Many thanks for the demo--it clearly demonstrated the shortcomings of the game. It's simple and obtuse at the same time. A rock-paper-scissors card game in a dark room with no real payoff for repeated matches. A much more fun alternative would be Ring of Pain or Balatro. Hard pass.
I played this several years ago and really enjoyed it. I picked it up again this week and uninstalled it after a few sessions. The gameplay did not age well, nor does the campaign draw you in enough to tolerate the game's flaws. The good part: The unit creation and upgrade systems are unique and involve cycling units through different buildings to create various combinations of units and skills. It's a solid system that is not too complicated and that keeps the game dynamic and fresh. There is a good array of hero units among the four factions, and the AI plays decently enough. The not-so-good part: The campaign is mediocre, and most missions end with you having to hunt down every last peasant and destroy every last hut. The resource collecting and base sprawl are as stale and unsightly as they were 20 years ago and distract from the otherwise engaging fighting. Graphics, sound effects, and music are passable, though map textures are a bit washed out and low-res. If you like RTS games, this is certainly worth a try. Again, I really liked it during my first play-through some years ago, and it is rather unique among RTS games. It's easily worth $5.
For those who never got into the Civilization series but still wanted a historical, turn-based game, this is a solid alternative. The tutorial and story campaign quickly get you up to speed, and there are about 10 different maps to play on in single- and multiplayer. There is a lot of similarity between factions, but geography and map position (and some player imagination) make the scenarios feel convincing enough. There are several win conditions that you can set, and you have a lot of choice regarding the objectives that you can pursue. The AI is quite competent, and graphics are simple but effective. This is an easy recommend in the $5-10 range. However, do check out the demo, which convinced me to buy the game.
This is a somewhat interesting rogue-lite puzzle game in which you move your 3-mech army around on a small grid to keep alien insects from destroying civilians in buildings. It held my interest for about an hour before I realized that I was simply moving puzzle pieces on a small grid in order to defend a set number of buildings--wash, rinse, and repeat. There's nothing wrong with this if you like puzzles, but it got old quickly for me. The upgrade system and weapon unlocks were anti-climactic and really didn't shake up the basic, repetitive formula of the game. This developer's other game, FTL, is a much better use of time, and I highly recommend it. Into the Breach is a bit of a downgrade.
I bought this game years ago based on the concept, videos, and screenshots. It was a mistake. You really shouldn't touch this game unless you know something about naval and submarine warfare, or have the patience to follow the steep learning curve here. I should say upfront that I know next to nothing about submarine warfare, so I was really hoping to be educated by the game. Sadly, I never made it past the tutorials. The game assumes a certain amount of technical knowledge concerning submarines, and the tutorial instructions are all in writing. The controls are not all that intuitive, and the action proceeds without much in the way of explanation or player input. The game still looks good, has some voice acting (mostly commands or brief status reports), and the music creates atmosphere. But none of this matters if you don't know what you are doing or where to start. Again, only try this if you know something about submarines. The game is not going to hold your hand, even in the tutorials.
Although I didn't finish it, I liked Wings of Prey overall. The gist of it is that you are a WWII pilot fighting for the Allies in Europe. You get to do a number of kinds of missions in several different planes of varying quality. For its age, the game looks great, and the music and voice acting are well done. The tutorials are decent, and the game has multiple difficulty levels. I played on arcade--which is casual or easy--since the higher difficulties have you flying planes that feel like bouncing jalopies. The main problem with the game is the controls. If you don't have a Hota joystick, you are probably going to have a less than optimal experience. I played with an XBox360 controller. Although I could remap the buttons, the flying and fighting never felt quite right. It ranged from passable to sloppy and janky. Alternatively, you could play the game with keyboard and mouse, but I think that would be a nightmare. You really need a Hota to get the best experience. If you have a Hota or a compatible gamepad, this is easily worth $10. I am probably done with it since I no longer have the patience that I used to have with finicky or awkward games, but I did have a fairly good time playing through about a third of the campaign for several hours.
I found this tedious and underwhelming. I am not sure why it gets such high marks from some players. It's like taking the base-building from a late 1990s real-time strategy game and then making a game out of that mechanic alone. After enduring the demo for 15 minutes, I completely failed to see the point of it. Anyhow, this was a 1-star experience, but I am going to give it 2 stars, since I do appreciate the fact that the developers did release a demo, which is rare nowadays.
This is an average, middle-of-the-road computer RPG. It doesn't do anything particularly well nor does it do anything especially badly. The real attraction here is the implementation of D&D rules and the turn-based combat. Both are reminiscent of the Baldur's Gate and Divinity games. Other than that, this is a poor man's rendition of those games. The base Solasta game includes only about 5 classes, 5 races, a rather bland campaign, and stock characters that you have probably seen in every other copycat RPG game. To be fair, I did like the environments, and there is nothing wrong with the inventory management, spell-casting, travel system, or music. Fortunately, the difficulty level can be adjusted during gameplay, which is great since there are a number of ridiculously unbalanced fights that start cropping up around 5th level. Also, the death system is forgiving, and your characters won't die in combat unless they are left without any treatment for too long or the whole party gets killed. Again, it's an acceptable game; the main problem is that it's all been done before and better. If you can get this for $10 or so, it's worth a try. Also, there are modding tools and mods that add value to the core game, as well as some expansions (none of which I have tried). Otherwise, there is nothing to see here if you are looking for something on the level of Baldur's Gate, Divinity, Dragon Age: Origins, etc.
I played this for several hours over a weekend and found it quite fun. It has a little bit of a learning curve beyond the tutorial. However, it's easy enough to grasp the core mechanics. The game is a randomized series of encounters and mini-quests that push along the narrative of you being a starship captain chased by a rebel navy. There are some light RPG elements, such as upgrading equipment and leveling up your crew members. However, most of the game is crisis management--literally putting out fires, fighting off ship invaders, and repairing damaged systems. The visuals and music are minimalist but adequate enough. Combat is a core mechanic of the game, and it never got old. The randomized maps also keep things interesting. Be forewarned: the easy difficulty setting is actually what I think will feel like normal for most players, so I would recommend starting there. Also, the last fight is ridiculously hard, and nothing prior to that point really prepares you for it. This is the only reason the game loses a star in my rating. You can look online for tips and videos that I guess would help you with this last encounter. However, since so much depends on random elements regarding your equipment, crew, available stores, and other variables that change from run to run, do plan on losing FAR more games than you will ever win. Overall, I enjoyed this game over the three days that I've played it. I'm putting it down for now, given my cluelessness and frustration over how to win the final fight. However, I'll probably pick it up again at some point. Also, there are some good mods available for improving graphics, adding more ships, and so on, thus replayability is good.
This is the best, most accessible WWI game I've played (not that there are a lot of such games out there). The systems are easy to understand, the gameplay is engaging, and the game is easily modded with the included editor. The campaigns tilt toward historical outcomes, which makes them predictable and a bit boring overtime. However, player decisions and moves can change things up, and computer allies and enemies tend to adjust in appropriate ways. You can play as a single nation or as one of the two alliances. The saving grace for this game is that the developers had the foresight to allow the player to easily modify the game with the editor, and they included many in-game options and settings that can significantly change gameplay. Without these options, some players would likely find the game too hard on even normal difficulty, especially if you are playing as the Central Powers. The main issue is that the AI is quite competent (which is good) but gets a huge amount of default cheats, including free units, free research and technology, free diplomatic bumps, and other advantages. I know that the purpose of these cheats is to keep the game challenging and to recreate the slogging, stalemate nature of WWI warfare. However, just repeatedly reliving known history is not too much fun in a video game, so I am thankful that the developers made it fairly easy to change the game's perimeters. It is easy to recommend this game. I only play single player, but I assume that it would be great in multiplayer as well. I also have the WWII version of this game series, but I think that this one is better overall. I'd love to see a Strategic Command game based on the Napoleon era.
