Warhounds

XCom without aliens

I think the visual criticism is getting a little ridiculous. it's an indie tactics game. If the choice is “better animations” or “more tactical abilities”, I'm taking the abilities every single time.

Its unashamedly an xcom 2 clone, but thats no bad thing in the absence of xcom 3. Enjoying the game very much. I would like the base building to be a bit more flexible like xcom 2. Would also like to be able to skip tutorial levels. But well done, highly recommend this game.

I was pretty negative after my first hour. Then I realized I was playing on the default difficulty and hadn't even looked at the modifiers. Turned things up. Much better.

I wasn't expecting to like the story. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. What I actually enjoy is the atmosphere between missions and the core gameplay itself - especially like drones and how you can blow them up when there is enemies crowd nearby So good so far

The AI can be a little special sometimes, other than that - I keep playing and getting some fun.

It is the closest think I've come to a true X-Com game in years!

Haven't played long but the overall graphics look absolutely gorgeous, though the base management screen is a bit confusing to navigate right now

It draws heavily from X-Com and Jagged Alliance but is more streamlined. It's not as deep or difficult, and once you learn the mechanics, it's almost easy in comparison. Sometimes I prefer to turn my brain off and hammer out a couple missions for fun instead of investing myself for hours. I also appreciate the more "grounded" military setting versus Sci Fi after playing X-Com, Xenonauts, and Phoenix Point for hundreds of hours. Yes, there are difficulty spikes once you reach the "Nightmare" missions, but a few things that made my second playthrough much easier: 1 - Having one or even two snipers on a mission will help you dominate the battlefield. Spend time to set up positions and overwatches, and then send your mobile "assault" unit out with their first movement to agro enemy pods and pull them back. Do not rush all four of your units out at once and advance into the map. There is only one mission with a mission timer (unless you select it through the game options), so take your time. Your sniper will eventually take so many enemies out, they'll get double experience. It's cheap, but I didn't get bored with the strategy. You can still use the other 4 classes in a team, but it could be a much more drawn out mission. 2 - There is no stealth for your main team, so it will not take you long to "find" all your enemies. They seem to be in fixed positions throughout each map and do not wander around like X-Com, Xenonauts, or Phoenix Point where you'll burn time at the end of missions looking for the last enemies. This helps missions move along relatively faster, so I actually appreciate this, as many modern turn based games can burn a lot of time in the stealth prior to a firefight. 3) Learn to fall back to locations you've already cleared, reducing your chance of triggering more than one group of enemies. If you rush in all the time, even to take out someone with melee, you'll definitely trigger more groups and can get overwhelmed. 4 - Overwatch is almost better than firing your weapon when you get into close combat. You basically have a bonus to hit when the enemy moves out of cover to shoot you, they always will, even when you have them pinned. Yes, the AI is a bit stupid, but I still appreciated this to keep things moving. On the flip side, I realized I didn't have to move my own pinned units once encountering snipers as long as the rest of my squad can protect them or I had smoke bombs, 4 - Items like grenades, smoke grenades, poison grenades, and tear gas are great against the right enemies. Tear gas caused big groups to miss all their shots, essentially wasting their turns. The AI is stupid enough to wander into gas clouds if you throw them into choke points as well. These items will definitely help when you're outnumbered. If your positioning it bad, sometimes it's better to drop a smoke bomb and reposition than use each turn firing. 5 - Although Assault characters feel weak once you encounter the more armored enemies, melee becomes powerful to take out the more difficult enemies in the late game. They also serve their purpose with their extended mobility. 6 - I didn't experience the same amount of RNG frustration as other reviewers. 100 percent hits always hit for me, but what I did notice is that damage could be mitigated if the enemy's cover was good. 7 - Take time to complete contracts. There is a particular difficult group of enemies you'll encounter, and they were much easier with the team kitted out to the max tier of weapons and armor available. The "doom" clock on Normal and Veteran give you plenty of time to complete missions, raise money, and complete contracts. If you're speed running through the campaign, you'll probably have trouble. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and would definitely consider purchasing DLC, even with the bugs upon release. I do hope they let you control allied factions on joint missions or add faction heroes in the future.