There are many incredibly fun games available on Steam, even at low prices.
Since many of the registered games are from overseas, I haven't been particularly interested in playing them unless there's a Japanese language patch, and I haven't actively played them until now.
However, just the other day I read an article about an interesting strategy game that had officially received Japanese language support, and I thought it looked fun, so I bought it.
(As of May 2020, the selling price was 1,520 yen.)
Having played it, I can say that it was very enjoyable, just as its high ratings suggest.
The game is about "defending the city and eliminating enemies by reacting to and interfering with the enemy's actions that are presented beforehand."
This game was a concentrated blend of the fun elements of simulation RPGs, roguelikes, and chess puzzles.
The difficulty level is just right, making it a highly engaging game that will keep you completely absorbed.
Game flow
You can get a general idea of what kind of work it is by looking at the link to the introductory article mentioned above.
Therefore, in this article, we will introduce specific examples of the actual gameplay.
This game is mostly gameplay-based, so the storyline is rather weak.
Simply put, the story is about a team of players traveling from the future in mechs to save the world from an unknown hostile invading entity called the VEK.
Therefore, if you meet the defeat conditions and get a game over, you will exit that timeline and retry by starting over from the beginning.
The missions and enemy placements change each time you play, and upgraded mechs revert to their initial parameters (the pilot's level remains the same if they survive).
This aspect can be described as having elements similar to roguelike games, such as the "Mystery Dungeon" series.
First, when you start the game, you select your squad, pilots, and difficulty level.
In your first playthrough, the range of choices is limited, but as you play repeatedly on different difficulty levels, more options will become available depending on your achievements.
The range of tactics changes completely depending on the unit you choose, so there's the fun of fighting with new strategies.
You can deploy up to three allied units.
I'll skip the detailed explanation, but there are restrictions on the weapons that can be equipped depending on the type of aircraft, and the parameters also differ.
One thing I can say is that if you equip yourself with a biased set of gear, it becomes difficult to cope with various situations, and the risk of a game over increases.
Maintaining a certain degree of balance throughout the entire unit is key to winning.
After selecting your troops and other units, you will then choose which island to conquer.
Then, you'll choose which mission to undertake on that island.
The star icon indicates the number of evaluation points earned upon completion, and the icon behind it indicates the type of mission, etc.
Basically, you just need to survive for 5 turns to clear the stage, but it's important to meet as many conditions as possible to earn evaluation points.
After clearing each island, you can use evaluation points to exchange them for enhancement parts and other items.
Selecting a mission will deploy your allied mechs.
Once you place your units, the enemy will then move and their actions will be indicated.
The buildings on the map are called "power infrastructure," and the top priority is to protect these buildings from the enemy.
Damage to the power infrastructure carries over across stages.
There are several ways to recover, but let's consider this infrastructure as our actual life points.
If there are enemies trying to attack the power infrastructure, you must disrupt them, and if disruption seems difficult, you may need to protect it by placing friendly mechs in the line of fire.
Now, it might be a little hard to see, but two insect-like enemies have moved and begun attacking.
Two of the four enemy units appeared to have been waiting on top of the freezing mines, so they seem to have been frozen (that's lucky).
Therefore, we need to ignore the two frozen insects for now and deal with the two insects that are currently attacking.
By the way, squares with red arrows and black mist are squares from which enemies will appear in the next turn.
If you want to prevent enemies from appearing, you can temporarily block them by having allies or enemies wait on top of them (however, they will take damage).
Move one of your allied mechs that is within attack range and have it wait on the other side of the enemy.
Then, you attack with your equipped cannon, taking down and eliminating one of them first.
Since only one ally is now within the purple winged insect's attack range, move behind that enemy and hit it with a rocket punch.
The rocket punch wasn't enough to finish him off; the enemy was blown back one square.
As a result of being blown away, another friendly aircraft entered the attack range, so we must get that one to safety as well.
Since you can see the damage dealt to enemies and the squares they'll be knocked back to before you act, you need to carefully consider the outcome of your attack before executing it.
Once all three units have acted, the turn ends and it's the enemy's turn.
The purple winged insect missed its target because there was no one within its attack range.
Somehow, we managed to get through this turn safely, with everyone avoiding the enemy's attacks and inflicting damage on them.
Furthermore, by blocking enemy spawn points with our units, we were able to prevent enemy reinforcements from arriving.
If there are too many enemies, it becomes difficult to defend everything with only three allies.
By moving away from the spawn point, the enemy will reappear in that same spot on the next turn.
Therefore, blocking off too many areas can cause a large number of enemies to suddenly appear somewhere, so blocking them off too much is not advisable.
By repeating this turn-taking process, you will clear the stage.
As pilots level up, they can acquire special abilities, and they can also obtain upgrade parts and equipment for their mechs.
If a mech is destroyed during a stage, the pilot inside will generally die, so it's important to avoid having your mech destroyed.
(Mechs can be deployed even without a pilot, but their combat effectiveness will be reduced due to the lack of special abilities.)
Sometimes, you need to use machines as a shield to protect infrastructure, and judging when that's necessary is a challenging but interesting aspect of the game.
thoughts
It's difficult to convey the appeal of a work through an article.
However, I myself was inspired to buy the book by the article linked in the preface, so I would like to be able to write articles like that someday.
Now, regarding this game, I found it quite difficult until I got the hang of it.
Therefore, I'm currently playing mainly on "EASY" difficulty, and I plan to increase the difficulty once I get used to it.
As of writing this article, I've reached the point where I can clear almost all stages up to the final stage on "EASY" difficulty.
However, I'm still too scared to play "NORMAL," so I think I'll stick to earning money on EASY for a while.
I feel that the appeal of this game lies in the wide variety of equipment and its applications, as well as the choices you have to make regarding what to protect and what to sacrifice.
In addition to simply attacking enemies, there are various attack methods, such as moving enemies to make them fight each other or moving them to damage squares to defeat them.
And sometimes it's necessary to deliberately abandon infrastructure and switch to offense, or to defend even if it means the death of pilots.
I believe that if you can adapt to these situations and use them appropriately, your own skill level will improve.
There's an indescribable feeling of satisfaction when your strategy works exactly as you intended.
By playing it extensively, you might develop the ability to think one move ahead, similar to how you would in shogi (Japanese chess).
Strategy Notes
I haven't yet discovered any tactics that could be called a strategy or a complete walkthrough.
However, I've come to understand some of the key points to succeed.
Preventing enemy appearances is important.
Since there is a limit of three allies, the number of enemies and the difficulty level are simply proportional.
Therefore, I felt it would be safer to minimize enemy spawn points as much as possible.
- Ideally, you should have both a pushing weapon and a pulling weapon.
Luck also plays a role in acquiring the necessary equipment.
However, having weapons that push units and weapons that pull them allows for application in various positional relationships.
Even with weapons that can't inflict damage, having two of these units makes a big difference in our ability to respond to attacks.
If it had mobility, it would be even easier to use.