“A tactically advanced turn-based game with some strong RPG elements” – this is how Staff Sergeant James Archer characterized Menace in September. The only thing missing from his account of the game was the bread needed to prepare this prosperous, meaty concoction, a tasty and nutritious sandwich.
By bread and butter, I mean, of course, the strategic layer – the parts between turn-based battles where you choose your next mission, upgrade your teams, deal with pop-up story events, assess your standing with each NPC faction, and equip your strike cruiser with support systems. Developers Overhype have now shared some details on how it all works. Mmmmm, such malty, yeasty strategicity.
Honestly, that’s all sounds quite uncomplicated considering the difficulty of avoiding injury on the surface. Between missions, you’ll return to the Wayback Solar System star chart, where you can see the planets and factions that own them, along with any requests for lend a hand. There is an element of reputation management – leave your faction request hanging and they may annoy you.
Faction distress calls aside, the star map is where you’ll spend your main game resources. Level-up points are for leveling up your teams, OCI components (aka “Operational Capability Upgrades” – in that nonsense jargon, Overhype won’t impress anyone) are for upgrading your ship, the Impetus, while Power Points are for keeping crew morale and control under control. mood.
Your crew is described as “motley”, which here means “enormous responsibility”. You might have to intervene in a bar fight, deal with a moonshine distillery problem, or solve an accident in the hangar. This sounds like the typical strategy RPG rhythm of having to decide between fixing a problem now or leaving it to save resources and getting into sizzling water later.
When it comes to ship upgrades, they provide both lively and passive benefits during missions. You can equip the Impetus with amenities that allow you to call in a dropship to fire or a bunker-busting missile. Other upgrades restore unit health during missions, but the one that gives you more precise information about enemies and their positions during briefings is probably necessary. Menace definitely feels like a game where scouting outweighs firepower.
Finally, there is the armory screen where you can choose from a variety of weapons, armor, accessories and vehicles and run promotions. Each squad leader has a unique skill tree, although some are shared between characters, and each squad leader starts with a distinctive personal trait. Everyone is their own unique snowflake. At least until the mechs step on them.
And that’s it for strategy. Coming soon in the next blog post: details of the black market where you can exchange equipment, squad leaders and pilots, as well as operations, which are a series of connected missions.
I was vaguely hoping for some revolutionary gimmick, but it looks like the strategic aspect of Menace is more about the numbers. But that’s the way it is with bread, right? If it’s too invigorating, the filling loses its potency. A sandwich whose main ingredient is bread is not a sandwich at all, but a breadstick that you accidentally dropped into the stew – and oops, now Corporal Vicarus has hit you with a ladle because he went completely crazy after tasting that bread roll. we were brewing behind the main reactor. Captain, to the mess hall, please! Menace will be released next year.
