Vactics

Vactics surprised me with how addictive it is. It really is one of those games that you start to hallucinate about when you close your eyes, haha. As most people here have said, it's a game with simple mechanics and complex strategy, so if you're looking for a casual challenge, a way to get your brain running while you have a spare half an hour, it's a definite must-play. The pixel art is fantastic. The art manages to do a lot, despite the limits of this particular style of pixel art. I felt that most of the colour palettes had a lot of clarity; you could never say, mistake a building for a robot, even if there's only 2-3 colours on screen. Some of the brighter palettes blasted my eyes into space, but that's just a personal preference! I also loved that each tech customises your mech; it's such a lovely little detail. I did appreciate the little snippets of story you get from the game. The writing not the draw of the game, but having your pilots quip from time to time helped in making it feel more like you were part of the world of the game, rather than just playing a mindless strategy game. A really small but great addition. I really liked that each tech you could get (with the exception of Dash and Teleport) felt really different. It made every playthrough unique and required you to be flexible in case the RNG gods screwed you over. It causes you to discover ways to play that you may not have thought about previously. The robots were all reasonably varied as well, making for some fun combos and frustrating games.

This game is a simple but challenging game that is great for a quick run or two or longer sessions. Essentially it's a chess-like strategy game with a lot of extra factors. The basic rules are really simple; you lose energy when you're hit, and you also lose 1% of your energy every time you move (100% energy is max). When you get to 0% energy (either by moving with 1% energy or getting hit) you lose and must restart. When you are standing next to a vactor and move to another tile but are still next to the same enemy, you do a strafe hit (hitting an enemy kills it). When an enemy is two spaces away and you move directly towards it, you also attack, killing it. Killing 2 or more enemies at once restores energy (10% for two). There are a variety of enemies in the game. The simplest attack when they are next to you and you move but are still next to them. Moving away will prevent them from attacking. So far as I've discovered there are also dash enemies (can move unlimited spaces in a straight line to attack), gun enemies (shoot straight ahead), and grenade enemies, which will throw a grenade next to you that will blow up all surrounding tiles after your turn ends. This can turn a map very challenging very quickly; if there are 5 gun enemies many of the spaces you move to will cause you damage. Vactics will also kill each other in certain circumstances. There are also special tiles, such as buildings (interrupt line of fire), fire, and others. Lastly, you also get special abilities and can upgrade these at the end of each zone (3-4 maps). You start off with freeze (freeze enemy for 1 turn) and dash (move 2 spaces forward, destroying anything in the way). I've also unlocked teleport (self-explanatory) and shield (negate 1 attack, goes away after enemy turn). There are at least another 15 to unlock. On top of that, you can upgrade these abilities for further distance, faster recovery time, dashing/teleporting on top of vactic (killing it) and more. There are 6 pilots (including the starting one) that can be unlocked by completing challenges. I just unlocked the first by destroying all buildings in Vacto housing. The pilot I unlocked can be upgraded as well. Your score at the end of each run will affect your research points gained. These unlock new abilities as well as color palettes. As far as the aesthetics go I really enjoy it. You start off with 3 color palettes and will unlock more over time. I enjoy all of them but I can understand if some palettes would bother certain people (one has bright neon blue as the main color). I really enjoy this game. 8/10.

really nice little tactical rogue! it has atmosphere and great supporting art too!

Clean strategy, polished artstyle, and it's all still just early access. All and all great content at a reasonable price, really enjoying it up to now.

A moreish rogue-lite with really tight tactical gameplay and great pacing. Definitely worth a look if that sounds like your jam

"Easy to learn but hard to master" type of game i like it

little bit of logic, little bit of brute force, hippity hoppity

This game is way too big brain for me but it's so much fun, which a was surprise to me since I usually just stick to action roguelites, but I don't think it's a game that I won't get tired of over time, but since I am not smart enough to do well so I play it in short bursts. I really like the visual style, the feeling of getting a combo, and grenades.

Hey, you need to put an addiction warning label on this game.

This game came absolutely out of nowhere and easily landed itself on my top 10 for 2022. Loving the stream of updates, but even if there wasn't new content coming I could see myself enjoying this for ages. Runs are perfectly digestible & the mechanics are both simple & legible, though interlock in increasingly complex ways. Very compelling stuff