Some demos I played during the Steam Next

This will be a short post, mostly some early impressions of the demos which I have played.

In each of the subtitle, there will be a link to the Steam page.

Strategos

This one is curious, you might give an initial look and think it is a Total War style game, and it is… sort… kind… is more likely a real time version of something like Fields of Glory. Let me explain:

Now, while I knew for a while this game existed and have wishlisted it and following it, I sort get confused and thought it was made the people behind Fields of Glory, but while the ruleset appear the similar, it isn't the same (I guess), Strategos is being distributed by Microprose and developed by a developer called Strategos while Field of Glory games were distributed by Slitherine and produced by Byzantine Games.

Anyway, what you have is a Total War style battles with a different ruleset running beneath, one which aims to a more “realistic” or “historical accurate” approach, that is quite similar to what you have in Field of Glory. Plus, there is one more element, the Courier system, when you order a unit to do something, someone must go and tell that unit to move, meaning that the position of general and distance plays a role, as there is a time between your order something and that something get done, plus you can create your own traffic jam of order by clicking it too much.

But I feel that while overall I enjoyed the result, there is something that appear a bit off, and I suspect is trying to get the ruleset they are using, which originally a turn based on to work in real time, because in turns, due the nature and presentation, you know why it happens, in real time things get complicated.

Let me give an example, in Field of Glory (I am going to use the game, because is turn based, and I already said how similar the systems are), when units engage in combat, at each turn, the combat progress is checked out, and depending on results, one unit may become fragmented, lose cohesion, lose soldiers or maybe fall back and so on, if any of this happen, you know why and when.

Now in Strategos, you sort have this, but running in real time and that when things get tricky, as is easy so lose info on what is going on and units appear to behave erratically, even if there is a good reason, like a unit suddenly getting fragmented or more confusing, the Fall Back, where two unit engaged in combat suddenly stop and keep staring at each other.

But save this, which might be a matter of getting used to it, Strategos is shaping up to something really cool, but is it own thing, don’t expect it to be exactly or play it like Total War.

Mechanicus II

Look, Mechanicus was already a fantastic game, and Mechanicus II is not only more, but it plays with some new ideas, such ability to play as other factions, such as the Necrons, more focus in hero like units and a lot more.

The presentation is even better, while I loved the way they did voices in the first games, by means of making voices sounds akin to computer sounds, you now actually have fantastic voice work.

Master of Command

Master of Command is a game from Armchair Historian, set in the 18th Century during the Seven Years War, where join one of the factions of the war and take control of a small army which you lead, it's sort like Battle Brothers meet Empire Total War, and it is very good.

Battles are really fun and very fluid, the over world where you manage your army (and can customize them a lot), trade resources, fight (or avoid) enemy armies, and even have some random events is also very good.

Heroes of Might and Magic Olden Era

There have been plenty of attempts to make a proper sequel to the Heroes series, since the end of NWC and when Ubisoft got the rights. But between the long shadow cast by the series (specially the third game) and Ubisoft itself not helping (often by cutting support or some other poor decision), despite the developers best attempts, things have been an uphill battle, with plenty of entrenched fans (which for the game means a lot, for a lot of reasons).

This time things appear different, after several attempts to get it own original setting (Ashan) for the series, Ubisoft, was apparently fine with a return to Enroth, the setting of all Heroes games and Might and Magic from 6-8, and they even dropped the horrible poor idea of changing the franchise name from Heroes of Might and Magic, to Might and Magic Heroes (serious, this was a thing).

On the helm we have Unfrozen and ever since the first post where the game was announced, they show they are all in going back to the roots, with even this particular post - https://steamcommunity.com/games/3105440/announcements/detail/4547038620956712938 where they talk about even the mix between sci-fi and fantasy which the series feature (this was always more present in the crpgs, rather that in Heroes).

Later one, in another post, they even got Paul Romero back to do the soundtrack - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3105440/view/532085430055601115

So Unfrozen know the deal very well, and you can see that in all their posts.

Now there was the shadow of Ubisoft itself doing some poor decision, but even this shadow might be gone, as they later announced a partnership with Hooded Horse, which will help with the game distribution - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3105440/view/532102384016426733

The demo is great, you can see they got the vibes and pace spot on in most aspects. My only issues something which I commented on feedback thread on their discord, is that parts of the UI, specially the Town UI, could use some redesign, as part of it are a bit hard or confusing to read. The units look excellent, but are maybe way too small, making it hard to tell them apart.

More controversial, it that when you make contact with an enemy, the game already shows you the auto-calculation for the battle, which then you can choose between accept the results, battle or flee, which look odd…

Also, the enemies in the map appear to flee is most cases, making combat a bit too easy to skip.

Menace

This next game from the same people which made Battle Brothers, it is a tactical rpg, set up in sci-fi setting, where you lead an elite squad in a cut-off world, besieged by all kinds of threats.

Now don’t expect it to be like XCOM, if anything, it sorts more akin to Jagged Alliance and other game similar to it, there is a great emphasis on what weapons and stuff you bring, positioning and so on. But here, your forces are not just composed of characters, rather you have a squad commander and each is either followed by some troops or uses a vehicle.

My impressions of the demo were fantastic, I only found how the turn order and how and when I can move my units a bit confusing. But save that, it looks amazing, I am looking forward to it.