Cyber Knights: Flashpoint 1.0 is out!

Finally, after years, and months of suffering, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint version 1.0 is here. Goodbye Early Access! I have already given it about six hours of my life, and my first impression: pretty damn good. However, it’s not without faults. I think going 3D should have come with a tad more polish concerning the visuals and animations. Characters can come across somewhat weird in a cartoony way, and when moving, it looks like agents and soldiers ice skate instead of walking. A little sloppy, unfortunately.

Two other issues are the alarm system for when going loud, which punish you with endless enemy reinforcements. Never liked these types of mechanics, even if I know why from a gameplay standpoint (to punish you for getting caught). The final problem (so far) is that initiative/turn-order is individual instead of being group based. It adds to the tedium when you have to make daring escapes, as it can be really hard to plan ahead. More in-depth first-impression coming soon (probably). Other than this, the game is fun, and the narrative device seems interesting as well. Check out the launch trailer below!

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Lands Of Lore: The Throne of Chaos – Old Hag Terror

It was finally time to play and finish one of the classic RPG blobbers: namely Lands Of Lore – The Throne of Chaos by the legendary Westwood Studios. Now, while it’s certainly an RPG by design, I can’t help feeling that it plays more like an advanced adventure title, than a “true” RPG. This might sound heretical to some, and I don’t blame the people throwing that word my way. However, I felt it lacked story decisions when it comes to the plot, stats to gawk at, and character building when it comes to the combat.

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Chains of Freedom – Liquid Loyalty

When I tried the demo back in February this year, I was pleasantly surprised. I expected nothing, yet got an interesting experience for my time downloading. Now, the transition from demo to full game does not always go smoothly, but I’m glad to say that the gameplay is exactly the same in the 1.0 release. The story also progresses as expected, and this could be considered good for almost every game, which is it in this case too. However, Chains of Freedom remains the same to its detriment, seeing as what you get in the demo, is what’s on the menu for the whole campaign.

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Cyber Knights: Flashpoint – Release date!

Finally, we have a release date for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint – May the 15th! So, pretty soon! I pinned it as a release for 2024, boy, was I wrong in that assessment. But I’m glad that it finally releases, because I have been looking forward to it a lot! It seems to take plenty of inspiration from X-com, which makes my heart jump with joy. It’s made by Trese Brothers, so deep tactical gameplay, with satisfying progression is basically guaranteed. I did an interview with them a while back, and if you are interested, you can read it here. For the announcement trailer, check the video below:

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Iron Tower’s new tactical RPG (maybe)

I’m not the biggest Iron Tower fan, seeing as their games (at least to me), are more of a CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure) experience than a free-form RPG. But, it can’t be denied that they are hits within the cRPG community. Colony Ship and The Age of Decadence weren’t too liked by me, yet, it shows that they know their craft and have a specific style and tone they follow, regardless of my lack of appreciation. However, while successful, it seems the games didn’t bring in enough money, and for anyone that followed the drama after Colony Ship‘s release knows that the future looked grim for the studio. Then, the other day, right out of the blue, they announced they are working on a fresh new game, and it certainly has me curious!

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