Cantata

There is a ton to like about Cantata, but all of the good gets lost through poor implementation of systems across massive maps that dilute the interesting components. I think Cantata had the potential to be a stand out title in the genre, but most of the time there is far too little happening in far too much space. For a more in depth review, check out my video below! https://youtu.be/AjTUNtIVxck

A ton of unrealized potential. There are actually a ton of cool and amazing ideas here, and a fun theme with intriguing art. Unfortunately actually playing this game is not very fun. The UI gets in the way of itself. It demands a lot of logistics and supply lines, but getting the info you need when you need it is very tedious. Tooltips get in the way of unit selection and movement. And it is difficult to know what units still have movement options, or even what they do. Using units to their full potential is very difficult and it can feel sometimes like your units get in the way of each other. So disappointing! At this point, the developers have seemed to have done no additional improvements from when it left Early Access. A very cool, very under baked idea that sadly will never reach its potential.

Buggy, slow, and all of the game is focused around storyline missions that aren't very good. Thoroughly mediocre in pretty much every aspect except for the art style.

This one's a doozy. This is a turn based strategy game inspired by many of the greats, and it uses some pretty fascinating mechanics like building up a supply network, managing territory, etc but the game suffers from having all these pretty mechanics and art assets but there's nearly nothing under the hood. Mechanically there are three factions: The human empire, the robot union, and the natives of Shoal. The humans focus on building specialized war machines and flooding the field with conscripts, the robots can replicate themselves mid-battle using scrap and overwhelm the enemy, and the natives use a mixture of dark magic and hunting tactics to slaughter the enemy. The three factions all have different and interesting playstyles and the artwork for them is amazing. Where the game falls apart is the underlaying game design. There were no tool tips, no explanations on what abilities did, no information whatsoever when producing units. It's like the person in charge of the UI didn't know what his job was. So instead of the game guiding you with information regarding your faction, you get the bare minimum in information. This got patched the week after I played, but that never fixed the other jank. Secondly the AI is nonexistent, enemies all do the same thing: they stand idle until they can double-move to one of your units and attack them. This often means that you spend your turn moving forwards and then several enemies leap out of the fog to kill you. There's no base defense, the AI does not know how to do it. They don't use abilities, they don't base build, it plays by completely different rules. For a game balanced around multiplayer, that's a bad sign. The campaign begins difficult and just gets harder because of this AI "feature", because the developers stated they don't like it when you just sit and base-build until you swarm the map with units even though they designed the game so that you have to just sit and base-build until you swarm the map. Every mission is timed because the game designers don't know that absolutely everybody hates arbitrary time limits, and by mission four the game decides it's done with you and presents a mission so difficult that there are TURN BY TURN GUIDES on how to beat the mission. This game is an unfinished mess and under-performed so much that "the team has mostly moved on" according to the developer, so the chances of the game being patched to be enjoyable to its userbase is pretty unlikely. The art is pretty but the game underneath smells like rotten fish.

I love the artstyle, like the story and the gameplay is interesting, but the game has so many bugs and the AI mostly isn't that I can't reccomend it.

[b][i]Научно-фантастическая пошаговая стратегия. Примите участие в войне между тремя враждующими фракциями за ресурсы планеты Шоал![/i][/b] Геймплей: https://youtu.be/vy2ADG00gwY [h3]Сюжет:[/h3] В далеком будущем роботы подняли восстание, намереваясь построить лучший мир без людей. Судьбу человечества должна решить финальная битва. Отправляйтесь во вселенную Кантата на неизведанную планету Шоал и сразитесь в роли людей, роботов и местных инопланетян. [h3]Об игре:[/h3] [code]Игра красочная, увлекательная, но сложная (выбора сложности нет) и имеет высокий порог входа. В ней необычный интерфейс, механика и управление. Поэтому я настоятельно рекомендую пройти внутригровое обучение, хотя даже в нем не раскрывают важный аспект про пополнение боеприпасов.[/code] Одиночная кампания состоит из девяти глав, представляющих собой истории всех трех фракций. Кроме одиночной кампании есть мультиплеер и редактор карт! [code]Главы разблокируются по мере прохождения. Если вы не можете пройти, хотите пропустить главу или получить возможность выбрать любую, то вам придется редактировать файл сохранения. C:\Users\ИмяВашегоПрофиля\AppData\LocalLow\afterschool\cantata\saves в файле game.cprogress в строке "Progress": 0 меняем ноль на номер главы[/code] [h3]Геймплей:[/h3] Как в любой классической стратегии мы строим сооружения, добываем ресурсы, создаем армию, уничтожаем соперников и захватываем территории. Только тут нас ограничивают в количестве ходов, отведенных на прохождение миссий и в боеприпасах. Вы не сможете накопить ресурсы, построить мощную армию, чтобы выдвинуться и одним махом нагнуть врага. Вам придется экономить ресурсы и ходы, тщательно продумывать все действия и следить за боеприпасами каждого юнита! (Лимит ходов и патронов ввели для того, чтобы компенсировать недоработки баланса и слабый ИИ.) [h3]О боеприпасах:[/h3] Они сильно ограничены, быстро расходуются и пополняются с определенными сложностями (вам придется передвигать юнитов к региональным хранилищам и тратить ходы). Кроме этого для производства патронов необходимо построить соответствующий завод на каждой захваченной территории и тратить ресурсы/ходы, которые иногда выгоднее израсходовать на производство новых юнитов, которые сразу выпускаются с полным боезарядом. [code]Совет: старайтесь атаковать врагов умениями, не требующими лишних патронов (чаще бить кулаками и атаковать юнитами, поражающими сразу несколько целей).[/code] + Великолепный визуальный стиль и приятная музыка. + Интересный сюжет и научно-фантастическая атмосфера. + Яркий инопланетный мир и уникальные юниты. + Сложный, увлекательный геймплей. + Одиночная кампания из девяти глав. + Поддержка мультиплеера. + Редактор уровней. +/- Большой порог вхождения. +/- Нет выбора сложности, есть лимит на ходы и патроны. - В данный момент присутствуют баги/недоработки. (Даже в обучающей миссии я столкнулся с парой значительных багов.) [u] Вы можете почитать другие отзывы и подписаться на наших кураторов. Добро пожаловать! [/u] [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/25737869/] 5 minutes of game [/url]

This is just one of if not the best strategy games I have ever played. I really don't know where to even start. Comment for specifics because there is just so much to this game, it is such a joy.

Interesting concept, but painfully ineffective UI and tedious flow of gameplay get in the way of this really shining. Huge maps and logistics would be really fun if not for the core loop they support. The core loop would be fun, if not for the mismatched granularity of logistics and tactics. It feels like there's two distinct game designs in here, rather than one cohesive singular experience.

Feels right at home for Advance Wars fans but builds upon that formula. Probably the best art I've seen in any tactics game. Great interface and music that mesh well with its themes.

The art was really cool. But if you played one turn-based strategy game about exploration and capturing region. You've played this game. My biggest issue with the game is the lack of innovation. We played hundred of turn-based strategy game. What make this game interesting beyond cool art? Unfortunately this game cannot answer that question. 30 min is more than enough for me to try it out and realized i already played this game in a different skin. The game lack something that really get people going. And that's a shame.