USC: Counterforce - sequel to top-down sci-fi tactics Ultimate Space Commando

[Parsimonious cook]

Ah fuck, didnt expect to see Gorky 17, let alone fucking Incubation referenced as inspiration for a game that should come out in 2023. What a time to be alive.

 

[Nortar]

There's demo available on Steam atm.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Shiiiiit negroes. Played the new demo for a bit - there is plenty of improvements and new content since the last 2021 demo, the game is shaping up really well. Interface is still a bit too complex for its own good (still more clicks required than IMO would be necessary).

Anyway - just to recap:

- deep RPG elements and options to develop your squad members
- deep squad management (you can buy all kinds of gear and upgrades)
- fairly complex tactical combat (melee, overwatch, various types of ammo and nades, you can freely push around items on the map to create barricades etc)
- considerable variety of enemies (melee and ranged monsters of various types, with various restances etc, most enemies also have multiple attack modes)
- AI is OK, wounded monsters sometimes flee for combat, actively try to outflank you and pick off isolated soldiers

Shit is soo cash, this is possibly the most anticipated game of 2023 for me right now. Should come out in March too, cant wait.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Damn, this looks good. Thanks for the heads up

 

[Acrux]

Uh, I'm pretty sure this is a tranny-made game based on the image that keeps appearing in my newsfeed.

Our second broadcast for this Steam Next Fest will have Aliza, Lead Developer, interviewed by Louise Communication Manager while playing the new demo.

 

[Abu Antar]

Tranny or not, I played the demo, and it has potential to be a solid time waster.

 

[udm]

Yeah Aliza is a tranny but doesn't seem to regurgitate pride or LGBTQ bs on Twitter. That's at least a good start. Now to try the demo and see how woke it is.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

Uh, I'm pretty sure this is a tranny-made game based on the image that keeps appearing in my newsfeed.

Our second broadcast for this Steam Next Fest will have Aliza, Lead Developer, interviewed by Louise Communication Manager while playing the new demo.

which one is the tranny? both of them? I can't tell...demo is not woke btw..

 

[Acrux]

which one is the tranny? both of them? I can't tell...demo is not woke btw..

I thought both, but I think Louise (on the upper right) might just be French.

 

[udm]

Louise is their community manager. Has pronouns, outrightly supports lgbtq movement. That might be a warning sign depending on whether you think a community manager is significant.

Yeah, I do my homework when finding out more about woke scold devs.

 

[Nortar]

Louise is their community manager. Has pronouns, outrightly supports lgbtq movement. That might be a warning sign depending on whether you think a community manager is significant.

Yeah, I do my homework when finding out more about woke scold devs.

She's from the publisher's team, not from the devs.
https://www.firesquid.fr/about-us/

Do you remember Othercide?
The tb-tactical game with slim girls on high-heels slaughering monsters straight out of Silent Hill?
Their creative director and CEO, Anders Larsson, and whole lot of Lightbulb Crew seemed to be alright back in the day.
They were indy before selling out to Focus Interactive to publish Othercide.

Today their discord is infested with "modern audience", so can't say if it did not affect their integrity.

Anyways, now Larsson also runs runs Firesquid publisher.
And given his small scale and indy background, I guess he would not press the Counterforce devs to adhere to any particular agenda on purpose.

 

[ArchAngel]

I watched some gameplay from this game and it seems really cool how they went for immersive Commander feel of this like in the movies where commanders in their center watch heads on cameras of soldiers while following signals from their gear that give them their position. The FP camera in the corner that shows everything from currently selected unit is a really cool idea.

 

[Alpharius]

Got the first ultimate space commando game. Its kinda like an Incubation - X-com hybrid, more or less the same as what they promise for this game.
There are some bugs and graphics could have been better, but other than that pretty decent game.

 

[cigaretteEnjoyer_despirit]

The interface is way too colorful. Top-down spritework does not fit the camera/action view. These better be placeholders.

 

[Abu Antar]

My biggest gripe are the menus, but it plays good enough.

 

[Üstad]

The interface is way too colorful. Top-down spritework does not fit the camera/action view. These better be placeholders.

Yeah it's eyesore at the moment, I still wishlisted it though.

 

[cigaretteEnjoyer_despirit]

The interface is way too colorful. Top-down spritework does not fit the camera/action view. These better be placeholders.

Yeah it's eyesore at the moment, I still wishlisted it though.

Do you know whether they intend to change it? I can imagine that's how they want it to be released. Hopefully not, because the dissonance is huge and it puts me off. I would probably pick this up if it wasnt for this.

Personally I find it odd that devs, who surely stare at the game at least for a few hours per day, dont see the problem. Im not asking for higher quality assets, but just something that fits. They could simply recolor for better results.

 

[Üstad]

Personally I find it odd that devs, who surely stare at the game at least for a few hours per day, dont see the problem. Im not asking for higher quality assets, but just something that fits. They could simply recolor for better results.

I totally agree but I honestly have no idea if they will change it. Since the game is not finished yet I'm kinda hopeful.

 

[Abu Antar]

I can ask them when I have some time.

 

[Alienman]

Tried the demo and it reminded me of Space Crusade for the Amiga. However, I didn't like the demo at all. It felt way too gameboard:y to me. The stats, amount of weapons, and stat/RPG things are cool, though. The camera feed is a nice touch too.

 

[somewhatgiggly]

Reminds me a lot of Hostile Spawn, from Funorb, which was this side project of games from Jagex. See it?

To me this is a good thing, so def checking this out!

 

[udm]

Just released on Early Access:

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Downloading now, will post impressions later.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Parsimonious cook]

As was observed from the demo, the levels of autism when it comes to managing your squad(s) are off the charts. You can edit pretty much everything regarding your soldiers, you can promote them (promotions cost Squad Points, which are the main currency) which gets them additional skill points and you can buy new gear weapons for them. There are 9 skills to level up, ranging from Endurance to Biochemistry - soldiers dont have classes, you create their "class" through the skills and gear you give them. As you level up individual skills, you can further choose some of them to be primary and secondary skills for the character (works similarly like tagging in Fallout for example) and the primary skills then lead to further specialisation in the given area.

There is a respectable amount of weapons and gear, ranged weapons have multiple ammo types. There are tons of shit you can get, there is apparently even crafting and the gear you have can be upgraded. P. cool tbh fam. For some there might be too much autism - for example you actually have to load the weapons manually in the squad management screen or you will start win empty guns (and reloading will cost APs at the start of the mission).

Right now the EA version offers several single missions and operations (the operations being basically mini campaigns with 2-3 connected missions). The full version should include campaign and some sort of base defence thingy.

Gameplay itself doesnt seem to have changed much since the demo.

Control scheme is complex to say the least (I talked about it ITT in the previous posts) and while there have apparently been some streamlining (you now get to aiming mode simply by pressing space, while previsouly you needed several clicks for example), you still need a bit more hotkeys than one would probably expect in a TB tactics game in 2023. This is not bad in itself of course, but I guess that some people might complain about "bussywork" and such. There are a few new alien types, including a monster that explodes when killed. I found out about this in rather unfortunate circumstances as I sent my shotgun wielding hacker dude to make a point blank kill. He is currently on fire as I type this.

Will post more as I play more, in any case this looks very promising and I hope the devs will manage to update regularly. If you are interested in squad level turn based tactics with deep/autistic management layer, this is definitely something to keep an eye on.