic stopping power.
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Enjoy the combination of retro pixel art and a modern lighting system.
Synopsis
You woke up in the unfamiliar building. your hands are tied and the gun gripped gang aims his gun on your neck. A passerby (self-named) spy helps you and saves your life, but she looks like try to make you to the test subject of the new unstable technology.
You became the test subject of the suspicious gadget that loading the legendary agent’s skill and you get amazing shooting skills. Unfortunately, this horrible gadget full of bugs and errors couldn’t load any memory about gun and reload skills.
But keep calm and start one by one. Grip your mag, insert in your gun, and pull the slide to feed the bullet in the chamber. Now you are ready to fight.
The only provided things in your hands are one pistol and some of the mags. Now you need to escape from the building full of armed gangs alone!
There Will Be Ink
Cool isometric twin-stick shooter with a fun theme/premise and surprisingly deep gameplay (cover mechanics, stamina, dodge-roll, wind affects bullets, etc.). Current Beta and Alpha campaigns offer a good mix of challenge and fun. I’ve only played solo and two player coop so far but enjoyed both. There are a few levels that I died a lot on but with some unit upgrades and a change of tactics I was(/we were) able to pass them after a few more attempts. Having a T-Rex with an uzi definitely helped on one occasion. Will be checking back to see what other content and customization is added before this title leaves early access!
– Real player with 39.6 hrs in game
It’s a lot of fun for the time it lasts, definitely worth the price.
– Real player with 16.8 hrs in game
Seconds in Space
Use ships to attack and destroy enemy space stations in real time. Navigate through different randomly setup star maps to get to the exit and win. It’s a 2D single player space game that’s massively replayable. No matter how many times you play you’ll always have fun and feel dumb for making simple mistakes. There’s a wide range of difficulty levels so you can start simple then build your skill to experience the full depth of the game.
Destroy Enemy Space Stations
Command two groups of ships to attack and destroy enemy space stations. With a bit of practice you’ll quickly learn where to place each ship, when to attack what turret and how to counter their abilities, the hard part is mastering it. Only the enemy turrets have abilities so you must be extra focused on using your units as a team and their positioning. Dodge projectiles the best you can and when you make a mistake move a ship to safety and another one in to take some hits.
Just Get to the Exit!
Navigate through different randomly setup star maps to get to the exit and win. They have fixed layouts but the rewards and exit point are in randomized locations. Some rewards will help you and some will harm you. The better you think, plan and understand what to do the more prepared you will be. Even a slight difference in the layout of the star map can greatly change how you play it. Don’t worry though they are relatively easy to understand you just have to remember to take a moment to stop and think.
Try the Demo
Want to learn more? It’s small (about 30 MB) and it’ll download and open really fast.