Judgement: Recommended
View review on Steam
This is a fantastic game if you like small-scale turn-based tactical battles in space. The core gameplay is turn-based shoot 'em up with simplified FTL-like sector jumping in between the skirmishes. It's not really much like FTL except superficially. It's a great game nonetheless!
First, the downsides. It's a relatively short game. It's very replayable but even if you like it, you probably won't play for many tens of hours. It's also cheap though.
The battle map is small and doesn't contain much except various enemies. Not realy a downside in my opinion, just a game design choice. Think of the map as a chess board.
A more serious downside is that the gameplay seems confusing at first and the tutorial doesn't help much. Not to worry, there's a very prominent in-game manual that explains almost everything. But yeah, you'll have to read the manual at some point, which is not very fun for most people. I recommend playing on Easy at first and horsing around, doing stuff without full understanding. With a bit of luck, you won't be destroyed too quickly. After that, when you have some experience with the game, the manual is much easier to read. You can skip many sections and you will understand everything better because the concepts will connect with your experience.
Now, for the great stuff. Well, the energy-based combos are what made everything really fun to me. Your ship has a limited amount of energy each turn, which is spent on actions (energy here is like action points in other games). Any enemies you destroy drop energy. If you are able to continuously gather it, your turn won't end. This creates a great tactical planning experience. You have to think ahead and you'll be rewarded.
I also loved the intro with its awesome voiceover in Japanese. And the premise that your mission is to save the booze! That's far more original than saving the galaxy and far more important than saving random princesses!
To conclude, don't expect this game to be FTL. Expect it to be a fun turn-based shoot 'em up with many small-scale battles that can make you think. That's what it is!
First, the downsides. It's a relatively short game. It's very replayable but even if you like it, you probably won't play for many tens of hours. It's also cheap though.
The battle map is small and doesn't contain much except various enemies. Not realy a downside in my opinion, just a game design choice. Think of the map as a chess board.
A more serious downside is that the gameplay seems confusing at first and the tutorial doesn't help much. Not to worry, there's a very prominent in-game manual that explains almost everything. But yeah, you'll have to read the manual at some point, which is not very fun for most people. I recommend playing on Easy at first and horsing around, doing stuff without full understanding. With a bit of luck, you won't be destroyed too quickly. After that, when you have some experience with the game, the manual is much easier to read. You can skip many sections and you will understand everything better because the concepts will connect with your experience.
Now, for the great stuff. Well, the energy-based combos are what made everything really fun to me. Your ship has a limited amount of energy each turn, which is spent on actions (energy here is like action points in other games). Any enemies you destroy drop energy. If you are able to continuously gather it, your turn won't end. This creates a great tactical planning experience. You have to think ahead and you'll be rewarded.
I also loved the intro with its awesome voiceover in Japanese. And the premise that your mission is to save the booze! That's far more original than saving the galaxy and far more important than saving random princesses!
To conclude, don't expect this game to be FTL. Expect it to be a fun turn-based shoot 'em up with many small-scale battles that can make you think. That's what it is!
Review posted on 31/10/2018, 11:23:00.