Xenocide

[h3]RANKING:[/h3] [table] [tr] [td] [h3][strike]AVOID | FLAWED[/strike] | [b]MAYBE[/b] | [strike]WORTHWHILE | COMPELLING | UNMISSABLE [/strike] [/h3] [/td] [/tr] [/table] [h3]SYNOPSIS:[/h3] [table] [tr] [th][b]ASSESSMENT:[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] Xenocide is a short, space themed fleet scale TBT wargame with a persistent force, slither of thematic combat mechanics & an ample choice of unit classes including carriers that can carry fighters. Tactical battles are proficiently challenging, demanding thoughtful strategising, but wane due to a lack of new mechanics midgame. The thematic levelling system could have been good, but is bugged, petering out after x5 upgrades. Despite fragments of the transhumanist story, noir colour scheme, & religious overtones, the dark foreboding setting hinted at never really materialises. Which is a shame. The UI needs bugfixes. Along with more info screens that explain concepts better. But for a few faults, additional combat mechanics, tactical tiles for maps & more content would take this to the right side of [b]MAYBE[/b] something to consider. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]STATUS:[/b][/td] [td]Looks finished as has not received any updates since release [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]APPEAL:[/b][/td] [td]Will suit fans of hex-based TBT wargames like Panzer General, but with a Sci-Fi theme. Needs some work to get into, plus trial & error. [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]VALUE:[/b][/td] [td]A little too high a price for the current content [/td] [/tr] [/table] [quote=]Key provided by the developer through my curator [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40556040-The-Irregular-Gamer/][b]THE IRREGULAR GAMER[/b] [/url] | Click to follow & get updates[/quote] [i]More info below....[/i] [h3]HIGHLIGHTS:[/h3] 🟡 An appealing CONCEPT. Fleet scale TBT battles in space, fighting in a transhumanist holy war in tactical battles with x2 victory conditions, maps with space themed terrain & utility tiles in the vein of Riddick & WH40K. 🟡 A familiar GAMELOOP. Remindful of old hexagonal tile-based TBT titles like Panzer General. Pick permanent fleet with points up to control limit. Select engagement. Fight battle. Win by defeating the enemy command ship or controlling victory tiles. Gain blessings to upgrade/repair units. Use supply ship to keep them fuelled. Construct ships by seizing factories on maps. Rinse & repeat. 🟡 Basic SHIP MANAGEMENT that includes a persistent fleet & 10+ ship classes from fighters, escorts to capital ships. Providing a few viable fleet composition alternatives. Ships level using x5 blessings in keeping with the dark religious theme. Ships can be built only up to a hardcoded command limit that rises every mission. 🟡 Thematic MECHANICS provide enough depth to enable tactical nuance in battles, despite not being entirely explained. A tiny amount of tile types add a dash of strategy during encounters. Ships come with a handful of stats that determine capabilities & a range of traits that distinguish roles such as secondary missile attacks, point defence or tanks area of effect damage coverage - which are really nice. Fuel determines ship activity, which can be refilled, but there is no parallel for ammo use. [h3]OFF TARGET:[/h3] ⚪ GAMEPLAY is initially involving with the bulk of strategy centring around fleet movement & positioning. Cycling forces to maintain experienced units is a necessary parallel. As is ensuring ships remain fuelled & using factorums to replace losses. This begins to wane around midpoint as no more new concepts or mechanics are introduced & battles start to become fairly repetitive. Battles are attritional, requiring careful massing of attacks on single targets to take them down without wasting attacks that can be spent on other foes. The initial requirement for trial & error with fleet configurations & understanding mechanics is part of the fun. Small maps ensure action doesn't take long to initiate. Destroying command ships is an alternative to capturing victory tiles. ⚪ COMBAT is good in places, but declines in impetus the longer encounters drag on. Essentially a question of selecting units, choosing whether to move or shoot up to their ranges. Damage exchanges are fair as they are calculated simultaneously at the end of turn. Ship traits add a tiny amount of nuance in attack behaviour, including point defence & missile volleys. Just wish there were more mechanics like shields or self-repair options. ⚪ SHADOW SHIPS are an intriguing concept, but not entirely convincing or well explained. Able to bypass or usurp frontlines or terrain. They can only be targeted by certain craft. The AI enjoys finishing their moves on terrain tiles so they self-destruct. Can run out of supply & become isolated. Worse can't be used to capture objectives. ⚪ The x7 MAPS are scripted, scale in difficulty, but don't have dynamic elements. The first & last few are engaging, requiring purposeful strategy. Midgame missions become a race to capture or prevent the capture of solitary victory tiles. x2 types of terrain tiles that form obstacles to avoid or use are accompanied by factorums or victory tiles that double up as refuelling points. ⚪ CHALLENGE revolves around keeping the fleet alive, against an enemy fleet that begins every scenario larger than the player's. Scenarios are quite balanced as both sides have access to the same ship classes, while special tiles are equal & located at the same distances. ⚪ x3 AI levels aren't completely convincing. It acts as a blunt weapon. Does a fair job of taking victory tiles, guarding them, but does not always go for or use factorums. Seems stand-offish depending on the map. Moves it's fleet in groups. Will fight to the end. Prefers to produce only drones. ⚪ PRODUCTION is okay. There is some polish. A few bugs exist, notably with the UI when switching between units & ordering them to attack or move. Ship upgrades continue to prompt even after getting all x5 available. More QoL & content is needed to make this a viable purchase. Stability & optimisation demonstrate no issues. [h3]SHORTCOMINGS:[/h3] 🟤 CONTENT is minimal with a linear campaign of highly scripted scenarios that scale in difficulty. Even though mission selection is open, its best to follow the breadcrumbs. Staying power is weak as there no other modes. Replay value reduced to trying different fleet compositions & there is no real longevity. 🟤 ATMOSPHERE is suitably dark with hints of bleakness to match the foreboding religious overtones the setting suggests. The transhumanist story would have been interesting, but isn't presented in sufficient volume to anchor the player. The noir colour scheme drives the ambience, but reduces visual definition. Combat animations are difficult to make out. Audio-effects for the UI & combat are basic. 🟤 UI offers move, attack & levelling buttons on a panel with selected ships. This becomes fiddly when cycling the fleet. Buttons go missing due to a bug that makes them disappear when ships that have moved or attacked are reselected. Movement range can be incorrectly shown. Many of these panels have info hidden away in tooltips. Are hard to read due to the tiny text used. 🟤 ACCESSIBILTY is bad. Will take effort to get into the game. Expect to be thrown straight into the action without a tutorial. Which would be fine if the info screens at the start of engagements held more detail information. 🟤 ANNOYANCES include losing ships at the start of penultimate map. Ship building takes too long. Ship roles aren't well explained. The use of buttons to move/attack is an unnecessary overhead. Fleets cannot be deployed at the start of missions. No fleet management between encounters such as repairing damaged craft. [table] [tr] [td][b]REVIEWED WITH:[/b][/td] [td]Build v date of review @ 1920x1080 fullscreen, EVO850 SSD [/td] [/tr] [/table] [quote=]Thank you for reading[/quote]

Unfortunately I didn't understand how to play, this game probably needs a tutorial for people like me who aren't the best at strategy games and being patient. I understand that being cryptic is part of the ambiance and maybe another player will get captivated by the author's original universe and narrative, and take the time to play it more toroughly, that's why I didn't put a thumb down. [h1](follow my curator page [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33882793/]GenXPlayers[/url] for more retro and indie reviews)[/h1]

This has a lot of potential but currently as another reviewer pointed out you have to do some digging to figure out what the different ship classes do. Graphics are amazing, gameplay is a bit opaque at first.

Recently played this for a small amount of time The game controls can be worked on a lil bit more but if you misclick then oopsie thats that. 5/10 Not bad not good