By: Roberto Nieves
Brains are mightier than brawn, and the team at Render System Games wants to take combat back into a simpler time with Tactical Combat Department, a turn-based tactical combat game from a small team in Slovakia.
The news comes via a press release by Super Indie Games. Tactical Combat Department is a game that harkens to an older fashioned but more mindful genre of games, and that is the isometric tactical strategy. Players outfit their SWAT team with a variety of weapons, tools, and placements to face one of many challenges. As a SWAT team, the goal is to preserve life and pacify the criminal threat. Unlike more military-oriented strategy games, the goal isn't to neutralize all the enemies in the room but to employ minimal force whenever possible. Players may persuade civilians and criminals to assist them on operations, lending information, or opening a door. In Tactical Combat Department, criminals and civilians react to various stimuli in the environment. Being more violent and assertive may not be the best approach to certain operations. Tactical Combat Department also hopes to have classic action points, randomly generated positions of enemies, a psychology and morale system, and a realistic fog of war.
Tactical Combat Department is launching on Steam Early Access in October and will remain there for six months. A handful of missions will be available for players as they work with players during Steam Early Access. The team hopes to include new enemy types, nighttime missions that require night-vision goggles, and new environments in the final game.
The game bears similarities first discussed here, called Breach and Clear, released on Steam in 2014 by Might Rabbit Studios. The two are similar in using tactics to outmaneuver and outthink the enemy, but the key difference is the focus on the specific nature of such tactics. Breach and Clear has one goal: to eliminate all enemies. Breach and Clear bears more focus on military tactics and the elimination of enemy threats. Tactical Combat Department focuses more on apprehension than elimination, using techniques that put life preservation on the forefront. Tactical Combat Department certainly looks like a solid game to a genre not seen much in today's gaming world. It will be interesting to see where Tactical Combat Department goes and grows.
Tactical Combat Department launches on Steam Early Access October 14th.