Разработчик: Suspicious Developments
Описание
What's in the Special Edition?
In-game developer commentary, the WIZ-TAC outfits set, the full soundtrack, and an overly high-concept demo we never released! Full details:
Developer commentary throughout the whole game
With this enabled, you'll find tape recorders lying around the levels. Pick one up and listen to us discussing the thinking behind the level you're playing, the character your controlling, this moment in the story, or whatever else is relevant. See the trailer for a look at this in action.There are 52 of these recordings to find, totaling over 3 hours of commentary, spread across the game's 15 hour campaign. They're a mix of designer/writer Tom Francis talking through his own thinking, and interviewing each other member of the team about their work.
We get into the reasoning behind design and story decisions, ideas we tried that didn't work out, the hardest challenges we had to solve, and get a little closer to understanding why this game took forever make.
And when you're tired of listening to us, you can throw the tape recorder at an enemy to deal 1 knockback.
Two notes to be aware of:
- The commentary does contain spoilers, so it's not intended for a first playthrough - we can't really give full insight on the thinking behind something without referring to how it plays out later.
- The commentary is audio only, no subtitles. Volume is independently adjustable.
The WIZ-TAC Outfits
We made a little pack of cosmetic outfits to say thanks to folks who supported us most: either by buying the game in launch week, or getting this Special Edition. They look like this!
They're not automatically granted to you at the start of the game - we think it feels kinda sleazy to have gifts heaped on your character in-game because of a purchasing decision you made out-of-game. Instead they're just added to the normal outfits menu, and unlocked the same way the rest of them are: by spending Confidence points.
And just like all the other outfits, they're purely cosmetic.
The full soundtrack
2 hours and 10 minutes of original music over 47 tracks by composer Robert Arzola, in high quality mp3 format. This is integrated into Steam soundtrack system, as well as just being in a folder on disk.The Lost Demo
Before we settled on the demo we eventually released, we tried an overly ambitious concept: after defeating the Traffic Warlock in the campaign, Jen and Zan would start glitching forwards in time, glimpsing future content. It culminates in a level where they get to decide both how much of their future they want to see, and also the difficulty of the encounter, by choosing when to seal doors that are spawning enemies and allies from deeper into the game. All while those characters announce their arrival by making meta commentaries on their role in the story or game design.Shockingly, this proved too complicated and weird for new players to grasp in the space of two levels, so we ended up building something much simpler. But we think the bespoke levels for the complex version might be fun to play once you do know the game, so we're including them here.
About the Game
Tactical Breach Wizards is a turn-based tactics game in which you lead a team of renegade wizards in kevlar, as they unravel a modern conspiracy plot and/or find the most stylish way to punch a Traffic Warlock through a 4th story window.It's a story-driven campaign of about 14 hours, in which you...
Combo spells for satisfying results
Each of your wizards has a unique set of abilities, from a straightforward lightning bolt to transforming into a rabid dog.
Experiment freely, rewind your mistakes
When you hit a tricky situation, try every wild idea you have - you can always rewind if it didn't pan out. It could work beautifully, fail spectacularly, or screw up in a way that gives you new ideas. Either way, free rewinds mean you play it out in-game instead of scratching your head.
Fight the (various) power(s)
Your team are a motley crew of misfits on the wrong side of the law, fighting against:- The Rushwater PD and their rising star: Steve Clark, the Traffic Warlock
- An oppressive religious dictatorship who rule the streets with Riot Priests
- A private military corporation meddling with magic to enhance their troops
- And the most deadly operative the trade has ever seen: the Black Ops Chronomancer
Upgrade your magical arsenal
Every ability for every wizard has a set of unique perks to unlock as they level up, tailoring their powers to your playstyle, and enabling ridiculous ways they can combo with each other.
Get to know these loveable idiots
Travel the world, meet interesting wizards, and find out what's wrong with them. Each of your team has their own personal struggles, and between missions you can choose how much to dig into them, overcome them, and guide these oddballs to become friends.
Unravel a conspiracy, stop a war
As the enemy plot thickens, key players and their relationships are added to your conspiracy map to keep track of the important bits. You can read more about anything you're fuzzy on, arrange them in a way that makes sense to you, and keep a visual overview of what's going on.
Build confidence to wear fancier outfits
Each character already owns all their unlockable outfits - they just don't have the confidence to wear them. Characters earn confidence by accomplishing optional extra objectives that reflect their strengths and values.
Fine-tune the difficulty
We want everyone to be able to finish the game, so as well as Easy, Medium & Hard modes, you can customise each variable individually for the kind of challenge you like.
What is it not?
As always, we don't want you to buy the game if it's not for you. Here are some things it isn't!- It's not a branching story. You do make choices in your conversations, but they don't cause major deviations in the course of the plot. They're more about deciding how you want this character to treat people, and how much you want to dig into or push back at what the other person is saying.
- It's not a roguelike. Every now and then someone will call it that and we don't know why! Every level is handcrafted.
- It's not XCOM. This is a much shorter, story-driven experience about a cast of unique characters. There's no base-building or equivalent.
- It's not Into the Breach. This is more forgiving, but the ceiling on how many different things you can do in a turn is higher.
What is it?
Come on, we just went over this with gifs and everything.Поддерживаемые языки: english
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6 GHz or AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core 2.6 GHz
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5770, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or better
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 3 GB available space
Отзывы пользователей
Incredible game that manages to have lots of great and original gameplay mechanics while also having an interesting storyline with well-crafted dialogues
excellent game.
The tactical shooter element is really well executed and it's very rewarding trying out different approaches to find something that works.
The game also has a brilliant cast of characters, with a story which is both full of humour, and also really engaging.
Feels more like a puzzle game than a tactics game. Chaining combos and figuring out the optimal way to clear a room while hitting all the bonus targets can be a real thrill.
The story and humour is fun, it keeps the set pieces all tied together and provides a bunch of colourful characters.
Plenty of content too, a lot of missions, customisable difficulty, side-missions, optional challenges for cosmetics, steam support. Well worth the money.
I saw this game first when i was getting NPCs Tokens for a DND game. And it IMMEDIATELY caught my attention with its cool artstyle. So i wishlist it, and buy it when a sale comes around. To simplify it. HOLY SHIT THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST STORY RICH GAMES EVER, AND IT HAS FUN AND ENGAGING COMBAT??
So to the amazing team at Suspicious Developments, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for an amazing experience that i will NEVER forget.
Fantastic tactical RPG / puzzle game with consistently funny dialogue and interesting challenges. 10/10, wouldn't change a single thing about it.
I picked this up because I was amused by the idea of a SWAT team clearing rooms except they're all wizards using magic, and existing reviews praised the writing. The game was actually even better than I expected.
I played this for ~32 hours, but I got all achievements so the main story length is a little bit shorter. The characters feel nicely balanced, a lot of the spells are really fun make you feel powerful, and there are so many different interesting ways to combine them that you can think up all sorts of clever solutions to each problem.
I like puzzles a lot, so I made sure I always did every confidence goal as I went along, but for a more casual experience you can just not bother to do that, or turn down the difficulty, or skip difficult missions (or entire dream sequences which explore the characters if you want a shorter game).
The humour and tone were great and the dialogue never failed to make me laugh.
Literally wouldn't change a single thing about this game, I loved it. You should play it.
After the trailer, I came in expecting a fun little puzzle/tactics hybrid about silly wizards. Never could I have known that underneath that veneer I'll find some of the best writing, characterization, and world-building I have ever seen throughout all the types of media.
The sheer volume of emotion this game manages to convey is incredible, without a single line of voiced dialogue nonetheless. All done through the use of speech box sizes, text speed and pauses, and the incredible writing quality. It's hilarious when it wants to be, and yet so poignant when it needs to be. Without a hint of irony I can say that Dall's explanation of The Voice shook me to my core and has permanently affected my life.
This game perfectly represents our current zeitgeist - the stubborn defiance against odds stacked so much in favour of the inevitable collapse. And the source for this defiance is the levity we find in the utmost hilarity of it all. I think it makes perfect sense to "hide" the real genius of this beneath the mask of a quirky little game, because not only does it help support the themes, but also hits ever so deeper when it's unexpected.
Playing Tactical Breach Wizards was one of the best experiences of my entire life, and it set a shining example of game design and writing for me going forward, something to strive to match.
Great game, going for all the optional objectives with the maximum custom difficulty is really fun. Story's easy to follow and fun to read for an idiot like me as well.
Incredible game. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a challenge and a puzzle, and that's just the core gameplay. The deep interactions between the characters and the gravity of their goals make you legitimately want to push their stories forward and see them grow and succeed. Just amazing writing.
Also, the world is deep. Tons of thought was put into imagining this place, and I guarantee the writers threw away 90% of a great world just to bring us the really cool slice of it that we see. I'd love to see another game in this world, even if it was another genre or different characters.
A very well-made game that unfortunately isn't for me. The tactical challenges are well thought out and the setting and style very original, but the game doesn't give a ton of overarching sense of progression and engagement from mission to mission, and so ends up feeling like a sequence of puzzles. Which is fine if that's what you're looking for, but I was hoping for wider team-building dynamic and macro strategy element.
Unfortunately I also need to negatively call out the dialogue. It's genuinely funny at times but suffers from being highly overwritten, with that insufferable Whedon-esque quality of being CONSTANTLY quippy and sarcastic, which made following and getting invested in the story harder than it should have been.
Ultimately didn't grab me and get me hooked like I had really hoped. Still an objectively good game but I won't be going back to it.
A fun puzzle game with a tactics game's face stapled to it.
Best tactics game i've played in a long while. It's like X-COM Cimera squad but much better. The story and writing was soo good as well. 10/10
Fantastic story and the unlocks/progression is excellent. Not really an X com-clone, but more like a puzzle/strategy game (like a mobile game, but with TONS more depth). Curious, they probably lacked the budget to get voice actors, but this actually makes a lot of the humor and jokes work really well and gave me a few laughs. I guess reading a funny line sounds better in your head than hearing a scripted voice delivery. I also love that I now I'm aware that the word "Defenestration" exists:)
10/10
Tactical Breach Wizards is my favourite game of 2024. While I expected a fun mix of tactical gameplay and wacky magic, the final product is so much more. The puzzle box gameplay of every level is superb, the writing is goofy yet compelling, but what caught me off guard most was just how much I ended up enjoying the games main story and character arcs.
I don’t expect this to be many people's game of 2024, it fills a very specific niche and it does have some light issues regarding menus, controls and difficulty. But to me, the core loop of Tactical Breach Wizards is just so brilliant! I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys experimental puzzle games, or comedic contemporary fantasy.
[table]
[tr]
[th]Positives[/th]
[th]Negatives[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]✅ Simple, fantastic tactics gameplay
✅ Surprisingly compelling narrative
✅ Lovable unique world
✅ Lots of optional goals and bonus content.
[/td]
[td]❌ Some minor control issues
❌ A bit too easy, more bonus levels please?
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
The Wizards
Breach Wizard’s setting is more of a backdrop. You mainly explore this world through your characters' experiences, but these little snapshots build a rich world. The modern setting mixed with chaos of the arcane leads to a lot of comedic applications of magic, as well as a sinister undertone regarding how devastating powers like these would be in our world. I really enjoyed the main story, learning about this world's conflicts and cultures. Act 3 has an especially fleshed out setting, although its fictional politics can get a little dry at times.
This story, while compelling, is carried by its main cast. Each party member is so much more than their zany abilities, they have their own stories and I especially enjoyed the story sections that focused on their inner thoughts. There are optional conversations and funny dialogue choices that give you insight on their personalities. I wish there were a few more of these, especially with the last character, who joins quite late in the campaign.
The main cast is also an excellent window into how creative the application of magic in this world is. I loved Banks, the medic who can only revive a character after killing them first, and having the rewind and enemy prediction mechanics presented through Zan’s future vision was such a cool choice.
Comedy is subjective, and in a single player slow paced game, it can be really hard to nail and yet this game is really funny! It's rare to see a game get this many laughs out of me. Most of the comedy comes from clashing reality with fantasy, but there's also a healthy dose of witty dialogue and silly UI text. It helped me resonate with the characters quite a lot, we don’t just get their stories, they make us laugh too.
The Tactics
Of course, our heroes don’t just shine in the story, their magic elevates this tactics game to something truly special. Every character fills a specific niche, they all have their own special ways of dealing with enemies. and their strengths mesh together so well. The varied map design is great at promoting your character’s powers; Jen’s wind spells are going to be a force of nature on levels with lots of windows, whereas in large open areas, Dall’s charge reigns supreme.
Your characters are so powerful and honestly become so broken with upgrades. I really liked the solo dream levels, which are more experimental and show just how much one character can achieve. However, all these powers make the game far too easy at times, which is why I highly recommend going after bonus objectives. These optional extras are what really pushed me to explore the limits of these powers and try creative strategies I would’ve otherwise never thought of.
The core gameplay loop is closer to a puzzle game than a traditional tactics game such as XCOM. The game provides options to rewind your turns, and gives you plenty of information about enemies and their abilities. You’re never caught off guard, which may disappoint some, but this game shines best when you’re coming up with flawless plans that let you clear rooms perfectly.
I really like the simplicity of this gameplay, the safety really let me experiment with new approaches, I liked replaying levels to see if I could do them more cleanly. The menus can be a little overwhelming with information and tricky to navigate, but it clicks fairly quickly. I also had some issues with how the game plays on a controller, but the developers recently released a patch that vastly improves this.
I love this game so much, that despite my 20 hours, I wish there was simply more of it! The last set of levels add so many cool twists to standard objectives and some mechanics are introduced so late in the campaign that it really feels like there's room for DLC, or perhaps a sequel? In the meantime, I’ve played a couple excellent fan made levels, which this game supports through Steam Workshop.
Final Thoughts
What more can I say? It's a fun, smart and hilarious game. Go play it!
If you like turn based combat, this is a game for you. If you like a good story, this is the game for you. If you like novel concepts, this is the game for you. If you have the cash in your pocket, this is the game for you.
Get this game, it rules.
A lovely tactical game that is fun, crisp, and strikes a good balance between challenging and forgiving. It gives you some freedom in how you approach an objective. An interesting story with enjoyable characters who you really want to root for (or against); and, a considerate touch: if the story or dialog aren't doing it for you, they made it all skippable. Oh, and the art and music are both fabulous.
I really liked being able to dial in the challenge up or down: there are different difficulty levels, custom difficulty levels you can set for yourself, and optional "confidence" objectives you can challenge yourself with on almost every level, just to keep it spicy. Not liking a level? You can skip it. Want more levels outside of the plot line? Well, you've got that, too.
Picked the game up, couldn't put it down. Well-executed from soup to nuts, and tons of thoughtful touches throughout to make sure that whoever is playing can have a great time. Happy to recommend it.
Extremely fun gameplay and a compelling story with fun characters. Its not the longest game in the world, but it doesn't need to be.
Its like a mix of xcom and ogre tactics and I loved it.
Okay, after "Traffic Warlock" they had me.
Also, to whomever is managing the license, please consider turning this into a full-fledged animated series on the streaming service of your choice.
The game is amazing. I was pleasantly surprised that the story is pretty good and the dialogues are well written. In the end, I felt I know these people (cheezy, I know).
I also like the "world map" crossed with "conspiracy theory board" - it is very original.
It is tempting to compare this to Xcom, but you couldn't really say that. More like a second cousin. Beating the levels is more like solving a puzzle, which is annoyingly limited for the first couple but by the end you have so many cool people and powers that you can get real creative.
The written dialogue in this game really is rare quality, as others have pointed out. I think in video games is dialogue is not entirelly terrible, we are OK with it because that is not what we come for. So when actual fun dialogue comes up, it's refreshing.
It's a very solid game, deserves the A.
I went in expecting a fun quick little puzzle game. I did not expect such fantastic writing, particularly the characters.
This may not be my GotY but it was Pleasant Surprise of the Year.
Truly great! Effortlessly blends serious and silly, with both the tactical gameplay and the narrative remaining consistently satisfying until (and through) the end credits. Highly recommended!
As soon as it feels like it's losing steam it picks back up again by introducing new mechanics and characters and throwing some really interesting levels, taking full advantage of the unorthodox magic abilities the main cast has.
The story is simple but effective and the world of the game is actually kinda interesting, making for very unique characters and setting, everything in this game oozes personality.
Extremely well designed game, if you think a certain combination of abilities might do something interesting it probably will.
Big recommendation if you are looking for something shorter (13h-ish with no side challenges) that you can play at your own pace.
In short - a gem. One of the best games I played, ever. Brilliant writing, story, worldbuilding. Everything from hilarious to heart wrenching, sometimes all at once. And always extremely witty. Love the visual style (and trying to find Darrell the Cat in every cutscene!). Soundtrack perfectly on point. Gameplay is very well balanced, with the additional objectives pushing it a bit more towards a puzzle game. Maybe someday I will write a better review; probably not. This game brought me a new appreciation of playing as my hobby.
A unshockingly well designed puzzle tactics hybrid (this is a BIG positive for me, was expecting and got great design)
what blows me away is the quality of this fucking writing man. Worth the full price (the dev commentary is also fascinating) I would KILL for more of this setting
Into the Breach the obvious comparison but Tactical Breach Wizards is much more approachable. More forgiving of mistakes and opportunities to reset more plentiful so you don't get stuck in analysis paralysis worrying about tanking hours of progress. As such, experimentation is more rewarding and results in a challenging yet pleasant experience overall.
I thought the characters and dialog were cute.
Super great game, hilarious writing, fantastic gameplay, highly recommended.
Just a wonderful concept executed brilliantly. Charming characters, compelling narrative, clever dialogue, and intriguing worldbuilding, tied up neatly in a tight, streamlined tactics-puzzle game. Perfect synergy between sight, sound, story, and gameplay.
Absolutely awesome gameplay, story, and design. The writing is funny while also being serious when it needs to in *most* cases. I really recommend this game
Tactical Breach Wizards is one of the best games I’ve played all year. Part of that is definitely personal taste, but it has a lot of smart stuff going on under the hood too. I love the thoughtful gameplay, and how the very design of the game encourages experimentation. That makes each level a joy to play, and even replay if you miss any of the various side objectives.
The story, and character writing are also spot on. Tactical Breach Wizards has some of my favourite characters of any of the games that I've played all year thanks to the grounded writing style that was used to portray them.
If you like tactical games then you need to give this game a look. I'm fairly certain you won't be disappointed.
Full review here: https://frostilyte.ca/2024/11/26/lets-get-tactical-tactical-breach-wizards-review/
Don't go in expecting a full XCOM-style strategy/tactics game. TBW is more like a linear puzzle game with some tactical elements. Enemies are in the same position each time in a given level, for example. That said, the game is extremely good. It has a very smooth difficulty curve, and is very generous with difficulty settings. The writing is also comedic, but doesn't undercut serious moments with jokes. The worldbuilding is also good, giving you just enough information to get hooked while not revealing everything at once.
Really fun breaching game with fun environmental mechanics and interesting enemies which make each battle different from another. Dialogue is superb and gets you feeling for characters more and more as the game goes on.
Fun tactical game, though more of a puzzler if going for all the confidence bonus objectives. Great and genuinely funny writing and a nicely paced story.
Tight combat, the puzzles are so fun. A lot like Into the Breach, but with a very "Suspicious Developments" twist. If you like their other games, buy this one already!
Cool story and flow, nice mechanics, great side-quests to sink time into, overall very balanced game. I give it a big like, 9\10
While I haven't play much of the main game, I have played through the demo twice.
If you are looking for turn based tactics action, with some magic spells mixed in, and a truck load of knocking people through windows, you can't go wrong with Tactical Breach Wizards!
A wonderously charming experience crafted with an absolutely astounding amount of care, from the gameplay balance of the various characters enemies and encounters, to the soundtrack that gets you in the urban fantasy headspace, to the charming writing and worldbuilding that leaves you craving more at every moment.
Not a game to be missed out on by anyone who enjoys turn based tactical experiences, nor by those looking to experience a story uncovering a conspiracy of cataclysmic proportions.
Get out your pins and red yarn for this hilarious investigation, and get ready to get attached to some of the most compelling yet disparate character's you're likely to meet this year!
Both Wizards and Tactics. May contain trace amounts of rewind. 10/10 would recomment.
Breaching the wizarding world of comedy
Overview
In short – this is absolutely worth a buy for the humor alone. It’s neatly packaged in hilarious dialog, loveable characters and a story that actually works well played straight even with all the comedy happening around it. Oh, this is a game too. But the gameplay is pretty snappy and played in short bursts.
Story
You play as wizards in the modern world which is a very fun setting that includes an annoying traffic wizard everyone loves to hate (fuck you Steve). Each wizard unlocked their own special ability which leads to a diverse squad as you eventually use these powers to breach rooms as basically SWAT wizards. Funnily enough though, while you play the good guys, you start out on the run as you get mixed up in some hijinks.
The writing is actually quite clever and the twists actually got me. But I could nod and say oh yeah, that makes sense. Maybe I should have saw that coming. Overall, I felt the story was satisfying and engaging throughout. The stakes do rise as you learn more and more about what is actually going on, and with the stakes the danger increases. This is quite apparent with the gameplay getting more and more challenging with new enemies and problems to solve.
Dialog and characters are the best part. I found myself laughing so often. Which is a major compliment when I am thoroughly depressed and dissatisfied with the world at large!
Presentation
Simple art that's expressive in its own unique style. Enemies are all unique looking and pretty easy to tell what each does based on looking at it even prior to hovering over it for more details.
Music is banging. Love it.
Gameplay
While the game is called Tactical Breach Wizards, I would compare it more to Into The Breach or any other TRPG with a more puzzle like solution rather than X-COM. While there is some squad management, they’re all named characters and you use set squads for each missions. The missions are also also all preset. This is why I compare it more to puzzles – there are generally some pretty set developer-intended solutions for each level. Early on, your options are very limited and this is really highlighted. Later on, you can diversify your squad’s skillset a bit more but and you have more choice on how to solve the puzzles. But it’s still not as free as something like X-COM.
That said – the missions are fun. Importantly, they are short and easily played in bursts despite testing your brain power. It’s not my favorite part of the game though so I passed on most of the optional content. I did go for optional challenges in the story missions though when I could figure them out as I liked trying to solve how to do them. But not enough to do all of them. Eventually I just shrugged and finished the mission because I was way more invested in getting to the next bit of story and comedy.
Summary
Give this game a go if you think the concept seems fun at all. It is absolutely worth it for the plot and dialog alone which is pretty much what my playtime is. But there is still even more content if the gameplay really clicks with you. While I liked it, I was ready to move on as I felt satisfied from the story. But can see others enjoying min-maxing their wizards for fun – and for style! Most of the bonus content just rewards costumes (which are pretty dope, not gonna lie. Have my storm witch blinging in that winter coat)
Great game! Very cool in idea and ivisiuals. Well balanced and well crafted missions/puzzles.
Indie game of the year contender in my book :D
Amazingly witty writing, while still having an engaging story and lovable characters. To top it off, TBW has super fun gameplay that's easy to pick up, yet has a surprising amount of depth. There are countless ways to finish most levels with plenty of room for experimentation. My GotY for sure!
It's fantastic game. I would call it puzzle-tactical and it's great fun. While not super hard, bonus objective can be challenging.
The writing and characters starts on incredible strong, it's witty, clever and charming. Unofrtunately later on it takes very strage turn, like it is from differnt game, Act3 with its psedo Iran, feels out of place and hollow. I would probablt overlook it but it is stark from how great it starts. Still, this writing fumbling along the way, it's my only complain and probably still my GOTY. 9.5/10.
This is one of those games that comes around and reminds you what life even is worth living for. Could recommend to anyone, absolute triumph. The perfect mix of thinking, comedy, pathos. It literally does nothing wrong and it is literally my job as a professional nitpicker (philosopher) to find flaws
I'm not into tactic games but this one was very enjoyable. Great gameplay and witty writting!
Very good if you like games like Into the Breach or chess puzzles where positioning and combining your team's skills is more important than individual abilities and numbers.
a great fun puzzle game with a great sense of humour and world building
Gameplay is great, and a fun premise but god the writing on this game is so fucking good. Worth every penny, highly recommend. Take your time reading the story if you can, it's amazing.
Pains me to do it, but, after finishing it, this is a thumbs-down.
Why? The writing. It's very funny when dealing with light themes, but when it tries to deal with some heavy stuff, it comes across, for me, as very dissonant.
And everything beyond the first 20% of the game is heavy themes. It's not that the writing style is bad, but rather that it's mismatched to the story being told.
Also:
- The game is filled with pep-talk containing psychological advice that both rings strange in the writing tone, and is, at most, soap-opera level.
- At the end, a character the squad met two days before gives them insightful personal pep-talk. It is the time for that story beat, to congratulate the player -- but it feels forced, as two days of constant fighting don't make that level of personal knowledge plausible.
- Major plot hole, story spoiler:
Sorry for the long-winded explanation, but it's multi-dimensional time-travel stuff:
The way to survive the unbeatable Evil Boss is to let your necromancer escape into another dimension through a Death Door she can create. It is explained that people come out of the Death Door 1 hour after they're pushed in. This way, your necromancer comes back to revive the dead squad mates, as she has the power to time-reverse a dead body 1 hour, back when they were alive. Everyone needs to die and get into the Death Door in sight of the Evil Boss, otherwise they won't be seen as dead, and the Evil Boss will keep coming after them.
So, in the same fight as the other squadmates are killed, the necromancer pops into the Death Door, and comes out 1 hour later. She then time-reverses the squad-mates 1 hour ... and they're alive. They should have been freshly-killed. Even if you allow for some variance, like the Death Door keeping people in a bit less than 1 hour, and necromancy reverting bodies back to a bit more than 1 hour back, they don't say that and, from their discussion planning the whole thing, have no way of knowing if such margins exist.
The gameplay kept being relatively easy, and I got some 2/3 of bonus objectives on first try. I skipped some bonus objectives because I found better things to do - for instance, instead of defenestrating 3 people by turn 2, I finished the whole breach in turn 1.
The character power interplay was the main contributor for crisp and fun gameplay, and this remained constant throughout the game.
So, if you don't care about the story, yup, this is still a thumbs-up.
Original, thumbs-up review:
Outstandingly funny and well-done Squad-Tactics-lite game. Small teams, great gameplay, fully predictable. More Into The Breach than X-COM.
The skills are impactful and creative, they work together well, and the game is surprisingly low-stress. The required objectives are reasonable, while the bonus objectives are quite challenging.
If you've played XCOM, this might be a nice, relaxing, and very funny game. If you haven't, it could be a great entry into the genre.
Lots of well written humour and the core game mechanics here are good - but the world building just isn't there, maybe it's counteracted a bit by everything having to be so damn funny all the time. The actual fight environment is just so damned barren, it's one square room with some police officers after another - shoot a few people out a window and seal some doors, out in 30 seconds, some ironic chit chat, rinse repeat. It just lacks a bit of depth, something to get you immersed, in my opinion. I tried, but I couldn't get into this.
Awesome tactics game, enjoyed from start to finish. Great music, characters with modifiable abilities and a well paced story missions. More puzzle (like into the breach) than Xcom, but very satisfying!
This one is a bit of fun even though I don't think there's much in the way of replay. The game is quirky and fun. It plays decently well, and it functions just as much as a puzzle game as it does an action game. Didn't encounter a single bug through my 17hrs with it. Overall, I'd give this one an 8/10
Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Suspicious Developments |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 20.01.2025 |
| Metacritic | 88 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 98% положительных (7012) |