With the War of the Chosen add-on came the inclusion of XCOM’s version of zombies. The Lost, as they are called here, are pathetic little nothings, easily dispatched in high numbers. Players consider them more of a nuisance than a threat, due to the repeated need to confirm an att

With over 30,000 games available to purchase on Steam, there are a plethora of options for gamers to choose from to try on this new console. As there is such a staggering amount of options available, players will want to find games that would work especially well on the new handheld to try fi

Multiplayer might not be the best for RTS games on the Steam Deck , but there is nothing wrong about single-player. The recent Command & Conquer Remastered was particularly well-received and seen as one of the finer remasters in recent years. Going through these classics again on a handheld will be a totally new way to appreciate them . Mouse control might be a problem, but only hands-on experience will tell how Steam Deck's alternative wo

This game is not officially out yet, but Baldur's Gate 3 has been receiving a lot of positive press from its Early Access release . Like many RPGs, it is all about balancing equipment and paying attention to stats. Where one can get restless doing this on a couch or in front of a desktop, RPGs have always found a good home on portable consoles purely for this reason. Fans cannot wait to get their hands on the full release, but early access offers quite a lot of content by its

The Gears of War series has been known for its intense third-person action since its debut on the Xbox 360. Gears Tactics slows this down for a more strategic experience. Taking cover is still a big part of the gameplay, but that's because it plays like XCOM and Wasteland 3 . It is available for Xbox consoles too, but playing it portably offers an opportunity to take on some of the side quests on a bus or tr

Similarly, having key boss fights be dictated by a player's decision-making would truly drive home the themes of the game. Perhaps a character that is a playable ally if certain choices are made becomes a major adversary that must be dealt with in another route. These would give the game's various routes more identity while giving the player immediate indicators of how their choices are impacting the game's st

These are the leaders of the Sectoid soldiers, and besides having higher base stats they also have devastating psionic attacks. Sectoid Commanders have four psionic abilities: Mind Control, Mindfray, Greater Mind Merge, and Psi Panic. The Mind control is especially nefarious, as it gives the Sectoid Commander complete control of a soldier in the player’s squad for three turns. Most mind controlled soldiers do not survive the mission. The Mind Merge gives all Sectoids in battle decent bonuses to Will (morale), health, and critical hit chance. The worst aspect is it is very difficult to distinguish commanders from normal Secto

Outside of combat, one of the key differences between a tactical JRPG and a more traditional turn-based RPGs is that players tend to have access to many more party members in tactical RPGs. As seen with the earliest entries in the Fire Emblem series, this can lead to many less important party members getting little to no character development. However, slg advanced Strategies later entries in the Fire Emblem series introduced the support mechanic that allowed even the most minor of characters to still interact with the cast and show their character if the player desired. In order to make the player care about the characters in their party, the game should feature some method of interacting with their allies outside of com

Managing skills and load-outs of even one player character can be a hassle in some RPGs. Now, imagine a game where players control, level up, and customize dozens of different characters over the course of a 40+-hour campaign. What a headache! Luckily for all War of the Chosen players out there, Robojumper made squad management much less of a headache with his Squad Select overha

We've already seen from playable Triangle Strategy demo that the choices that player is forced to make aren't always going to be black and white, and that there will be pros and cons to the choices they make. Maintaining this approach over the course of the game will be key, as it can lead to a much more hollow experience with telegraphed outcomes that are much easier for the player to anticip

While some sidequests could only be available to players who made certain choices, the completion of other sidequests could potentially provide additional context to a problem at hand, giving the player insight into how making a given choice may impact the p

As the rescued and restored Commander, the player takes on a challenge and campaign that is, in many ways, an inverted form of the original. Now operating as the resilient infection the aliens posed previously, the gameplay, mood, desperation, and constant threat of failure and death have been completely twisted. The main difference is the element of surprise: allowing players to operate unseen prior to attacks, scouting enemy forces, planning and executing ambushes, fundamentally changing the complexion of the standard miss