Suit up, marine, it’s time to defend humanity’s space stations against alien incursions. The trade and profits must flow, so get to it, private! The Galactic Space Guard demo has you clearing one of these stations from the vermin of space. While not a looker graphically, as it visually looks like a 90s MTV music video, the twist on the turn-based combat makes up for it.
Polygon space
Now, I don’t want to overpraise Galactic Space Guard too much, as it’s pretty darn basic in every sense, but there is no denying it has mood. The twist in the turn-based combat is that you shoot the guns by yourself from a third-person view, much like Phoenix Point—but a tad snappier and weightier. The weapons feel punchy and satisfying to use, quickly turning the aliens into smelly green goo. However, the aliens are numerous and easily swarm (think mass Xenomorphs).
It creates a tension-filled atmosphere, and as soon as you set your military boot on the station, you know you are in for some shit. The aliens will literally be coming out of the god-damn walls to snack on the heads of the poor marines. Look out for the Alpha alien—do not let that bastard get close! So for a game having the bare essentials, it’s actually very atmospheric. When I played, I was reminded of the original X-com from 1994, as the lives of your soldiers can easily get snuffed out if you make a mistake.
Other than this, there seems to be a lot of different weapons, with plenty of items to use in combat, like placing mines for ambush, or injecting your marines with some kind of serum for more action points. Stats and leveling also play an important role, and instead of gaining dynamic stat increases from doing, you pick what you want to level up. However, it doesn’t play too much of a role in the demo, since it’s only one short mission—but during a bigger campaign this and loot will surely be crucial for success. The only thing I felt really missing is a way to kneel, so marines can shoot over, instead of through each other, which happened to me. I’m a poor commander.
If you enjoy X-com-like games, in setting and mechanics, I highly recommend that you give the demo a go!
Thanks for reading.
– Thomas
I just want to thank Kabas and Taka-Haradin puolipeikko from RPG Codex for the tip!
Tom's Gaming Vault 
Hi Thomas, dev of Galactic Space Guard here! Thank you for your article – I really appreciate it. I also shared it on X. Thanks also to RPG Codex for recommending it! (I will definitely have a look at their website as well.)
Galactic Space Guard is in a very early state indeed, but as time goes on, I strive to improve the game. It is a passion project for me, as I have been a turn-based fan ever since Incubation: Battle Isle Phase Four. Phoenix Point (as you mentioned) was also inspiring for Galactic Space Guard, as well as Space Hulk and, of course, X-COM and UFO: Alien Invasion.
I liked that you mentioned kneeling – this is a planned mechanic! 🙂 It is planned to implement it together with ranged enemy types and cover. Since shooting is defined by direct line of fire, the cover system will work the same way (with destructible cover objects).
But these mechanics are planned a bit further into the future, because the next steps will be to finish the core gameplay loop.
As you observed, items and skills will play a much bigger role in a campaign. It is planned that the game will be played on a space map, where you have your own spaceship that serves as your mobile base. You visit space stations, abandoned ships, and lost outposts, hire new soldiers, manage your squad, and launch missions.
Civilian stations need to be guarded to protect civilians and prevent the abominable aliens from ripping them apart! And it is up to the Galactic Space Guard to free the sector once and for all!
I hope you’re as excited for more as I am!
Turn-based greetings,
Intuition
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Hi Martin.
Thanks for posting here, and I’m glad you liked the article. Nice to see kneeling will make it in, as it felt missing when the marines stood behind each other. Shooting enemies will sure switch things up, especially if they pin you down while melee aliens approach. Will coming under fire have a penalty to morale?
You have something nice going here, and I wish you luck. I’m curious to see the future of the game, especially the campaign! Btw, I just have to add, I really liked how everything still kept a physical space in the game while dead.
– Thomas
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Hi Thomas,
thank you, also for your valuable feedback!
Shooting enemies will affect the morale when hitting your units, also they are planned to have different behaviour patterns, since they are more intelligent than their melee counterparts. There is already an rule based priorization system in the game regarding enemies, even the melee units will sometimes be more dangerous than expected.
As you noted that will surely create interesting situations to solve!
Good eye for details, the corpses for example will have an addition, you will be able to “remove” them by firing even more on them to clear the space if they pile to much.
I would enjoy future articles from you!
Greetings
Martin
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