Depth of Extinction

An awesome game. The navigation screen is similar to the one from Faster than light, however, there is less variety between encounters. The action phases consist on a tactical turn based strategy battle, with its common mechanics (cover, skills etc.) Each map is procedurally generated, and they vary from some different interiors (warehouses, hospitals...) to exterior docks or even submarine to submarine boarding. Most of the cover elements are destructible, and there is a nice variety of clasess to develop your characters into, each one using its own weapons and gameplay. The dev is very responsive, he takes his time to make updates, but he definitely listens to the reports from players and improves the game with every update. On the technical aspects, the music, graphics and general atmosphere are awesome. To sum up, if you like tactical strategy and roguelite elements (procedurally generated maps, characters perma-death) this game is for you.

I like it better, tho, I think because the characters are more blank slates, so I can make up my own backstories and stuff for them more easily. I disliked most of the characters in Halfway enough that I didn't get very far in it. In terms of pros and cons, I feel like recline187 summed it up pretty well. There's a lot of cool stuff, but some options are clearly superior to others, and, like so many TBT games, it ends up heavily pushing you to a reactive (i.e. hide around corners on overwatch) playstyle, which I find to get kind of boring. Also, it's a minor thing, and maybe it's just rng, but my team is almost all dudes, and I want some more variety. Wish there were more customization options, or at least more recruits to pick from, so I could have some more ladies around.

Depth of Extinction has just sucked me in for two and half hours, even though I only meant to have a quick look after purchasing and installing it. In my opinion, the developers have balanced the gameplay very well, mixing the XCOM and FTL elements quite seamlessly into a refreshing blend of strategy and semi-emergent storytelling. The AI and the soundtrack deserve a special mention, as they contribute to the overall immersiveness and gameplay flow very positively. Some reviewers have given negative remarks about the permadeath feature, which is strange given that it actually is one of the key components that make the game so interesting. Of course with the yet small amount of hours under my belt I can't say for sure if it is possible to run into an encounter which is impossible to get out of alive, but the dev team is churning out patches steadily, and actively seeks to iron out any inconsistencies (the game actually has a bug report button in it!). Overall, the game seems to be very stable and well balanced at this stage. Definitely well worth my money, and among the most enjoyable games I've played in the last few years.

A mixture of FTL-like travels, new X-COM-like combat, and less-than-original-X-COM graphics. The music is nice, though. All in all, a nice game if you're into this sort of thing.

It could be described as a mature version of Robotality/Chucklefish games: mix the atmosphere of Halfway with the gameplay of Pathway, improve the strategic aspect and add a Carpenter-ish atmosphere, then you'll get a pretty good idea of what Depth of Extinction is like. Playing with the Build 52 (still in beta at the time of this review, but it seems pretty bug-free) makes it a perfect game for the amateur of indie team turn-based exploration games.