|| REVIEW || Spaceland (PC)
Developed By : Tortuga Team
Published By : Tortuga Team
Category : Adventure, RPG, Strategy, Turn-Based
Release Date : September 30, 2019
I'm not sure if it's because of my recent-found love for the genre, or if it's legitimately a thing, but it seems that lately, turn-based strategy games are popping up all over the place. Either way, one thing that seems to be consistent for just about all of them is nod to X-COM being a source of inspiration, and such is the case with our newest game to talk about, Spaceland.
Step into the role of the Space Rangers, who's job it is to explore the universe to learn new things, while helping those who need it, and killing others who need that. You are responding to a distress signal on a planet and approach in hopes of learning what it is and rescuing whoever is in distress. The rangers discover a surviving soldier at the signal, and together set out to see if there are others in need on the planet, as well as figuring out why the planet is teeming with alien life.
As explore further into the planet you'll meet a cast of characters who will gang together and become your party on missions. Each character brings something unique to the club, with some members performing tasks that other's cant. So going out on missions will be a lot about finding the best mixture of members, since you can only bring three at a time. These are also typical of what you'd expect for party members. One is tech-savvy and can interact with electronics inside of bases, while another always totes a shotgun and can perform heavy damage at the risk of being close.
Don't worry about forgetting someone who is crucial for a mission though. You'll know the gist of what you need to do before you enter an area. And while some missions require you to quench the bloodthirst and kill all enemies in an area, not all will need you to do so. Sometimes you'll need to rescue a person, hack a terminal, or simply cross through and make it to the opposite end of an area.
Between missions, you'll spend your time on an overworld map that might make you feel a bit like you're in Super Mario World. You'll move between a series of connected dots which will represent either your missions, or small text events. These events usually give you a chance to meet a merchant, or locate some equipment that will allow one of your party members to acquire much better gear.
In the missions themselves, you'll move on a grid-based map that starts off mostly foggy until you move around and discover it. This is never an issue, as the unfog goes more than a few spaces off of the characters, and only really becomes a small problem when you're on a map where you need to find a specific place. Each character has a set number of spaces they can move, as well as actions they can take that will deduct a set number of points from your AP (action points) for that turn.
Enemies must abide by the same rules on their turns. They will vary in how far they can move and how devastating their attacks can be, and some even have specific conditions. For example, there is an enemy type that can only move a couple spaces at a time, it moves in the direction of whatever party member of yours is closest to it, and it can only be attacked from the back. So it's a big boy that can deal some massive damage if it gets to you, but it's quite easy to manipulate and flank. Some enemies will be able to shoot and attack from a distance, while others will need to get in close for melee swipes.
While this genre is a new love for me, it's one that I've already found determined what is a perfect fit for me. Spaceland easily hits on all these marks. The controls are easy to pick up, and there are quite a few handy keyboard shortcuts to speed up the process if you start getting into a flow. The world and story weren't the most invigorating things, but they provided enough excitement to not only pull me into the game but to want to keep pushing through it all.
I think my one complaint on the game was being unable to rotate the map around. Or if that's an option, then I completely missed it. It's a small thing, but I always love spinning the map around to fully take in everything on the level. And, not that there's much of it, but cover is a thing within the levels and its just nice to get a full view of your enemy as you're about to blast them away is aesthetically pleasing. If you're a fan of turn-based games, Spaceland is absolutely meant to be in your library, so pick it up on Steam or Apple Arcade today!
Game Rating : 7.5 / 10
Pick up the game HERE on Steam, or 
search for it on Apple Arcade
Game Played on PC (Steam)
Also Available On : Apple Arcade
