Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

CK:F is a unique blend of turn based stealth and combat. It has deep progression systems, enjoyable story lines, highly engaged developers, and absurdly fun gameplay. Other games I've played in this space include XCOM 1 & 2 and Warhammer Mechanicus, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is IMO the best.

Game is great! If you like xcom or invisible inc. I would say it is a must play!
There are a lot of very cool but also very complex mechanics that run the game, there is also the standard stuff you would find in a turn based tactic game or a stealth game. A notable difference between this and most other turn based tactic games is that movement is not tied to a grid, while I am a grid enjoyer I have come to like this system too, feels a lot like the Mordheim video game.
The crew management should also feel familiar to any xcom fans, it is however more complex in that not only do you gear up your people in armor weapons and attachements, you also have cyberpunk cybernetics, some cybernetics are required for certain classes but will also give you that class as a multiclass if you install it. The crew also has a stress/hype meter that give debuffs and buffs when full, and a Loyalty meter that I have yet to fill up so can't really say what it does.
There is also a list of contacts, these are characters that can give you missions and sell you stuff, even doctors are found in this list which help your crew heal and install cybernetics. All of these contacts have a stress/hype Exposure/Loyalty meters just like your crew, if you fill up their hype meter they can give you discounts and stuff like that or get traits that are helpful, you can reroll these rewards if they owe you favors or by using tokens. And if their exposure meter gets full they might just straight up get killed. Your list of contacts will grow and shrink as the game goes on in a dynamic way.
Speaking of dynamic, every character be it crew or contact has a set of traits, these traits seem to trigger story events from time to time to create a dynamic changing world that will not always play out the same way between saves.

All of this is to say that this is a game made out of multiple very cool but maybe a bit too complex systems. I like it a lot so far but I think I am going to wait for the full release as base game mechanics seem to be changed almost daily at this point and it is a bit chaotic for when I just want to learn the game fully. I will 100% play this more on release and it 100% gets a thumbs up from me. But I do hope more of the systems get better explained via ingame tutorials so new players wont have to rely on guides and the forums.

Also the devs are very transparent and active in the community, which is honestly amazing. There is usually like a barrier between devs and players but not here, your voice really feels heard if you post in the forums as the devs themselves will answer and not some underpaid moderator :P

Incredibly in-depth gameplay and interesting world building!

Has the heart of Xcom and the skin of Cyberpunk. If you've ever played Xcom and wanted more plot, or played Cyberpunk and wanted it to be more tactical, this game will scratch both those itches for you.

These guys update every week. And it's not dinky little updates like "fixed text alignment in mission 17." No, they're adding actual content and revising existing stuff pretty regularly.

...Someone should probably do a wellness check, now that I think about it. I'm not convinced they're getting enough sleep or sunlight.

Great game, a lot like Xcom except without a lot of the really annoying parts, no snakes grabbing you through walls or missing fully 50% of your 99% shots. The main game loop is fun but I'm pretty sure after 100 hrs I still have things to figure out. The tutorials only really go over the basics and as I level up I'm buying skills that sometimes change numbers to systems that are a total mystery to me. For example, all of a sudden a "Limit Break" thing popped up and I had zero clue what it was or that skills I had purchased altered how it functioned. I really like the hacking, I hope they diversify it, because I got the best deck in the store and there doesn't seem to be anything better or any other set of programs. Finally, the store is weird, I've had the same set of gear available to buy since the beginning of the game, no new stuff has appeared in the store at all and their doesn't seem to be drops in the game which is also weird, you're not going to pick up the Solo's cool gun he just shot you with?? All that aside, I really was dissatisfied with the direction Xcom went with the Chosen so I'm glad there is something like it but better, with the potential to be even better with some minor tweaks.

If you've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next great squad based tactics game, this is it. I won't bore anyone by rehashing the basic mechanics, if you've played any squad based tactics game since 2016 you're familiar with the general structure.

What makes this such a stand out is not only that the kinetic parts of the tactical layer superb, but the game satisfactorily simulates situational awareness of the enemies. No longer do you have to worry about alerting literally every enemy on the map to your presence by being spotted once; if you move fast enough you can silence a guard before they get the alert out. Bring silenced weapons to reduce your noise, so you can deal with guards two at a time rather than six. You also have to contend with security devices, make sure you bring a teammate who can disable cameras (If you want - or rip and tear through the entire map).

There's a lot of mechanical complexity underlying everything, which really opens up the game to various playstyles. The classes currently present are incredibly varied, with a good mix of utility and straight combat talents.

The strategy layer as well has its pretty novel complexity. Rather than random missions popping up, much of the strategy layer is driven by contacts - individuals who have their own capabilities and motivations. Who you interact with and what you do for them is what shapes what sort of missions and services you get

I've only got 15 hours in, mostly because I don't want to burn myself out prior to the official release. With that being said, this is a very safe recommendation on the basis of the content currently present and the studio's track record. I'm a big fan of their previous two games, and they have demonstrated a long tail of support post-release. Genuinely excited to see where this game goes; I don't think I've been this excited for a game since XCOM2.

The technical side of the game is colossal. I needed multiple hours to read and soak in the information before creating my first party. These are positives to me. The tutorials are good and the interface is intuitive. I especially appreciate the automatic save states "before mission" and "after mission" and other little touches like that. I am happy I purchased.

Cool strategy game that gives you a lot of freedom on how to approach each situation. It does a great job on allowing you to mix sneaking and shooting throughout the mission, since you can be detected in one place while remaining undetected elsewhere.

The developers have done an excellent job at updating the game throughout early access. There's consistently been several updates every week and nearly all of them have improved the game noticeably. They also regularly read and reply to people on the Steam forums and on their Discord.

Before this game, I would've thought that it was impossible for a tiny team to improve a game so frequently and regularly, but the Trese Brothers proved me wrong. I'm looking forward to playing the game extensively once 1.0 is released.

This might be my favorite game. It's definitely the best tactical game I've played.

On the surface it looks like xcom, but cyberpunk, and it is in a lot of ways. But it's just plain better than xcom, better tactics, better action, cooler setting, better base.

The stealth is really fun and in depth, each guard has their own set of vision, hearing, awareness and orders. There are all kinds of security devices to avoid or shut down through specialized abilities.

You can have your vanguard sneak up and turn off a camera, then have your cybersword charge in and silently kill them without alerting the guys in the next room, then have your scourge pour acid on the corpse, disposing of the evidence. It all plays out in a satisfying way that makes you feel clever and bad ass.

Once stealth fails, the action is intense! guards constantly pour ijto the level as the security systems go into full alert. You get overwhelmed and outnumbered as you try to complete your objective and make it out alive. Not everyone comes back alive.

The base, gear, cyberware and class trees (with multi class!) are in depth and allow you to really customize your team how you want.

The game rules. Get it.

I haven't read other reviews, so apologies if this is the common theme -and albeit, a bit reductive of a theme at that- but to anyone that thinks the idea of an XCOM and Cyberpunk baby sounds like a good idea, then look no further.

The game at its core is a turn-based strategy game, set in a cyberpunk future. The game is replete with plenty of skill trees to navigate for your character/soldier development, and the age old resource-limited, base-building-on-a-shoestring-budget that has one sweating over every decision made. To be fair, the game offers a host of difficulty adjusting to tweak the game to the user's preferred level of challenge. Another big win for this game, is the developers still seem to be very active in the life of this product, and are routinely providing updates.

In summary, if you want another 'XCOM-like', or, you want a deep strategy driven game set in a cyberpunk universe, then this is probably one you should get or add to your wish-list.

Strongly recommend. 8/10.

Great so far, would love more understanding of why I would or would not help certain factions. More benefits from contacts you partner with ect...Followed these devs for a while so I am sure the content is gonna keep flowing.

The game is worth checking out if you like XCOM.
The Developers are hard at work making it better with frequest updates.

The tutorial is a little long but I am enjoying the game. It scratches that itch for a cyberpunk title at the same time as another one for X-COM, which are two of my favorite titles.

This game is much better than I thought it would be and it only gets better with each update. X-COM meets Shadowrun (without the magic)!

Trese Brothers are one of, if not possibly the most, community-engaged developers working. Game is almost guaranteed to be supported for the long-term (evidence, 2018 Star Traders: Frontiers received a patch no less than a week ago, seven years later.) Good game now, could be an outstanding game in the future -- particularly if you enjoyed games like Harebrained Schemes' Shadowruns.

Trese Brother's make amazing games. Period. What they lack in art direction and aesthetic on a graphical or GUI level is made up for by sublime execution and iteration in all of their products. Go look at their catalog and you will see the clear evolution of game-play systems and ideas accomplished by this dedicated small team. They support their games for years afterwards, often with little or no additional cost, and are very involved and interact with their community and it shows.

How these guys haven't been snatched up by a large publisher and given the keys to larger resources I don't understand and I'm grateful for it, because it means they can keep making games with actual game-play systems designed with the gamer in mind.

As for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint I've only played the opening tutorials but once again you can see the execution in their design, providing players with detailed and well thought out tools with clear interactions and causes and effects. I was so impressed with what I saw I've lamentably been left with no other choice other then to wait to carry on with the game once it leaves early access shortly because I just have to experience this for the first time in its released state.

If you think this is all hyperbole go look at their previous games, better yet, play them. They often have free demo's for the opening hours. Check out Templar Battleforce, a Warhammer 40k inspired Space Hulk combat RPG or Star Traders, essentially a Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader simulator with their own unique spin of lore. Now imagine these games with a AAA coat of paint and you'll easily see that they're a cut above the rest in terms of their output, both in consistency and pragmatic ambition. These guys understand their scope and iterate accordingly.

I've watched this game from afar for some time.

My first experience after picking it up wasn't so great, thanks to significant tactical-game rust that I had built up; however, persevering past the initial learning curve and discovering things like Flexible Difficulty and 'Retry Last Turn' really helped cinch how good of a game this is.

That's not even including the level of detail and passion that has gone into it already from the class skill trees to the dynamic way situations unfold organically as you play; I really can't wait to see what it looks like on full release either.

If you like X-COM-esque/turn-based tactical strategy games, Cyberpunk 2077 but wished it was more isometric OG Fallout style or the idea of a futuristic super criminal simulator with management layers and tactical nuances - this is the game for you.

Side-note: I game entirely on Linux and this game runs like a dream on desktop or Steam Deck.

It's X-Com meets Cyberpunk, with extra emphasis on stealth and ambushing than drawn out firefights. Still in EA, but plays great already. Can't wait for the final release.

I like the Turn based games like this has a bit of a learning curve for new players to this game like me but a more robust tutorial can help with that. Love the game so far can't wait to see more. But if you like turned base games and verbose story levels talents etc... This is a great game so far I am loving it.

Only done first two missions so far, but is a quality game for sure!

Played apx 25hrs now and is now my favourite game of the year. Great combat and liking the story and RPG elements too. Love it!

Been trying to limit my play-through until the full release gets out, but so far loving the gameplay even in EA! The Trese Brothers have such a proven track record of updating their games long after release that I'm very excited for what Cyber Knights will become in years to come.

My only critique is the male character faces all give off the evil-henchman vibe - every face makes me feel like I'm one of the goons in an action flick rather than the main character. They made a somewhat big improvement recently by making the foreheads much smaller, but all the jaws right now still give off the gangster movie hired muscle vibe.

Side note - something I disliked as a mechanic was where the presence meter rises at the end of every turn (no hate, fully respect the people who wanted this function). If this was something that was putting you off buying, there is the option to reduce how much it goes up by each turn in the difficulty options, or even turn it off completely! This was a change I made after my first few missions that made the game significantly more enjoyable for me/fit my play style. The fact that the devs took this into consideration is a huge plus for me by letting us as players play the way we want to.

The best tactical game I've played in years, a lot of complex and cool systems to play with, both strategic and tactical layers are working together very well, storylines are great and engaging while also offering great replayability with proc-gen elements, and the devs are the nicest and most hardworking ones I've seen in this business. It's really hard to find anything to dislike here. If you like tactical games, it's a must play!

Look, the only other game like this which I have played is XCOM 2, so I can't speak for this subsubgenre as a whole. I can only say the type of game is a similar type to XCOM. But mannnnnnn this game is fun! What impressed me the most has actually been the development. They a have discord where they talk directly to players and actually take your ideas,requests, and bug reports into account. Here's a quick rundown:

Story:
Somewhat compelling. I find Cyberpunk really cool so this game scratches some itch I can't describe. I actually haven't finished the story, as it was recently completed, so I won't bother with this point yet.
Gameplay:
1. The gameplay loop is SO. DAMN. GOOD. tactical squad-based game (similar to XCOM in that way) with usually 4 squad members. Guide your squad to complete mission objectives, then extract (similar to XCOM). You, the player, are playing against the enemy's security AI (Sec AI), which is a system that can give orders to individual enemies (check out this spot, investigate this motion detector, etc). It can call for reinforcements and turn on traps (whether they started disabled or not).
2. Stealth system is very impressive. Each enemy has an alertness level (unaware, suspicious, alerted) which is handled on an individual basis (unlike XCOM), plus each squad member has a detection level (unseen, hunted, spotted). Enemies can see you in a cone of vision, and hear you in some radius. Your gunshots have a hearing distance. You can duck behind cover to remain unseen, or just walk stealthily instead of sprinting. Grenades alert the WHOLE MAP btw haha!
3. Outside of missions: Like XCOM, you have a HQ/safehouse with different modules that can do different things (help with missions, craft weapons/armor, etc). MIssions build up Heat, where higher Heat means more enemies in missions and a higher chance of a Big Bad Guy showing up to kill your team and/or complicate the mission. The game's proc-gen missions are fun with a wide variety of mission types (escort this useless person over there, kill this one guy, steal everything, kill these 3 dudes, fight those guys, etc., not official mission types lol) and the story missions are interesting and fun!
4. I LOVE the class trees. The devs are so creative with the classes, and each class can serve a variety of different purposes on their own. And you can multiclass!

TLDR:
Haven't played the story enough, but its awesome so far. The missions+variety and maps+variety is great! The stealth system is really cool, the character classes are awesome, and the game is just plain addicting. Worth full price. I got my 100hrs back when the game had half the content.

These developers literally spoil us. After all of their personal responsiveness and near-daily updates, even years after a game is 'finished' at 1.0, (see their other titles), every other developer looks lazy by comparison.

Buy it. Buy it at full price. It's a phenomenal, fun game that is only going to keep growing, for years.

This game is really really good.

Looking for a turn based strategy gem with demanding complexity & huge party building variety in a dark cyberpunk setting? You like the anarchy vibe of titles like Shadowrun and Battletech and you share the feeling of XCOM writing could be an AD provided by your governments military? There you go, buy Cyber Knights Flashpoint. Recommended, 10 out of 10, review closed. Read on if you want specifics.

Joined early access 8 months ago, things weren’t as nearly as polished and smooth like they are now 6 weeks before planned release and even back then it was quite noticable: This is big, this is different. Given that it’s the work of a three guys company backed by a huge community providing feedback, the outcome is just incredible.

You could compare the gameplay and base building part to XCOM(2). With its expansion WOTC I think it's one of the best iso tactic games of all time, but I didn’t like the hollywoodish childish story telling which seems quite common with AAAs. This somehow killed my vibe with XCOM2. In Cyber Knights Flashpoint, I feel like a „real“ special cyber agent doing shadowruns, with less awkward stuff like „this is the end of the line for you 007, there’s no way out, so please stop surfing on that helicopters rotor blade to escape my `miss the broad side of a barn villains' so that we can have this conversation over and over again til this movie ends with the good guys having saved the universe, yadda, yadda… :D“ …

… this is more like that unique Jagged Alliance 2 feeling I had when I was a kid. Chess like strategy gameplay with LOTs of detail, and an awesome gloomy end of the world setup, where your actions affect SOME part of town (legit), not saving the whole planet (yawn). Again (yawn!). CKF hits that nerve! Couldn’t send out more props than making a JA2 comparison! H.Y.P.E.d.

A short, very personal pro/con (early access state!!!):

Pros:

- Love the fact that there’s no blood or splatter in this game! No need. Due to the mix of subtle design decisions (hail to the sound artist!) ending NPCs feels more brutal and more serious than you might think. @devs: please don’t change that!

- The support and the community on the discord is amazing. Don’t know nothing about coding, so I kind of felt bad when criticizing on a topic or making demands on game designs I do not know the work behind. But the devs always replied short after, each conversation respectful and informative. Solutions got provided. This friendly ‚behind the scenes‘ experience plays a BIG part at giving CKF a place in my heart! Thank you for using your social (and nerdy) skills! :)

- Next pro is also a con, which maybe will be solved on full release. The music is great, really fits the cyberpunk setting. Anyways I always play with music turned off, it really get’s repetitive after a short while.. Hope there will be more musical variety in the future. For a strategy game with all those hours of thinking things over this is more important than I would have expected.

Con:

- The story telling sometimes feels a bit shallow and superficial. It’s text based only, which I think is totally fine, very old school in a good way. That’s a minor because it doesn’t affect game mechanics, but the writing still appears to be prio B in some cases, which does not match the complexity and depth of the over all game design. But still, very few ‚Top Gun style two dimensional superhero crap moments‘ until now! As said, a minor.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is a very good game from a small indie team. With Full Release coming up early May 2025, I played through the current EA campaign.

Combat is turn based tactical in the vein of the Shadowruns or X-Coms. Each unit has classes, some of which are a little hampered right now by Early Access not having the full run of enemy types fully populated yet, but all of which have three main talent subtrees which feel rewarding and different.

At the strategic layer the game feels like X-Com again, with the same cutaway base view and steady upgrades slowly expanding your team's power. The interesting part here is the Contact system: you get randomized (procedurally generated) missions at random intervals from your contacts, and how you choose to handle those (and how well they go) changes how your relationships with your contacts develop.

The other nice wrinkle - it's not quite innovative, as it owes a great deal to the classic Hollywood-hacking game Uplink - is the very competently executed hacking minigame. Moving through hosts feels like a game of cat and mouse early on, and later your top of the line military-grade hardware and custom-compiled software let you slice even the hardest networks as easy as breathing.

The music is very good, and has enough track variety that I never felt like any particular song had over-repeated. The writing is good by cyberpunk standards - all the usual tropes apply, so don't be surprised when the jobs have critical gaps in the briefings and getting double-crossed isn't that unusual (but only in the main storyline where it feels okay, procgen missions don't leave you wishing you could shoot your Mr Johnson.)

There are the usual EA balance issues, but the core engine is balanced enough that it feels like the problem is just a matter of nudging the numbers into line.

All in all, this is a great game for anyone who loved Shadowrun and wants more.

46 hours into an early access game; I think they're doing a really good job here. The missions play very similarly to XCOM 2 (the only XCOM title I've played) with some additional mechanics, like hacking, and with initiative and alertness tied to the individual instead of the whole team of psychic aliens, which adds different advantages and disadvantages to stealth. The base building is similar, as well, but I think what makes the game shine for me are the connections to crew members and contacts and the mechanics associated with them. You can make your cyberware dealer more powerful by fulfilling extra tasks on their missions and selling them valuable datafiles. If you make your soldier tank and get shot every mission, they might grow discontent and disloyal (haven't seen the effects of this yet because I felt too guilty the first time loyalty dropped). Overall, I am really enjoying the game and am looking forward to the full release.

Some things that I wish were different at time of posting:

- I'm sure tutorials for such a complex game are a difficult problem, but I found the tutorials to be exhausting and, as a result, less effective by the hacking tutorial when I just wanted to get through them and get back to the game.
- I would appreciate having more information about a mission beforehand, like SEC meter tally, approximate number of enemies, etc., or if that information was more emphasized if it's there and I haven't seen it. Right now, it's difficult to know when a mission marked "Mixed Stealth and Combat" is one you can easily stealth with the right team or one that will inevitably go to combat because the security meter increases so quickly and the map is filled with enemies. One of the things I love most about these types of games is planning for each mission, so I'd appreciate any means to do so more effectively. (This is being worked on per the comment from the dev below)

I should also add that the devs are updating the game incredibly frequently. It's obvious that there is a lot of care going into this, and it is appreciated.

A perfect blend of 'Invisible Inc.' and 'Phantom Doctrine' gameplay loop in a cyberpunk setting.

Like a cyberpunk XCOM2 that (on Normal difficulty, at least) isn't impossible to play as long as you like.

Classes all feel different, and (mostly) have their niches, different ways of upgrading (implants, gear and talents) all feel relevant.

My one quibble is the random nature of how your "Contacts" get upgraded. It can take a very long time to upgrade, say, your weapon selling Contact's weapon selling traits because the game keeps randomly giving your temporary buffs to their buying generosity instead

I was scrolling through the Cyberpunk category to find another game similar to Cyberpunk 2077 (one of my all-time favorite games) and I came across this game. At a first glance I was adamant and thought "I wouldn't like this" and then I decided to read the reviews and watch a YouTube video on this game. After watching a video, I was 100% invested in getting this game and I'm really glad I did. From seeing the reviews and the updates, the developers sound so amazing and they listen to their players which is always an A+ in my book.

Now onto the gameplay: I love the character customization and the lore. I immediately wanted to find mods for the character customization and thankfully I found in one of the dev updates they said they'll be adding mod support which is a HUGE win. I can't wait for modding support and making my Cyber Knight looking like my Cyberpunk 2077 character.

The tutorials are so helpful and thorough. It explains in depth how the game mechanics work and also guides you how to do things and how events happen, etc. It may seem all overwhelming/confusing, but I recommend just following through the tutorial and you can always take your time. I'm only 2 and a half hours in (time as of writing this review), and I can't wait to play more. I recommend getting this game and just try it for yourself. There are similarities to Cyberpunk 2077 but add a top-down RPG aspect like baldur's gate. It's genuinely so cool!

Fun XCOM style gameplay in a cyberpunk setting. Looking forward to the full release. Devs update the game at an insane pace.

Have to say this game really took me by suprise.
I expected XCOM 2 with a way worse storyline.
It's the opposite way around, and feels less linear.

Would recommend for people who liked xcom but want a little bit more freedom.

Enjoyable yet challenging even on easiest Lv's. I now have max allowed agents levels 21-24 & it's fun.

A deep and complex tactical game that feels like XCOM, Shadowrun and Invisible Inc got splooshed together into something new and wonderful.

The UI could use some work, especially by adding more tooltips to things, but otherwise it's amazing!

A solid game made by a team that clearly cares a lot. They consistently add content and have a clear roadmap. Gameplay-wise it's provides a lot of great options and customizability

Cyber Knights takes all the best parts of XCOM, adds more interactivity to all the mechanics, and drops it in a cyberpunk heist game. There's already a full game worth of content here, and it gets substantial updates every week (sometimes more than one).

Downsides: the UI is a little clunky, and the missions are procedurally generated, so don't expect a handcrafted narrative.

Strong recommend - nobody else is making games like this.

I was going to wait until I reached 100 hours to post this review, but after a really pleasant email conversation with one of the Trese Brothers (after I incorrectly reported a bug, it was a PEBCAK) I decided I could say all of my nice things and my three critical things and then update after I've gotten a good bite out of the full release. I'll disclaimer this review by saying that I am talking about a game that a/o April 2025 is still in Early Access, and there are known issues, bugs, and whatnot that the devs are still ironing out. The Trese Bros are actively fixing bugs and adding things ahead of full release, and I am certain that they will continue working on this game for years after it hits full release.

I love this game already. Skipping the obvious comparisons, I see a lot of Jagged Alliance and Frozen Synapse in this game. Tactics and positioning are more important than skills and gear, but the latter two items are a whole lot of fun and they shape your approach to missions rather than defining how how you deal with problems. Starting with characters, each class has three main branches of abilities they can level, and then they can add a multiclass for free as well, creating characters whose skills can be both deep and wide. In fact, I've found it's hard to create characters that are TOO specialized, but I suppose you could make a Soldier/Sniper combo who was only "SHOOT THINGS NOW". Leveling is easy and I don't get a sense of decision fatigue as I'm looking at the class trees, even for multiclass characters.

Before I talk about characters, I want to mention my favorite thing about this game, the faction and contact systems. An earlier Trese Bros game, Star Traders, has a magnificent system for tracking contact and faction reputation that is 10% on the surface and 90% under it. It is robust, challenging, and creates immersion by emulating a realistic approach to politics and personal reputation. I see the same results playing out in Cyber Knights, and it makes me absolutely giddy. Every mission you take, every Top Secret file you sell, all of your NPC move the vertices of a web that you can only see part of. Lots of games claim "choices matter", but rarely do they get to the this level.

Your "main" is the Cyber Knight of the title, and has a unique piece of cyberware grafted to their spine, and a unique class tree. You can pick the spinal graft from a list of items depending on how you want to make your knight. And then, you can pick from ANOTHER piece of cyberware to augment your build. Wonderful customization is wonderful!

You also pick your team, and I will say that picking a Vanguard (stealthy infiltrator type) seems necessary to me, but YMMV. Again, all characters can be multiclassed, but some classes require a piece of cyberware (like the Vanguard). Cyberswords are great for stealth missions, and I also love the Scourge class because it's a unique take on how to be sneaky without being stealthy.

Missions can usually be handled with a combination of stealth, combat, and hacking. As other reviews have noted, typically you are going to start stealthy and wind up in a firefight of various intensity. It's too hard to remain quiet for too long because bodies will be found, cameras will spot you, and it's hard to stay out of sight of all of the enemies for a whole mission. You CAN do it, but it takes some planning regarding team composition.

Hacking is the part of the game I haven't really delved TOO far into yet, although I'd like to. So far, it seems like hacking is missing a little... something, but I can't put my finger on it. The hacking minigame is fast, which is a big plus, but there don't seem to be multiple strategies for a hacking run. I might be wrong about that, and I'll be happy to edit this review if I find otherwise.

Okay, that was one critical thing. The other two are grenades and accessibility.

Grenades should kill/incapacitate anyone in the shockwave radius. This goes for all games that are about tactical shootouts. If that's too powerful for low-level characters, then don't make grenades available until higher levels. But yeah, explosives of all kinds should be much, much more dangerous than "it does X damage and you can soak Y% and take the rest off of HP". I realize that's the standard in almost all games that have grenades/explosives, but I find it immersion-snapping in all those games.

And finally, and again this goes to LOTS of games, please ship your game with a left-handed layout and/or robust key mapping. I have debilitating nerve pain in my right arm which forces me to play lefty, and I know natural born lefties who have the same complaint- it's really really hard to WASD and work a mouse left-handed. So, please ship me a game with a left-handed keymap, or let me program the map so I can play comfortably.

Thanks for the great game, Trese Bros! I'm looking forward to seeing how this game develops, and what comes next.

Still has room for improvement, but this is most of what I would have wanted from a Shadowrun game, especially the hacking, pretty decently done.

Only thing I'd like is a more sandbox style mode/start for the game, but still happy with what's here so far.

I'm really enjoying this. Parallels to FiraXCOM are gonna be made but really this is on a different level. The tactical combat and stealth mechanics are pretty seamless, as is the excellent hacking sub-game (reminds me of the LAN raids in Introversion's Uplink).

I've not really got into the meat of the strategic side of the game but I've played enough of the tactical combat side, and put the stealth gameplay through its paces, and feel confident giving this a thumbs up. The developer have a strong track record for years of polish and updates to their games, and I'd expect no less of this one.

Played since early early release. It is a solid Xcom style heist game with a good variety of missions.

Cyberpunk/Shadowrun merged with X-Com? Sign me in.

From Trese Brothers, authors of Star Traders: Frontiers and Templar Battleforce? Count me in.

Early Access with tons of content, developers listening to feedback and releasing updates/improvements all the time? I'm up for it.

I really recommend it. It really do have everything. Well blended too. I like the tactics gameplay. I can go stealth or loud, or mix of both! If you are looking for deep tactical game. This is for you.

What I struggled with was reading, I am already a bad reader but this game have a lot of texts. If you do like reading and read codexs in other games. This is plus. If you don't like reading but prefer looking at arts cool stuffs vibes, this is minus.

What I wish this game had more was... more visual/sounds and animations? This is vague but It would be cool if I can see my mercs doing stuffs in their base rather than just standing still. And more flashy slashslide altho this is very vague request. I just wish this game had more cooler effects!

If you love turn based tactics game like xcom invisible inc wartales etc. I recommend it. I recommend it... harder if you like reading learn the setting and story. I am not a native english speaker and learned english by AVGN. So I have harder time reading all the texts.

This game has the bones to be a great XCOM competitor, it scratches the same itch for the most part, the big differences are the focus on stealth and hacking which are a good to set it apart.
The devs work like crazy and are always pumping out updates and they said the game will have mod support in the future, when it is complete and has that it'll probably be just as replayable as XCOM 2 with mods, can't wait for when that is here but until it is i am already having a lot of fun.
Most things i would like to see in this game are things that will probably be added by mods but would be nice if the devs added it themselves like heavy weapons, power armors, more weapon types and maybe some research mechanic on the base building part of the game.

incredibly solid tactics game. XCOM2 inspired but more mechanics heavy. A good mix of stealth/combat and fun character building, base, and contacts management outside of missions. Can be a bit overwhelming mechanics wise and underwhelming presentation wise. But since its a Trese Brothers game, I know it'll be well supported. Curious to see where it goes from here!

The game is the perfect blend of Cyberpunk heist meets XCOM 2 and ticks so many boxes that fans of tactical turn based games love. It's incredibly well polished and builds on a lot of great elements in the genre. You can tell the Trese Brothers put a lot of love into this one. This is why it's so heartbreaking that they included a fundamental flaw. I'm talking about the security level system.

Essentially, this system raises the threat meter in any given mission by default after each turn. The problem here is that once the meter reaches a higher threshold, it increases the aggression of the AI. Eventually, this makes certain pure stealth strategies nearly impossible to implement and forces the player to either break stealth, abandon secondary objectives or go guns blazing. While there are certain things you can do to mitigate the threat meter, it will always rise by default in the vast majority of situations. This frankly kills a lot of the fun of a stealth focused game because it takes away from player agency. As I was having fun trying to plan out the perfect stealth heist, I was always let down at the end of my turn because my threat meter went up no matter what I did. I'm not opposed to devs including stress in a game like this, but it feels like the player is being punished for nothing. It simply takes a lot of the fun out of the game for me. Your experience may differ.

Came across this game thanks to a review by Mortismal on YouTube. Looked interesting so got myself a copy.
Its a cyberpunk tactical turn based RPG with some base building. It can be quite difficult until you learn whats best to do. You are basically running a group of "mercs" carrying out "heists", making money and building a rep (both good and bad). I've only played 8 hours so not far in (tutorial gives the basics but tactics wise etc need to learn yourself) so it seems there is a storyline as well but not progressed enough to really appreciate that.
Its mechanics/tactics are a cross between fire power and stealth. I don't usually like stealth based games but I like the way its done in this game using skills to sneak up and kill guards, disabled security measures etc.
In many ways reminds me a lot of the Shadowrunner games but without the magic and elfs/orks etc.
Unlike the Shadowrun games the "hacking" part feels more natural using counter measures to disable ICE, download data to sell etc.
If you like turn based, cyber punk then I would highly recommend this game. Its EA at the moment, the devs are super active and planned release is coming up soon (may 15th) so worth getting it now.

This game is incredible to say the least. I am reviewing it while it is still in early access, but the game already feels like it is complete...

The pros of this game are:

Deep customization - There are many classes to choose from for your main character and allies, and you can multi-class too for even more unique combinations. You can make a sniper who is also a very good stealthy infiltrator... or a sniper who is pure combat focused. A hacker who is good at being sneaky with the ability to disable security devices... or focus on their pure hacking abilities when they are connected to the computers.

Replayability - As I state above, there are a lot of ways to build your roster, and that goes doubly so for your starting knight. You can tackle this game in so many ways... from pure stealth approach, loud, a mixture of both... or just ignore a mission if you don't want to do it! The stealth system in this game is incredibly unique, where you can go back to being stealthy after a set amount of turns... it isn't a one and done deal, and it's incredible how that can meaningfully impact your end results to a mission. Some missions will incentivize you to go stealth with bonus xp, loot, or other rewards, while other missions will encourage some loud gameplay with a bonus for the total amount of kills in the level.

World Building - The studio behind this game has been making games for over a decade now. Trust me when I say this, but you are gonna be in for a great world when you enter the game. Plenty of lore to go around and learn about, and there is a lot of detailed story already that can be morally gray, and really give you no right or wrong answers for how you complete stuff. The world of the game feels well fleshed out, and it will only get better as the devs add in more developments to existing stories.

Cons

I will say that the main issue with this game that I have had, is it can be incredibly hard to learn. I am playing on normal difficulty (the second easiest difficulty) and I will frequently struggle with combat encounters, and many of the games systems. The skill tree for instance, is very overwhelming at first and it took me a while to fully grasp how skills worked and what to strive for there. This game can be a bit hardcore, but it that is your preference... then I highly recommend this game.

Love the emergent story telling.
I love that I can go with a very sneaky crew, a very fire-fight ready crew, or any mix inbetween.
First game Ive played that abstracted hacking in a fun and interesting way!
All around well worth the cost and the devs are constantly updating, working hard, and responding to the community.
I dont do EA but this game is more feature complete than most 1.0 releases.
Pull the trigger if you love cyberpunk, tactical turn based, or any of the xcom games!!

I don't have a ton of hours, compared to a lot of folks. But I really enjoy the vision that the Trese brothers have for this game, and how they're making it work. Is it the prettiest? No. Is it unique? Absolutely. Was glad to buy this early on in early access, and it's been amazing watching these guys churn out updates and listen to the community. Give it a go. You'll enjoy yourself.