Editors GameMAG.ru talked with one of the tactical game development leaders Gears Tactics Tyler Bilman from studio The coalition. He showed us the PC version. next exclusive Microsoft and shared many new details.
We have gathered the main thing on the basis of what we saw and heard, and prepared a lot of material for you.
- Gears Tactics is a deep turn-based strategy game. At the same time, it was important for developers that the project retained the spirit inherent in the main line of the Gears of War series. Just in the gameplay, the emphasis is on tactical gameplay with powerful role-playing elements.
- Gears Tactics is a single player game with a storyline campaign and additional modes. The multiplayer aspect is completely absent.
- One of the fundamental ideas of the project is the gameplay traditional for many tactical games, but created taking into account a very high tempo, where there are almost no conditional “pauses”. The player is constantly at the epicenter of events.
- In Gears Tactics, game locations are not divided into the usual “grid”, which clearly shows you all the available points for moving. Instead, players will be able to independently choose the most convenient positions that open the best tactical maneuvers, making the game feel very open.
- Based on the desire to give the game maximum dynamics, with each new move your character can perform up to three actions. Thus, you can, for example, make a sharp jerk or attack the enemy several times in a row.
- Another difference between Gears Tactics and similar projects is the total number of opponents on each of the cards. The authors tried to fill the playing space of each of the missions with a whole mass of enemies, because of which you are forced to constantly make quick and informed decisions. On the other hand, this, of course, does not mean that if you wish, you will not be able to take defensive tactics – the game encourages a variety of gameplay styles.
- In total, Gears Tactics has five character classes. Each class has about 30 unique skills. In addition, each class has access to its own personal, unique type of weapon, which in turn can be individually configured to your needs (you can change sights, shops, stock, etc.).
- Each character in your squad has access to three armor slots – a helmet, chest protection, and leg protection.
- Customization of heroes also applies to the appearance – you are free to change the most varied visual aspects of your soldiers, which, combined with the deep role system mentioned above, allows you to create just the kind of squad that you like.
- An important part of Gears Tactics is the storytelling.. The developers promise a fascinating story and a lot of cutscenes. Events begin 12 years before the first part of Gears of War, and in the center of the story is Gabe Diaz, the father of Kate, who played an important role in Gears of War 4 and is the main character of Gears 5. During his adventure, Gabe with a small detachment sets off in pursuit of one locust leader, a scientist named Ukkon, which gives rise to a host of dramatic events. Ukkon is the main antagonist of the game, so you should not wait for the appearance of other important characters, such as Queen Locusts.
- In general terms, the narrative is close enough to the classic Gears of War trilogy. The plot tells about the life of ordinary soldiers who find themselves in a difficult situation. For developers, it was important that the hero occupies a central position in the plot, who will look appropriate as a character in a tactically oriented game, which will allow players to better associate what is happening with their personal impressions. For this reason, the main character was Gabe Diaz, ideally suited for the role of a smart strategist.
- At the end of each of the three Gears Tactics storylines, players will face an epic battle with a huge boss. One of the first things tested by developers in the early stages of creating the game was the opportunity to implement really large-scale battles with dangerous monsters that have access to a different set of attacks, making collisions with bosses feel like a real epic battle, where you just need to use almost all the game mechanics.
- Gears Tactics is based on a modified version of the Unreal 4 engine, on the foundation of which Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 were created.. At the same time, in the case of the PC version, the developers paid a lot of attention to various graphics settings, thanks to which gamers with powerful assemblies and those who use not the most powerful configurations will be able to familiarize themselves with the game.
- We were shown a version for a PC on a laptop, and it looked incredibly pretty, reminiscent of the usual parts of the Gears of War series, rather than tactical RPGs.
- The production of Gears Tactics began from the authors’ desire to develop the series in new directions, attracting a fresh audience to it.. Since Tactics was immediately a PC-oriented game, the idea of developing a tactical project was given to the team quite easily, since this genre is popular among PC gamers. In addition, already in the early stages of development, it became clear that the traditional Gears gameplay elements fit organically into the new genre frameworks as much as possible, which only strengthened the creators’ confidence in the success of their concept.
- The game interface can also be customized as you wish.. If you want to see the maximum of useful information – the game offers such an option. Otherwise, unnecessary items can be disabled.
- The PC version of Gears Tactics supports control from the Xbox One controller, but the authors still advise playing with the keyboard and mouse.
- The overwatch option, which is familiar to tactical games (the defense position in which a unit attacks the closest enemy in range) has several interesting features in Gears Tactics. Firstly, you can adjust the coverage angle of the location, affecting the total damage. The wider it is, the smaller the damage, the narrower the angle, the higher the damage. It also involves a system with three unique actions per turn, which allows you to specify in detail the entire sequence of actions for your squad. Opponents can also activate the overwatch mode, and if you want to remove it, then you will need to switch to the gun and attack the enemy with a headshot.
- If you kill a wounded enemy in a special way (conditionally “executing” him – as in the games of the main series), then all the characters in your squad will have an additional action for one turn. Thanks to this mechanic, the player can constantly apply offensive tactics, stably attacking and moving forward.
- The development of your characters is carried out due to special points that open for killing enemies and completing missions.
- Some of the tasks run with a randomly generated “modifier” (for example, you may not be able to use grenades), which is designed to complicate and diversify the gameplay. Missions also offer optional goals, the implementation of which leads to additional rewards.
- There are certain air units in the game that can drop projectiles and enemies at you. However, nocturnal krill predators, familiar from the first part of Gears of War, will not be in Tactics.
- At normal difficulty levels, players will have the opportunity to restart and cancel missions without any risk, as well as load saves in case of an unsuccessful move. However, in Ironman mode, such a function will not be. When choosing this option, each error can be worth the death..
- Maps have certain interactive elements. For example, with a precise throw of a grenade, you can destroy some wooden shelter, thus leaving the enemy unprotected.
- Special locations are scattered around locations where you can find useful items, such as upgrades for weapons. Getting to them is not always possible, so the desire to open such a box becomes one of the components of tactical gameplay. In addition to the mentioned containers, items will open after completing missions. Almost all of them are randomly generated.
- In some situations, underground tunnels may open at the level sites, from where groups of enemies begin to appear. It is in the interest of the players to close them as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will encounter three waves of locusts, each of which is larger than the previous.
- The main part of the development of Gears Tactics was the responsibility of the group inside The Coalition, who had previously worked on the PC ports Gears of War 4 and Gears 5, as well as the British studio Splash Damage. Among the developers there are both specialists who were previously involved in creating turn-based games, as well as young employees who wanted to bring some innovations to the genre.
- Trying to describe their game in one sentence, the authors gave the following description: “Gears Tactics is a deep tactical game with a high pace of gameplay and constant dynamics.”.
Gears Tactics Coming Out April 28, 2023 on the PC on steam and Microsoft store. The game will later appear on the Xbox One.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oziTQgMdXi4
Worked on the material ACE, Someretard, Skyerist
Read also: 120FPS, ray tracing and backward compatibility – Microsoft talked about Xbox Series X in detail.
Take part in the first tasty contest on GameMAG.ru by #KABANOS and #Remit!
Add to our Telegram channel via the link or search for it manually in the search by name gmradost. There we publish, including that which does not fall into the news feed. Also subscribe to us in Yandex.Zen, Twitter and VK. And do not forget that we have a dark theme and a ribbon instead of tiles.