Starting with Total War: Shogun 2, I've always had a love-for and issue-with real-time and tabletop tactics. For me, I always felt like the bottleneck in my army composition; my reflexes were never good enough to manage a highly mobile army, and I was always outplayed when trying to use something heavier and more static -- I was always there as the weak link stopping myself from using the tactics that I wanted to and having more fun and engaging with games from a period I found captivating. Field of Glory II Medieval has been a near perfect solution for this issue. Field of Glory II Medieval is effectively a 'micro-less' tactics game which more than makes up for the lack of actions-per-minute with a deep and constantly engaging combat system. I feel like my horizons have been totally opened up from charges, breaks, and routes to include: push-and-pull, evasion, cohesion, pursuit, skirmishing, direction, and so on. Taking this deep but intuitive system and combining it with a time of unit diversity and army composition that I don't think has been matched in any other period, where you have every variation in armour, manoeuvrability, and stopping power, I think I'll struggle to go back to playing more traditional games. Content-wise, the game caters to many needs and values: if you are wanting to jump into a quick scenario that will let you experiment with an army you wouldn't normally pick then quick battles are great; the historical campaigns are fulfilling and allow you to tailor an army to better suit a specific tactic across multiple engagements, or you can fulfilll your 'what-if' scenarios across many historically replicated battles. I highly recommend the game to those who feel like your lack of micro-skills can prevent you from making the most of traditional real-time strategy titles, or for those who want to learn a bit more about interesting cultures and the unique ways they fought the wars that helped shape our borders today.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (IWATE from here on for brevity) is a deeply troubling game; for all the happy and heart-warming moments, there are nearly all underpinned by a lot of suffering, sacrifice, fanaticism, and an understanding that without special powers, things can go apocalyptically wrong, even for those with the best chances at a future... But that's alright, because most things are resolved with a card game which might top Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's Pazaak. In IWATE you play as Sol, a child exocolonist, from the age of 10 through 20. Each year is divided into seasons in which you can choose what activities to do to improve your social, intellectual, and physical skills. As mentioned, activities are successfully completed by playing a card game which provides you cards from our experiences in the world, e.g., you might remember a time you were scared and this can be used in social challenges. You're not alone on this new colony, you will have plenty of fellow colonists, of differing ages, ideologies, and jobs, to interact and form relationships with. I can't speak highly enough about how well written the characters are as they grow-up, I even reached out to the game's writer, Sarah Northway, and they were nice enough to send me a response. A typical playthrough is intentionally brief and multiple playthroughs are encouraged -- without wanting to say too much, in subsequent playthroughs you will have opportunities to identify events before they unfold and influence how they occur, if they occur at all. The most important aspect of the game though is that which stuck with me after playing. There's a short list of games that I feel have genuinely challenged the way that I look at the world: (NieR:Automata and Suzerain, if you're interested), but IWATE has made me rethink looking at opportunities, relationships, and authority -- even after getting my 'perfect ending' it's sad to think how it faired compared to my first. Highly recommended.
tl;dr - Steel Division 2 is the best tactical strategy game I have yet played. First, I mostly agree with the other reviews. However, I am not skilled enough to play at a competitive level and I have not yet explored the stratgic modes of the game outside of the tutorial. To keep my contribution to this discussion novel, I want to focus on the following details: -Who is this game for? -What are the unique selling points for this game? -What can I be expected to put into this game to get the most from it? -What is this game missing? -If you are fascinated by the history of WWII but want to get a better understanding of the real-time decision-making process made by high-ranking members of the millitary then this may be for you. If you have played SD:1944 before, you may be interested in the different aspects of combat that come from moving away from hedgerows of Normandy to the more open plains of the Steppes. -Of the WWII titles that I have played, SD2 offers the best real-time tactical experience. Compared to the Wargame franchise, SD feels much more understandable and easier to co-ordinate. For example, the engagement distances are far shorter (typical long-range engagements are 2km (1.2 miles)) and so are the maps. -The game is made up of three main elements: deck composition, tactical gameplay, and strategic gameplay. There are several excellent templates available on Youtube (see RANGROO, VulcanHDGaming etc.) which can be imported immediately. Tactical gameplay can be picked up within an hour by playing the tutorial but will take far longer to excel at (currently I have about 150 hours between SD:1944 and 2, and I am only now taking on hard difficulty AI). -The biggest thing holding back SD2 is the lack of players. If you are interested in 10v10 engagements, be prepared to sit in the multiplayer lobby for a bit. However, the community is also one of the game's best aspects; they are close nit, welcoming, and not short of community events. Please join us!
