This game rewards intelligence and punishes ignorance. You send 5 squads across an open field to charge that machine gunner, they are going to get punished by the machine gunner and by any support squads nearby and highly likely 12 cm mortars are going to drop onto your heroic charge. Instead stay in cover and flank them and / or use smoke as well as a direct assault with flanmking and pinning manouvres. I love this game, too many games past and present make people invincible they get shot and nothing happens other than the health bar drops a bit but in Close Combat 5 they get shot they will get injured and will reduce in their speed as they travel and their morale may take a hit too. You are in command of soldiers dependent on your choices. From beaches, countryside, towns, fortifications and a mix of all too. Your decisions will determine their survival. You can choose to be German or US forces. There are single scenarios to full campaigns and you can build your own campaigns too in a very easy to do on the map clicking interface so you can set your campaign up choose with forces are taking part and deploy them to fight. On each battle you get to choose your squads and in campaign mode you will feel the losses if you are reckless with their lives. But you also get to see the enemy forces diminish as you fight them. I like the battles, I like the morales, I like the ammunition limits, I like how the squads are not robots, I like how they react to what is before them and happening to them. The use of cover from hiding under a tractor in ambush or a shell hole maybe a hedgerow just waiting for the perfect moment to wipe a squad out as it attempts to pass. What I really like is how you can change the amount of squads you put on the map and the enemy as well. Usually I let the computer sort itself out, depending on sort of challenge I want I might make my own mini game of having a few squads in a desperate last stand against the enemy advance.
I like the game for its atmosphere, the graphics you see on the store page says it all. the black and white slightly ghostly look of the monsters works for it. I like the simplicity of it, there is no equipment beyond maybe you will find something in a treasure chest and that may increase a stat. So far not seen any shops or any inventory even and for once that is nice. I can just jump into this dungeon maze and focus on the business of killing monsters and finding an exit to go deeper into the dungeon to find more monsters. There is not an auto mapper within the game so you will have to make your own map and that is why I would call it a dungeon maze game with monsters. I am trying to go by memory alone on finding my way around and I am happy that I can find my way around with doing that. Feels like I am actually playing something. You will lose characters and you will have to get ones to replace the lost ones and if you get wiped out then you will have to pick a whole new squad but replacments are of similar stats of the previous lost characters. The dungeon will still be waiting for your new members. I never thought I would like a maze type game but I do like this one for its simplicity you pick how to fight you unlock skills and its a nice fresh take on recent years. Simplistic usually means cartoony interface or overly simplistic graphics. In this game, simplistic is how the user can play the game and not be bogged down by armor class, making money, get a +1 damage sword the game says NO! This game says you control the adventurers now go enjoy the Dungeons. Sometimes you just want to play a game like this and not a "data analyst sim" which unfortunately is how too many games are feeling. I like Demon Lord Reincarnation, there are many better games out there but sometimes you just want to be able to relax and play and that is what this does in my opinion. Downside? Could do with more variety of things happening both positive and negative.
