Strike Team Gladius

Strike Team Gladius is a tightly focused turn-based tactical experience that puts battlefield decision-making front and center, stripping away most meta-systems in favor of constant, deliberate combat challenges. Developed and published by Wave Light Games Inc., it clearly aims to satisfy players who enjoy methodical positioning, ability synergies, and long-term squad development without the distraction of base management or grand strategy layers. From the first mission onward, the game communicates its priorities: every meaningful choice happens on the battlefield, and success depends on understanding your team as well as the terrain they fight on. The premise is straightforward but effective. You command an elite strike team deployed to reclaim a colony world overrun by alien forces. Rather than leaning heavily on cinematic storytelling, the game frames its narrative through mission structure and progression, allowing the unfolding conflict to emerge naturally through escalating opposition and increasingly dangerous environments. Locations range from harsh planetary surfaces to hostile alien territories, each introducing new tactical considerations that subtly reshape how engagements unfold. The story exists to justify the action, but it never intrudes on the core loop, keeping the focus squarely on combat execution. Combat is where Strike Team Gladius establishes its identity. Battles are fully turn-based, with a strong emphasis on positioning, line of sight, cover usage, and timing. Every move feels consequential, as poor placement or overextension can quickly lead to casualties. The game encourages careful advancement rather than reckless aggression, often rewarding players who take time to control choke points, exploit terrain, and coordinate abilities. Environmental elements such as destructible objects and explosive hazards add another layer of tactical depth, creating opportunities for clever plays that go beyond raw damage output. One of the game’s most notable strengths is its class variety. With a large roster of distinct unit types, players can assemble squads tailored to their preferred playstyle. Traditional archetypes like ranged damage dealers and front-line tanks are joined by more specialized roles that emphasize crowd control, support, drones, or mobility. As soldiers gain experience, they unlock new abilities and equipment options that allow for meaningful customization. This progression system gives each squad member a sense of identity, and losing a veteran unit can feel like a genuine setback rather than a temporary inconvenience. Mission design supports this depth by presenting a steady stream of objectives that push players to adapt. While many encounters ultimately revolve around eliminating enemies, the conditions under which you do so vary enough to keep the campaign engaging. Timed objectives, defensive holds, and special mission types introduce pressure that forces calculated risk-taking. Later stages raise the stakes further by introducing heavier units, vehicles, and mechanized support, expanding tactical possibilities without overwhelming the core mechanics. Visually, the game opts for clarity over spectacle. Character models, environments, and effects are functional and readable, ensuring that players can quickly assess threats and opportunities during combat. Animations are clean and purposeful, reinforcing the tactical nature of the experience rather than aiming for cinematic flair. Sound design follows a similar philosophy, providing clear feedback for actions and abilities without becoming intrusive. While the presentation may feel modest compared to larger-budget strategy titles, it serves the gameplay well and keeps attention focused where it matters most. There are, however, areas where the game shows its limitations. Interface and squad management tools can feel cumbersome at times, especially when equipping gear or reviewing abilities across multiple units. Some missions can blur together structurally over longer sessions, and players looking for a strong narrative hook or dramatic story moments may find the campaign understated. These issues don’t undermine the core experience, but they do highlight where additional polish or variety could elevate the game further. Community response reflects this balance. Players who value tactical depth and class-driven squad building tend to speak positively about the challenge and replayability, while criticism often centers on presentation, interface friction, and the absence of broader strategic layers. Importantly, most feedback acknowledges that the game succeeds at what it sets out to do, even if it doesn’t attempt to appeal to every type of strategy fan. Ultimately, Strike Team Gladius is a confident, combat-first tactical RPG that understands its audience. It doesn’t chase trends or attempt to compete with sprawling strategy epics, instead delivering a concentrated experience built around thoughtful encounters and meaningful squad progression. For players who enjoy turn-based combat that rewards planning, adaptability, and mastery of unit synergies, it offers a demanding and satisfying campaign that keeps the focus squarely on the art of tactical warfare. Rating: 7/10

Hydra bug-jait javították. Jó-ér érték arányú játék. Ez egy Körökre osztott Tactical Team RPG. 6 tagú csappattal lehet játszani, de emberek cserélhetőek minden feladatok között. Összeségében jól lett megcsinálva, ajánlom.

感谢Keylol短评鉴赏家活动 《Strike Team Gladius》是一款回合制战旗策略游戏，游戏有着和2K重启的经典回合制战旗策略游戏《XCOM》十分相似的玩法，但是体验过后便会发现二者之间的差距还是十分明显的，游戏缺乏引人入胜的剧情，虽说建模还算精致但是角色动作十分出戏，游戏中有着丰富的职业选择和可以搭配的技能和武器装备，但是缺少足够的引导教程，一股脑抛给玩家后的结果便是颇高的上手门槛，回合制战棋策略游戏的硬核核心玩家可能会大呼过瘾，但是这显然不是新手玩家想要的迎接方式，甚至还会有数值不平衡的问题。游戏的UI界面做的十分简陋，缺少足够的美工设计，给人的感觉很不好，像是在学习制作游戏的新手制作的尝试之作。 游戏的主菜单界面比较简单，建模总是觉得有点日本特摄片的感觉，奥特曼？ 开场简短的剧情介绍动画，玩家来到外星球进行作战，打怪兽。 选择角色创建自己的小队，游戏中为玩家提供数量众多的可选角色，还可以选择配备的武器装备。 游戏有着回合制战旗策略的基本要素，比如六边形战场和那该死的命中率。 总结： 总的来说，《Strike Team Gladius》只是有了一个回合制战棋策略游戏该有的框架，但是缺少足够的内容去充实和细节的打磨，使其很难成为一款广受好评的佳作，如果玩家只是想体验回合制战斗，那只能说游戏还算能玩，但依旧缺乏足够的吸引力和竞争力。

If u like the last game u will like this one aswell, nothing over the top new but "if it works dont change it".

so far not really impressed yet

IT'S A SCAM GAME GARBAGE...

Este juego es genial, buenos gráficos y estrategia en 3D. Le falta un poco más de contenido, más unidades, más mapas diferentes y un editor por ejemplo. Si le añaden más cosas sería una nota de 10.

[h1] Things I like: [/h1] [list] [*]I like how they characters react to taking hits, but sometimes when my heavily armoured battle droid gets knocked to the ground by a 1 damage counter-attack I chuckle [*]As always, great feeling of progression between accessing new abilities and the gear upgrades [*]Fun to have some additional troops on certain missions, esp when they can be controlled manually, and ESPECIALLY when they're actually useful- armoured tanks or troops that (I assume) could have been selected from the roster, considering they have a bunch of abilities to use [*]Really appreciate the bars showing health, ability points, and movement points next to the character portraits. Without these, it would be easy to forget to move a troop or two, especially considering all the abilities that give you summons, and within the many maps that give you additional units [*]Architecture, enemies, and weaponry are all suitably futuristic and alien [*]Great variety of enemies, with a variety of abilities, strengths, and weaknesses [/list] [h1] Compared to Shieldwall: [/h1] [list] [*]I prefer the medieval setting- fighting mostly humanoids with low tech is just more satisfying to me [*]I dislike the reliance on ranged vs. melee. Although it's understandable given the setting, it isn't my preferred playstyle [*]I prefer being able to see all the enemies on the map from the start. I understand the "realism" that fog of war offers, but it's a bit strange to move a single hex and all of a sudden the house-sized dino alien is suddenly in view. This issue seems even more noticeable through attack range boosting equipment that lets you see and target distant enemies only if one of your other troopers gets closer. Essentially, they can accurately shoot at targets that they can't see themselves. If the fog of war is needed, since there are enemy indicators anyway, and these could be manually counted to determine the number of remaining enemies, a nice QoL change would be an onscreen counter :) [*]I liked Shieldwall's branching paths- even if the story is mostly the same, you can choose to support or attack a few different factions throughout the game [*]Another plus to Shieldwall- I like the big battles where there are two hostile factions that are fighting, and your goal is to eliminate everyone [*]Shieldwall gives more map variety overall- open woodland areas and cities and within taverns and caverns, for example, rather than Gladius' open outdoor areas [/list] [h1] Suggested improvements: [/h1] Most of these relate to all Wave Light games, since they all play similarly [list] [*]Controller support [*]Support for higher resolutions [*]Cloud saves [*]Translucent effects- can be hard to see troops because of the trees/structures, esp on the enemy turn when you lose control of the camera and can't pan/rotate [*]Would love to see a translucent mini-map with enemy and power ups tagged [*]I like that there's an activity log, but I'd prefer a log that can be pinned and shows all the rolls/calculations behind the scenes [*]The move hexes show up easily, but the teleport range can be hard to see in the terraformed parts of the later stages [/list] [h1] Bugs: [/h1] [list] [*]Moving too quickly after using the Deploy Gun Drone skill can result in the drone being unresponsive and immobile for the remainder of the mission [*]Sometimes the move range highlighted shows movement is possible far beyond the normal range- when this happens and I get greedy, the game essentially stalls and I have to retreat from the mission [/list]

Pew! Pew! Pew! If turn based games or space combat is your thing then you are going to love this. This beautifully designed game will have you thinking and rethinking your every move.

Strike Team Gladius is essentially Strike Team Hydra V2.0, or even V1.5 with some improvements. You gain allied units that are a bit more powerful, but also bigger and badder enemies that are even harder to kill. Some gaming mechanic changes and UI changes were added. All in all, STG presents a more coherent game that represents a minor evolution of the game engine and design that adds onto STH, but little else. STG is clearly derived from Strike Team Hydra, its predecessor, in that most of the menu screens are the same, or at least have recognizable counterparts in the game. However, there are many notable differences. STG is a hex-based turn-based tactical combat game where you can take a dozen different classes of soldiers (6 at a time) through a campaign (chained missions) against the invading Sethari. There is no elevation on the map, but fog of war is in full effect with weapons reaching most of visual distance. The ST series has a counter-fire mechanic where the unit being attacked can retaliate (counterfire) but is often limited in the number of counterfire available per turn. Otherwise, the game is similar to XCOM where you can take half-cover or full cover behind objects, you shoot, you shot some more, hit end turn when you used up all the action points on all assets you control. Then enemies does the same, repeat until one side has achieved victory condition. STG now has armored units on the map joining your fight, and AI units fighting by itself. Unfortunately, sometimes, the AI units behave like kamikazes even on mission where your objective is to make sure they don't die. For example, there was a mission where you are to protect \a downed pilot. Instead of sitting still waiting for rescue, the pilot is charging enemies... with just a pistol or carbine. ARGH! On the other hand, it is actually quite cool to see tanks, APCs, and even rocket artillery pummel enemies alongside your soldiers. Unfortunate, these AI doesn't understand "overrun" (physically run enemies over). Somehow, after playing a bit of of STH, the changes in the play mechanics and UI felt somewhat backwards. Basically, in STH, the larger UI has the elements larger and easier to read, like how many action points left. It's much harder to read with STG, where the UI elements are somehow much smaller even when both games are set to 1080p. Also, STH and STG have different AP mechanics. In STH, movement and actions use the same pool of action points. You can move a lot, or you can shoot a lot, or you can mix shooting and moving, but the more you shoot the less you move. But then, the whole game was about fighting onboard a cruiser boarded by the enemy with tight corridors and rooms. In STG, movement and actions are separate. You can move to the maximum distance, but still perform all the actions available to you. This requires a bit of tactical adjustment from STH, but necessary because in STG the maps are also more open with enemies may be coming from multiple directions. You are planetside dodging burned out ruins, rocks, destroyed vehicles, and so on. Often, the mission ends when you've destroyed the enemy teleporter beaming in reinforcements. The skill tree is a little different and a lot of skills unlocked early, so you don't have to grind through initial missions with an extremely limited arsenal. Almost everyone have the first few skills unlocked, and some have up to 10. However, the color palette is a bit weird, and I have no idea why the swordsman is holding his two-handed sword like a bat at a baseball game... The game also made cover very effective. Units hiding behind full cover is 85% covered. Add some natural bonus and to hit drops to under 10%, which is extremely low. However, liberal use of grenades and other explosive ordnance will even the odds, at least at easier levels where grenades can kill instantly. Unfortunately, the AI pretty much relies on rush, and occasionally use a grenade. So it is up to you to don't get near enemies or terrain features that will go kaboom. The graphics are quite good, and character models are improved from STH. However, as mentioned before, UI seems to have taken a step or two backwards. Some UI scaling would have been nice. And a lot of character animation is way exaggerated. And the death animations are all pre-packaged instead of ragdoll. The economy is also a bit stingy on the easier levels, and doesn't improve much on the toughest levels... same as in STH. On easy, a typical mission is worth a few hundred credits, only enough for a lousy item. On the tougheest missions, you're looking at a few thousand credits, but some of the very best items are over 25000 credits. Also keep in mind you are outfitting at least 6 soliders, each of which has a DOZEN OR MORE pieces you can upgrade, with some strict class restrictions. At least when you trade the item back in you don't lose anything. All in all, when it comes to turn-based tactical combat, IMHO Silent Storm and XCOM (the Firaxis one) are still the best. Strike Team Gladius does somewhat scratch the itch with its own mechanics, but a tactical combat game with a somewhat clunky UI, brain dead AI, and no dynamic campaign in 2022 is aiming a bit low. Recommended, but with reservations.