I adore genre-fusion games, but they're so rarely done right. Stuff like C&C: Renegade or other weird experimental fusions are so few and far between that when I first saw Pax Autocratica I was pretty sure it must be an overnight vibe-coded fever dream. But it's legit, this game really tries to marry elements that don't typically mesh and while I'm only ~20 hours in, there's real potential for this to come together without any seams.
Does it feel equally balanced [i]right now[/i]? Not quite, there's some definite clunk and the game feels like a roguelike horde shooter that scope-crept its way into having fully-fledged base management and colony sim components. Guess time will tell how it plays out, and although this review is Positive I'll start with the negative (cause that's what people read to see if the downsides are dealbreakers).
[b]BAD THINGS:[/b]
- Some of the management UI is... insufficient for the amount of things being navigated through. Devs say they're working on it, but as of my writing this I'd say *most* menus, but ESPECIALLY the soldier management menu need some love. There are instances where clicking a UI element can take you to an unrelated focus you can't easily return back from, and although it's a serviceable 7/10 UI if this were just a shooter, for a management sim it's a 4/10.
- 75% of the Expeditions are grindy busywork that follows the same pattern of spawn -> walk forward until a small cluster of enemies spawn -> kill them and keep walking forward until big enemy spawns. I honestly wouldn't necessarily even mind that if there were also a reason to explore the maps more, but they're also mostly devoid of interaction or purpose beyond a floor for enemy corpses to land on. So far as I can tell XP and Skill Points aren't actually given based on kills during expeditions, but instead only given after a sector's Major event. And since your soldiers don't accumulate XP from direct combat experience either, the optimal way to clear MOST missions is to crouchjump glide 300m to the elite spawn and work your way backwards until you can leave.
- Some systems and explanations are unclear. If Loyalty is high, why should I care about Fear or vise-versa? What are my chances electrocution during interrogation nukes my prisoner? What are half of these Edicts I've just researched and why do I need to sign each one individually? While I'd say 80% of things are laid out well enough (which is a win when balancing this many systems), 1/5th of the time I found myself having to assume based on context clues.
- Other systems and aspects are undercooked. Putting together a squad is fun, but why would I ever command them beyond "kill this guy first"? Affixes on items are rad, but what do I do with the extra 20 shotguns I just built trying to roll the right combo? Having different shuttles and ships is awesome, but why can't I build additional of the same ship? And why do I only see those ships I chose when I accidentally scroll wheel in too far? Being able to call in traders is nice, but why do they only sell food and why can't I sell things to them?
The music is cinematic but not particularly fitting, some audio cues and feedback elements are nebulous and lack punch or purpose... I could list more but honestly? This game does so much more RIGHT than it gets wrong. And all the things I listed are extremely fixable. It's to the point I'm not even going to list the positive elements out in detail. It's 60% Roboquest/Far Far West, 25% Palworld, 15% Rimworld, shows up wearing Helldiver's attitude, and plays exactly like it says on the tin.
If you're on the fence, it's worth pulling the trigger for the cost of less than a lonely doordash order. Just refund it if it ain't quite there yet for you. Big exception if you're in it mainly for the colony sim aspects though. In that case I'd let it cook for a while first before purchasing.
