That’s a damn shame, because it gets a lot right.
Comparisons toXCOMare inevitable, and for once accurate.
There’s a shot ofMutant Year Zerotoo, since its turn-basedstrategybackbone is dotted with real-time, uh, ribs?
You’ll explore each level that way, using limited takedown moves to stealthily trim the opposition.
It’s much less of a puzzle than MYZ though, as you often still stand a chance anyway.
This is fortunate, because enemies mingle too often to be reliably isolated, and spot bodies very often.
Most monsters can’t be stealthed at all, and enemy numbers soon ramp up to dozens.
Real-time takedowns become too dependent on luck, and the transition is as awkward as it usually is.
Fortunately once a fight kicks off, the core of the combat is solid and satisfying.
It’s more flexible than XCOM, allowing multiple attacks, and overlapping your characters' actions.
Most notable is the undrawn hand, a set of magical cards.
They can’t be exchanged, only replaced or upgraded.
In practice this means you’ll find ones that suit you and bin the rest.
Everyone accrues stress in combat.
It’s basically inverse morale, so when it maxes out people panic.
For enemies, this lets you instantly kill them without even spending AP, so it’s extremely powerful.
But it all feels a little arbitrary, and there’s no meaningful strategy in the cards.
Their chatter is infrequent and between-mission conversations brevitous so they don’t overdo it, either.
But the structure is repetitive and frustratingly random.
