1st of all, I’m not recommending you buy the game right now, in early access. The devs don’t need the money, as many of us already bought it.
But definitely buy it on release.
I found out about this game from Tex, from BPL.
At 1st I thought I had made a mistake, but I gave it another fresh try after I learned the basics.
I played this game on normal, and then on extra hard.
Who is this game for: people that like turn-based tactical games. XCOM, Xenonauts, etc.
Who is this game not for: people that hate turn-based games.
Why buy it?
Unique squad mechanics are what makes this game shine, instead of being one more turn-based tactical game.
Each "unit", squad or vehicle has a pilot/squad leader with a different set of skills that are "mostly" unique to them. So you can’t have 2 units with exactly the same meta build.
To make you use other chars, the game adds events to those chars, like tired or after a battle injury that will force you to skip a few missions for that char. (Some positive events also happen.)
This means that you will have to make what you can with the chars available to you at the moment.
To add to this, you fight different enemies, some with more squad members, some with less, but more HP, some with lots of armor, some get suppressed, others get demoralized and run.
You also get mission types, seeing the map with intel (the amount you provided). And you often can opt what mission to do, out of several.
So your choice of what characters to use on that mission will also depend on what you want to do in the mission.
So you might choose to let your best char rest for that mission by using another strategy, if the mission allows it.
To this we add gear choices, orbital powerups.
That’s what this game is really about. You have to make choices, many, on many levels, and there are many, many options. But you cannot have them all.
While there are some obvious choices, like giving extra weapon range to the sniper squad, many others are not obvious and will depend on the gameplay you want to do.
Example: should you give everyone the skill to have an extra accessory slot and then fill that slot with extra ammo? Or should you get the orbital powerup to drop supplies to refill the used ammo?
One choice reduces the orbital powerups for other useful things. The other choice removes a skill slot from the few available for each char.
PS: you can refund skills (with a tax), so you can go back on skills you invested in but want to change.
Another example of this is this guy called Lin. Many reviews say Lin is the Meta. I don’t use him. His gameplay is based on taking damage and surviving. I don’t play to take damage. I need people that kill at max range.
State of the game as of this review:
Story: There is a large chunk of plot story not yet in the game (around 70%).
Chars: I guess they could add a few more chars. But what exists in the game is already quite complete.
Weapons/items: Human tech weapons are already quite complete. Missing most of workshop/alien tech weapons. (There is not a single workshop vehicle weapon yet.)
Vehicles: What exists is already quite complete in terms of variety. Unless they bring flying/hover vehicles or if the future enemies are so powerful that improved versions of current vehicles need to exist. (Like heavy mech with dual cannons.)
Enemy factions: What exists is already sufficient, but there may be extra for plot reasons.
Enemy variety: Already one of the best games out there.
Should you buy it now?
Well, it will provide you better entertainment than a cinema night. So, if you love turn-based games, and you have the money, yes.
Should you buy it on the release, when it’s complete? Yes, it will be a great game.
