After years of receiving a mix of teasing and silence on the part of Overhype Studios, the guys behind the beloved, tough-as-nails, indie hit, Battle Brothers, we finally got a chance to play MENACE.
MENACE is a turn-based tactics RPG where you act as a commander, leading a strike force against human and alien threats across several worlds. It is your responsibility to manage your forces accordingly, train them, equip them, determine where to fight, and lead them into combat.
The game build I was provided with is exclusively focused on combat, meaning that the whole grand-strategy part is completely out of this. I have put over 10 hours into the game, and have played through several missions and tweaked a lot with the squad management system. I’m going to start with the basics and then move on to the more advanced stuff, and finish this one off with the usual graphical and sound assessment, and round things up with what I think about this MENACE demo.
The turn-based structure of MENACE caught me a little off guard, as I was under the impression this was going to be more of an XCOM experience, where you move the entirety of your forces and then the enemy moves his, and so on. Not so. You move one of your units, the enemy moves one of theirs, and so on, until both sides run out of units to move, and the turn is over. This structure immediately changes the way the game is played at a fundamental level, where your focus is now on prioritizing which individual unit to move on that specific phase of the turn, instead of focusing on moving your force as a whole, as you would do in XCOM or Jagged Alliance 3. The good thing is that there is no initiative system in here, which is a mechanic I don’t really enjoy that much, as it makes the games a lot less predictable and more confusing. Also, by not having an initiative system, the game allows you to decide what units you want to move first and last. This came in handy when I was playing a defensive mission and was moving my armored fighting vehicle last because then I could use it to plug gaps in my line, or fight in the locations with the most enemies.
I haven’t seen enough of MENACE to make an assessment about this turn structure being a good or a bad design decision. From the missions I have played so far, this is working well enough, but I would need to see how this works on larger missions and how it works when dealing with impromptu objectives, which I’m sure will be making a show in the full game. This turn system forces you (at least me) to play a lot more aggressively, which – in theory- should be a good thing. Oh, and here’s something that might piss half of you, while having the other half cheering: there’s no overwatch. Yes, the mechanic that became a core part of a lot of people’s playstyles in turn-based strategy games isn’t here. Again, I’m not sure where I stand on this, because for a game that’s as grounded as MENACE is trying to be, sometimes waiting for an enemy to cross your line of fire is a very useful tactic, and if you’re playing a strike force, I would say that ambushing should be a part of your arsenal. I took a look at the squad upgrade system to see if this would eventually be something you could unlock, and that doesn’t seem to be the case. I fully trust the developers to know what they’re doing with this one, but I’m sure that the lack of an overwatch mechanic will be a very contentious topic within the community, especially since it has become ubiquitous after XCOM put it up front and center. I won’t lie to you and say that I don’t miss it.
Every squad has a limited number of action points it can use to move, fire, and take other actions. Imagine the original XCOM or Xenonauts and Xenonauts 2 for that. Moving will cost you X amount of points, firing Y amount, etc. Moving and firing units is simple enough; you just select where you want to move them, confirm, and off they go. Firing is very much the same. Have in mind that your squads can be equipped with supporting weapons like medium machine guns, rocket-launchers and snipers, but to use these you’ll have to deploy your squad first (which should cost around 1/4 of your AP), meaning that for the most part, you won’t be able to deploy a unit and fire that supporting weapon on the same turn, forcing you to consider the implications of that, predicting enemy movement, and sacrificing mobility for utility and firepower. Not all supporting weapons need to be deployed, and things like grenade-launchers and light-machine guns can be used on the fly, very effectively.
In MENACE, weapons aren’t solely used to deal damage to the enemy’s health bar, but also to suppress and reduce their combat effectiveness, and even pin them in place. This is done by applying suppression, and every shot a unit takes affects their suppression meter, and this can have several different results, ranging from lowering their aim to reducing their action points, and preventing them from moving. Hovering over the enemy when deciding if to fire on them or not will bring up a detailed menu of stats and effects.
This leads me to the game’s cover system, which has a lot going for it, especially the fact that there are 3 levels of cover, from none, to half cover to full cover, and that each square has up to 8 different cover faces (the 4 faces and 4 corners of the square), so you can be fully protected from the front, half protected from your left, and have your corner right and back with no cover at all. I like this; it adds a lot more complexity and a lot more options. However, visually, some of the cover levels don’t match the in-game models. Some buildings offering just half-cover, but scarce boulders offering full cover, are just a bit awkward. It’s not immersion-breaking, but I would much rather have the looks match the mechanics. Another good improvement would be a tool that lets me see what the line of sight for my squad’s weapons is in a given location. This would make decision-making so much easier and remove a lot of guesswork.
To deal damage, break cover, and obliterate your enemies, you need to equip your troops accordingly. From what’s on display here, in this very small slice of this menacing pie, the squad management aspect is going to have a lot of options. Squads gain experience and can be upgraded; the number of units in a squad can be increased or decreased, weapons can be exchanged, equipment like grenades, drones, C4, and all that great stuff can be provided, armor can be transposed, and vehicles can be aptly outfitted. Kinda cool, I have to admit. Something that’s not cool, from the looks of it, is that the game won’t allow you to change your squad’s appearance like something you would do in XCOM or Phantom Menace. You can at least change their names, so it isn’t terrible, but I like to use color coding in my units to define their roles on the battlefield at a glance (Red being heavy weapons, white being medics, blue being average rifleman units, etc). Again, this is personal preference, and maybe it’s available in the game, but it’s just not in this combat demo.
While the options to equip your units are aplenty, the menu itself is a bit convoluted. I don’t really get the abstract deployment map. I would prefer to move my units around on the map itself, and not on the squad overview screen before a mission. There’s some information too about the possible enemy placement on the intel map, but there’s no way I’m remembering all of those unless I use some pen and paper alongside me, because as soon as you start the mission, those suspected locations are not mentioned on the map. This latter part isn’t a problem for me; in fact, I hope that in some missions no intel is available, as that’s what made 2012’s XCOM exciting for me.
I know some of you want to know about the game’s difficulty level, especially given the pedigree of the team developing it. I have to say that so far, things have been manageable. The game’s combat on this demo isn’t easy by any means, but it also isn’t too hard. It’s ok for the most part, and when difficulty arises, it’s mostly because you’re fighting a lot of enemies at once, and not necessarily because of their tactical acumen. It’s not that their AI is bad; I just haven’t seen enough to make a judgment, and in this demo, we’re only fighting one of the game’s factions, so others might be a lot more troublesome than these pirates.
As for missions, what’s available is good; there’s a good mix of defensive missions where players are tasked with holding out against overwhelming forces, there are search and destroy operations, civilian protection, VIP assassination, all that good stuff. I’m very interested to see how much more variety the final game is going to bring, and how different biomes (there’s only the desert one) are going to impact these objectives.
Before I jump into the graphics and sound, there’s just one last thing that I’m still not sure is a good thing, or not, and that’s the lack of any special abilities for your squads. Weapons have different fire modes, but that’s it.
Graphics-wise, MENACE really scores some positive points with me. I was expecting a more cartoonish approach, so I was pleasantly surprised when I met with a grounded and semi-realistic art style. No small units with big heads, no colorful stripes across them, no lazy low-detail approach with the excuse that it’s “to facilitate gameplay”. What we have here are realistic proportions, a gritty and rugged art style for weapons, equipment, and vehicles. Everything looks very industrialized, it’s like Halo / Gears of War, but more true to life and with a lesser amount of steroids. Every texture is sharp and of very high quality. Animations are fluid, and vehicles turn and tumble as they move over the terrain.
What came as a surprise was the sound, and that’s because, once again, I was expecting the usual cartoonish approach to sound design as well. Instead, we have semi-realistic-sounding guns with hefty punches. I still think they could be improved a bit to sound a lot stronger, but what’s in here is still pretty great.
So, with all that being said, where do I think the game could improve? As of right now, without the meta-layer, it’s hard to see how foundational mechanics like each of the squad leaders’ personalities will play a role, and how progression is going to impact my overall enjoyment of the title. From a purely tactical standpoint, I think MENACE is almost right on point, with solid mechanics, fun and addictive gameplay, and it managed to fuel my desire for more. In fact, I’m currently traveling as this article is going live, and this MENACE demo is going to be my sole entertainment for the rest of the week. From what I have seen, MENACE has certainly won its spot on my 10 Best Turn-Based Strategy Games To Wishlist In 2025.
There’s no release date for when the game is going to be live, but everything points to the game coming out still in 2025, with a demo being available to all of you in a matter of weeks!
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