At first, I thought it was a "meh" game, but I stuck with it and after around 8-10hrs I really began to enjoy it! When I got used to the game and it's system it felt good, really good.
It's a little rough around the edges but the devs seems to care and we already got 3 patches so im not that worried about that. I REALLY love the "No RNG" in combat and you gotta love the Cold War setting!
I do not experience any problems with perfomance or any major bugs atm.
I really Recommend this game so I cant see why it got "Mixed" review on steam because it deserves way better imho!
Finally, another type of turn-based tactics game. There is some good here but unfortunately a lot of bad as well. I liked the premise and story type. Some of the new things they tried, like implementing an “awareness” resource is a cool new idea. The combat system, in my opinion, is very unnatural and makes the game unplayable for me. I feel that a lot of situations are unfair, like how you cannot avoid taking damage while being fired upon even when you dodge. But I do appreciate that stealth is an option. It also has some weird quirks such as - you cannot perform a takedown on a character with more HP. While in mission you can hide bodies, but they miraculously disappear. You can gather intelligence and make connections (in game mechanic), but while this is a cool idea, the mini-game in its self is overly simplified. You also cannot pause the cinematics.
https://pixelloot.com
I really liked the premisse of the game, XCom but make it a cold war conspiracy game? Sure, why not! And while I do like all the basic gameplay elements, the way these are utilised just bores me. The combat is extremely repetitive, the conspiracy files are just generic "connect the dots" minigames instead of actually transporting the plot, and so on.
I wish this game was shorter and more focused on a narrative experience instead of a long, drawn out RNG thing.
This game came out of nowhere a few weeks ago for me, and I immediately fell in love with the concept. Controlling a freelance secret spy organization at the height of the Cold War, with a bevy of guns, gadgets and perks to customize your agents with? Also MKUltra? How could I resist?
A lot of complaints about XCom type games is the "chance to hit" system, which is NOT present here. Your agents have good aim, the only thing you have to worry about are the things standing in your agents way of getting that mortal or fatal blow, such as their ability to dodge or their cover. This all affects how MUCH damage you deal, not whether or not you miss. Which makes things less of a hail mary for every shot taken. This does take out some of the nail biting moments, but it also feels fair. Besides, the stealth has enough nail-biting moments to go around. With disguises and easy-to-see line of sights of the enemy, theres a fair bit of depth when it comes to the stealth, although getting to the point where you have enough supressors for your team can take some time or sacrifice. The story is very authentic, using all the terms, locations, codenames, and espionage you would expect from a cold war spy thriller. The Investigation Board system is fairly unique, and while simple, I find it to be a lot of fun digging through the lore and piecing things together in such an interesting way.
All that said I do have a few complaints. Starting out, this game can be challenging and feel like it isn't telling you things to the extent where you can lose missions because of it. It takes the long-haul approach to teaching you the ins and outs of its systems, so sometimes save-scumming is almost a necessity (I actually lost my first campaign on the second mission in Iron Man mode). Another issue is that the voice acting seems a bit... off. It's hard to feel for some of the characters because of this, and I understand it's a small issue, and I was able to overcome these issues easily enough.
I started three times over until I got a grasp on all the mechanics, escpecially on the strategy layer. Some aspects could use a little better documentation. On the tactical layer, the UI is a little janky. It was also necessary to start over to follow the sometimes confusing story (you begin as a CIA-division, yet you already command a group of agents with all kinds of background - so the transtition from CIA to your own freelance agency is a little blurry).
Other than that I LOVE this game. I circumvented the non-intuitive fights by going for a non-violent playstyle. Which is possible on almost every mission :) If you follow that path, the game can become an interesting puzzle. You need one agent who breaks through the window to take out a civilist, so the next agent can reach the camera control, so the third agent gets to the secret file, and you have to to that in the right order. This is the basic concept, in game that chain of commands can become complicated and really fun.
They got the atmosphere of that era, or at least the Hollywood-version of it, spot on. Think more of Three days of Condor than of James Bond, and you get the idea. The pinboard on which you connect your clues is gamewise not much to do, but it's full of flavor text that enriches the story of the game (most of it actually happens in those clues) and I liked that. It's more about suspense and less about XCOM-style action. The graphics don't look expensive, still really immersive and fitting to the 80s. Again, not the neon-cyberpunk Miami Vice 80s, but brown cassette recorders and ill fitting suits. The soundtrack makes me want to grab a coat and roam rainy streets. Instead I will listen to it in the background while I browsing the internet, but that's my fault.
I don't really have to say much about the game mechanics, for me this game is all about the atmopsphere and quenching my thirst for a neglected era in gaming. The developers did a great job!
