1980
Quite fun, quite well executed, it’s a small game but what it does, it generally does well.
The one criticism I have to make concerns “gentrification”. I know what gentrification is, I’ve spent the last twenty years living in Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle, all cities where gentrification has happened. The issue of poor people being priced out of their city is one that I’m aware of. It’s a complex issue - it’s bad for the working class population, but quite nice for the upper-middle-class upwards, because the whole city is reshaped for them; very often the city as a whole thrives. Forty years ago, Catherine street in Toxteth in Liverpool was the scene of rioting; today you pretty much have to be a millionaire to own a house there. The people who used to live there have been pushed out. As to whether you think that’s fair, that probably depends how wealthy you are, and whether you’re on the left or the right politically. It’s currently a live issue in Manchester; regeneration of the northern English former industrial cities was done by giving developers free rein to gentrify at will. The cities were risen from their ashes, essentially at a cost to their working-class populations.
– Real player with 9.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy 2D Games.
This game is not bad, but it’s very unsatisfying.
I understand that you can’t really “win”, that’s the premise of the game.
I started several times and tried almost every possible approach to get all the first missions done, but it seems like that is not possible?! Or there is maybe like one combination/timing, which will make is possible and I wasn’t able to find out how.
If somebody knows, make a comment!
Now it just felt unsatisfying, that I was neither able to finish the missions nor the game in a good way and it was a more frustrating than enjoyable experience. If this is intended due to the urbanization story, okay, but I didn’t liked it.
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game
Chronicles of Ash
Chronicles of Ash is a management simulation game where you take the role of a retired veteran hero that decides to open an adventuring guild to train the next generation of heroes.
Be ready to recruit, customize and send heroes on quests piled up on notice board. Receive pleads for help from traders, nobles, crime bosses and mages to name a few. Engage in deep crafting, enchanting and alchemy systems and even dabble in trading and diplomacy.
With six different endings that, when unlocked, greatly change your next playthrough you will be wanting to unlock all of them.
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy RPG Games.
Empires in Ruins
Edit: The developer is super chill, and is looking to patch out the bugs soon. This is still a hard game with hit-or-miss writing and an imperfect UI, but serious props to anyone who can indie dev something this complex. Check it out if there isn’t something in the review that’s a dealbreaker for you.
This is a very “yes, but…” recommendation.
Empires In Ruins is a thing I should like. It’s a tower defense with a 4x strategy layer, and where you can econ yourself into an easier TD situation, or TD yourself out of a bad economy.
– Real player with 27.9 hrs in game
**This is a short excerpt of my longer analysis and review (available in English and German). I would recommend reading the full text or watching the YouTube Video (German Voiceover, many subtitles)
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Empires in Ruins Test / Review
Empires in Ruins Review – Conclusion and opinion**
For an indie game of a small team just entering early access, the game is already surprisingly polished. The campaign includes a very entertaining story and for strategy fans an appealing game depth.
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
GhostControl Inc.
This review need updating. The game has been updated and polished even further. Will update when I get around to playing it again.
In short:
Ghostcontrol Inc. is a solid and fun turn-based strategy ghost hunting simulator with very good humor.
Ghostcontrol Inc. style and feel is that of a casual and fun game (but not easy :) ). The graphical style, sounds and music are similar to Theme Hospital. Gameplay is sufficiently deep for a turn based game and incorporates a simple 2 AP system which makes the game flow nicely. Menus and action are understandable and there is enough amount of micromanaging to have variety. The story of the game is humorous and well written.
– Real player with 40.5 hrs in game
Ghost Control Inc seemingly has everything going for it. It’s a game where you essentially play team manager for Ghosbusters! And it has a nearly-perfect blend of tactics and management gameplay! What could possibly be more fun?
Unfortunately, the game is marred by several issues.
Firstly, the art direction is uneven at best. Most of the ghosts have very uninspired designs that won’t stick in your mind like those of other franchises involving catching ghosts. Several of the ghosts are just recolors or slight redesigns of the lower level ghosts you fight early in the game, so they’re both boring to look at and repetitive. This also makes it slightly harder to tell what you’re figthing at times.
– Real player with 39.5 hrs in game
Oraiah
This is a really Great game. All i can say is great music great atmosphere, VERY immersive, and its fun. Waking up today i didnt know Id become Tobias Turdschitz of my very own Turdschitz kingdom, Will update more after i get more time in game.
Totally tubuler.
Update- im addicted
The interface is very intuitive i only studied the tutorial 5 minutes and i knew how to play the game. I love the fact that theres lots of decision making, and u feel like your far away in kingdoms fighting for your people. The bardic music is really nice and this is a good game to play while listening to talk radio if u want to turn it off. Its very addicting and i woulda payed more for this game, how far it will go i dont know, but i know within 1 hour of playing i got completely addicted . If youre thinking about buying it, just get it, you wont be disappointed for the price.
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game
Really cool in the first 15 minutes but then you realize just how “varied” it really is. You’ll get the same 10 or so events constantly over and over with no differences whatsoever, the resource system is very lacking and so is the military and building sections. Diplomacy system and law systems are nearly non-existent.
Even if you have no troops, you’ll still get events where it says you lose soldiers and the like.
Good start but bad execution given this is the final project.
English translation is terrible.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Ozymandias: Bronze Age Empire Sim
If you’re interested in Ozymandias, please wishlist, follow us and download the demo! :)
At the dawn of history, Bronze Age kings built the first empires. Strategize their rise to power in a uniquely streamlined 4X.
DISTILLED DESIGN
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Focus on strategy over tactics, we’ve stripped the busywork out of 4X gameplay.
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Combat abstracted via innovative Power system so you need only move armies and fleets.
HISTORICAL MAPS
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8 handmade maps charting Bronze Ages around the world, empires in real-world locations.
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Empires are tagged from ‘Easy’ to ‘Very Hard’ to reflect their unique challenges.
COMPETITIVE AI
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Data-driven AI system, flexible enough to succeed in any environment.
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Streamlined ruleset is inherently AI-friendly so no ‘AI cheating’ required.
MULTIPLAYER
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Players take their turns simultaneously so there’s no waiting around.
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Choose to play ‘live’ (short turn timers) or ‘asynchronous’ (long game timers).
Space Empires I
I remember playing Space Empires way back ages ago, so I was pretty excited to pick the series on steam again and replay them.
Sadly, Space Empires I is NOT FUNCTIONAL on windows 10 at this time. It cannot process a single turn, crashing to desktop when ‘end turn’ is pressed. game load and save functions also do not work either.
This should have been tested more before release.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
I had no idea Steam was carrying the Space Empires Series, and was incredibly shocked to see SE I and not SE II on the store list. So a little bit of history here. Aaron Hall back in 1993 was working on his personal project Space Empires and formed this game as a prototype for something bigger and in 1995. We got Space Empires II.
Space Empires II was technically the first product released to the public and I remember sending in a money order to purchase this game after playing the shareware forever back in the mid 90s. I also got the CD when buying the complete bundle with Space Empire 4 Gold back in the early 2000s. Which was the only way I knew at the time, on how you actually got the original Space Empires prototype.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Tanasurga
Mecha Customizations
Over 100+ different mecha parts and 3 different type of mecha base. With different types of function and stats. Build your own combination of mecha to suit your own strategy. Different pilots will also affect how they use the mecha, so plan your mecha strategically. You can acquire more mecha parts during missions or buy them from the black market.
3 factions in Tanasurga:
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Bandavia
- A country with overflowing natural resources that’s needed by the other countries. Some part of Bandavia is already ruled by the other countries.
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Compagnie
- A country with a declined economy and crisis until a charismatic dictator used people’s anger to start a war, reclaim their glory and expand their territory.
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Morusha
- A prosperous country that getting low on resource. They start to get natural resources from other countries while forcing the people to work for Morusha
The fate of each factions lies in your hands.
Story
Tanasurga is a narative driven game with variety of missions. There will also be different decisions you have to make that will affects how the story goes. See how the choices you made affect the ending of Tanasurga.
Interactive Pilots
Recruit and manage your team of pilots. Each Pilots will have their own unique characteristics and set of skills. You can also build relationship with them to know their backstory and make them better on the battlefield.
Setting
Set in alternate reality World War 2 era, In Tanasurga you’ll see how the war unfolds from South East Asia point of view. There will be moments inspired from real history in Tanasurga’s alternate reality World War 2. You will also visit unique and exotic locations with its culture.
Xenonauts 2
XENONAUTS-2 is a vast single player strategy game in which you control a multi-national military organisation defending our planet from alien invasion.
Battle the extraterrestrials in tense, complex turn-based combat across a variety of maps and missions, recovering and researching their technology to unlock new weapons and equipment!
Take a global view with the real-time strategic management layer: you must establish and develop your bases, conduct research, battle for air supremacy and try to keep the panic level in your funding regions under control.
The strategic and tactical layers of the game are directly related, with ground missions affecting the overall balance of the Geoscape and your research efforts on the recovered items unlocking new equipment for your squads and aircraft. Every management decision you make filters down to the troops you control in battle; every shot you fire could change the balance of strategic power.
Can you hold off the invasion long enough to discover a way to defeat the alien forces?
No knowledge of the previous game is required to play - XENONAUTS-2 is a standalone title with its own setting and narrative.
Key Features
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Ground Combat: The highly-detailed turn-based combat system gives you fine control over your soldiers as they battle the aliens across multiple different mission types and numerous varied environments. The day / night cycle and destructible battlefields open up endless tactical possibilities to defeat your enemies, and your soldiers will grow stronger as they gain combat experience - provided you can keep them alive!
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Strategic Management: A complex strategic layer allows you to coordinate the defence of our planet. Establish bases to extend your reach and use customisable interceptors to shoot down attacking UFOs, then deploy your soldiers to secure resources. Capturing crash sites can secure alien technology and live specimens for research, whereas protecting regions from alien activity and terror attacks will protect your funding and prevent them surrendering to the aliens.
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In-depth Simulation: The structure of Xenonauts-2 is not linear; no two campaigns unfold in exactly the same way. Every element of this complex interlocking simulation has been designed to create maximum coherence between the strategic and tactical layers: small decisions can have an impact across the entire game.
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Extensive Tech Tree: XENONAUTS-2 contains a vast variety of aircraft, vehicles, weapons, armour, and battlefield equipment for you to experiment with. and a deep research tree with over a hundred projects to unlock. Play the game the way you want to play, devising your own tactics and strategies to defeat the extraterrestrial threat!
Key Improvements from XENONAUTS-1
In addition to the new modular upgrade systems mentioned previously, here is a very small selection of key changes and enhancements:
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Improved visuals across all parts of the game, including full 3D tactical environments with a rotatable camera!
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A more detailed and immersive Geoscape simulation incorporating greater player choice and stronger elements of territory control!
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More environments and maps to fight in - including our new Jungle and Boreal biomes!
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New aliens have been added and many existing ones have been redesigned, all of which will benefit from our new and improved AI system!
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A larger research tree with more lore and an expanded variety of equipment for your soldiers to use in battle!
Xenonauts
More faithful than the modern XCOM games. You can build multiple bases to your own style and needs! Multiple drop ships, not a single one and an anthill for you to save the world with. Troops are expendable like they should be! Yay!
Eagerly awaiting the sequel, and hopefully eventual Terror From the Deep spiritual successor.
Only thing letting it down is lack of final polish - quicksave works, quickload doesn’t for some reason, and there’s a few minor glitches like the camera being stuck panning in a direction after an alien turn which requires a quick reload to fix, etc. Sometimes the AI acts a little omnipotent, such as sitting in a corner in a building never moving until the moment you get close enough for it to take a fair shot at your soldiers and then dip back into cover again, even though it shouldn’t have known you were there.
– Real player with 347.6 hrs in game
Good: Mostly faithful recreation of XCOM UFO Defense but with significantly better controls and a cool Cold War setting. No class restrictions like Firaxis XCOM and fewer restrictions in general. You make your own classes. Four gun and explosive tiers.
Nice, detailed lore with the Xenopaedia. Great music overall. Overall good weapon design, with humans getting their own distinctly designed plasma weapons. Sound effects are fantastic, especially for high level weapons and explosions. They even have different sounds for the weapon reloads.
– Real player with 140.7 hrs in game