Developer: Alt Shift
Rrp: £19.49 (Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam) £19.99 (Epic)
I’ve always been a fan of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation book series, so when I read the blurb on this game that it was heavily inspired by it… well, I had to give it a look. I have to say whoever wrote that bit on the website was spot on, the tone of the writing and worldbuilding instantly reminded me of Asimov’s style. What makes it even better is that even if you aren’t familiar with his work as long as you like science fiction you should really enjoy what the developers have created here.
This game is a bit of an odd one, it describes itself as a tactical game, and for sure there are plenty of times where you have to be tactical with your units on the battlefield. But much of this game is more of a resource and risk management simulator.
You’ll spend most of your time trying to decide whether or not to get involved in events (assuming you get the option to recuse yourself) and what resources you’re willing to put toward your hopeful success. Will the reward be worth it? That’s a very good question, only one way to find out. Of course, in some situations you’ll lose out no matter what, so its a matter of trying to take the least amount of loss.
This being a roguelike over time you’ll learn which situations are worth the risk or not. You’ll also slowly gain ‘special officers’ that are more skilled than the ones you typically start with that will make a big difference in the long run. You’ll also unlock new battleships to play with that will have very different strategies and playstyles.
Putting it simply if you liked FTL you’ll likely enjoy this game too, I love its grim tone and the plot line running through the game is actually quite intriguing… well I found it to be.
