Othercide - Released

The turn-based strategy game Othercide has been released:

Othercide

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Othercide is a horror-themed turn-based strategy game where the lore and game mechanics are tightly intertwined to deliver a twisted, dark and challenging experience. Enter a brutal world under assault from terrifying creatures from another dimension, hold back the tide with limited resources and endure brutal conditions in visually stunning world.

• Dynamic turn-based combat: Othercide features unique turn-based combat mechanics such as the Initiative Sequence system. You will experience a new way to predict enemy movements and actions as you try to execute a flawless tactical plan. Foresee danger and set up attack interruptions, devastating delayed actions and lethal reactions. You will have to wisely time attacks and defenses to overcome your adversaries.
• Brutal gameplay: Prepare to be the first and last line of defense against a seemingly endless enemy. Experience the tension of every decision with permanent death, roguelite features, deadly missions and limited resources. Every decision counts and comes with a sacrifice, whether it be resources or in blood!

• Never ending war: Survive, protect and defend reality from shattering, try to endure as long as possible while facing terrible and sometimes deadly choices. Even in defeat, new truths are learned, and options arise as sacrifices bring you closer to success.
• Striking art style: Othercide invites you to dive into an ethereal horror dimension, in-between two realities, brought to life with a dark and twisted monochromatic style, with a touch of vivid red.

Oh, my Dear… Can't you remember anything? What was sleeping beyond the mirror is now awake… The Other is getting stronger. It suffers… It suffers so much. There is an eternal war between our two worlds. How long can we stand …?

How long before those nightmares shatter our reality? If we fail, nothing will remain…
Lead our Daughters in this desperate struggle to push the Others back out of our reality. Think carefully my dear as each decision you'll make will come with a sacrifice…

More information.

Checked the store page, mentions roguelite.
I know some adore that, but I just can't stand it.

I mean what's going on lately?
After Troubleshooter not a single release wasn't strictly singleplayer storydriven RPG without darksouls/respawning_trashmobs nonsense.

What am I supposed to do? Wait for HZD?
Isn't it a disgrace a port from consoles will save my day?

Well, the pitch sounds interesting to me (and yes Roguelite is a positive in my book), but I would like some impressions from others before deciding if it might be worth a purchase.

Rogue is a minus for me but XCOM is a big plus, so I'll keep an eye on it.

Originally Posted by joxer
What am I supposed to do? Wait for HZD?
Isn't it a disgrace a port from consoles will save my day?

Actually, it's rather wonderful that you should expect to be able to play something. Twenty years ago there's NO way you would have had anything to play in late July. It was either an MMO, re-play an old game, or find a good book to read! Guess you've got to go old school.

Originally Posted by TomRon
Well, the pitch sounds interesting to me (and yes Roguelite is a positive in my book), but I would like some impressions from others before deciding if it might be worth a purchase.

Heard only positives on Discord. And not this game's Discord. One person said it was better than X-Com, but the mixed reviews leave me doubting.

One aspect I know for certain--no base building. It is a pure tactics game, where the only way to heal your troops is to sacrifice other troops to cause your chosen squad to regen.

The timeline/interrupt feature sounds interesting, and I love the "Frank Miller goes Lovecraft" art. I'll leave my impressions tomorrow.

Well.. Combat is boring. First of all its black and white. So no colors, no aesthetics, no nature's green or cute animals or cute NPC girls to rest your eyes on. Just everywhere psychotic blood-red and bleak black. Its like the bedtime story of PSYCHO, imagine your mom or dad telling you the bedtime story of PSYCHO.. This game feels like that: "I have a baaad feeling about this."

The UI is MEh.. Also in the beginning there is this stupid, Ancient Overpowered SuperHero unit - ""MOTHER"" [??WTF] - you are using - with a very Dark-Souls 3-like, draining, demented backstory - and there are no squad of equipable soldiers like in XCOM.

Opponents:
Not much variety to boring opponents, as all are black with some white outlines.

When the first long-long battle ended, there immediately began a cutscene featuring a Silent-Hill-style insane looking witch-puppet flailing its scary-movie arms or tentacles around - mumbling something that should introduce Teh Great Story - and it looked like the story designer suffered mind-disintegration and wanted everybody to get a PTSD and as a bonus a scrambled brain, after watching all the demented cutscenes in this mentally derailed game that only seeks to cause psychosis, mental anguish & trauma to the player..

You Have Been Warned!

They are hiding it to lure unsuspecting players in..

Originally Posted by mercy
Well.. Combat is boring. First of all its black and white. So no colors, no aesthetics, no nature's green or cute animals or cute NPC girls to rest your eyes on. Just everywhere psychotic blood-red and bleak black. Its like the bedtime story of PSYCHO, imagine your mom or dad telling you the bedtime story of PSYCHO.. This game feels like that: "I have a baaad feeling about this."

The UI is MEh.. Also in the beginning there is this stupid, Ancient Overpowered SuperHero unit - ""MOTHER"" [??WTF] - you are using - with a very Dark-Souls 3-like, draining, demented backstory - and there are no squad of equipable soldiers like in XCOM.

Opponents:
Not much variety to boring opponents, as all are black with some white outlines.

When the first long-long battle ended, there immediately began a cutscene featuring a Silent-Hill-style insane looking witch-puppet flailing its scary-movie arms or tentacles around - mumbling something that should introduce Teh Great Story - and it looked like the story designer suffered mind-disintegration and wanted everybody to get a PTSD and as a bonus a scrambled brain, after watching all the demented cutscenes in this mentally derailed game that only seeks to cause psychosis, mental anguish & trauma to the player..

You Have Been Warned!

They are hiding it to lure unsuspecting players in..

Like what?

That was at least more entertaining that the usual Mercy take.

The Steam reviews are fairly positive. Most are very positive about the game's art and music. Also the combat system is praised in most reviews. The most common complaints are about the repetitive gameplay due to lack of content as well as the writing which many find confusing and not particularly good.
I'm curious to hear Void000's impressions.

Originally Posted by mercy
Opponents:
Not much variety to boring opponents, as all are black with some white outlines.

I've heard there are new monsters the further you get into the game, and some of them are particularly creative! Waking up with some coffee, then I'll put in 30-45 minutes and come back with a few thoughts. The monochrome black-and-white appeals to me, if only because so many other games strive for realism, and I love the Frank Miller aesthetic.

Originally Posted by forgottenlor
I'm curious to hear Void000's impressions.

So far this is a really weird game, and I like it. Boot up to main menu. No lag. Crisp graphics, lots of anti-aliasing. The title music has lyrics--sounds something like Lacuna Coil. Haven't seen that in a game before. UI is crisp, and to the point. Very easy to navigate. Controls are equally simple. You probably won't even need to look them up, unless you want to zoom in or out with the camera.

Now onto the gameplay. What I noticed about the story is that there are more questions than answers. You are given minimal information, a bare cutscene and a verse from a poem, and the rest is intrigue. I'm not sure how the story turns out, but I like that they are drip-feeding us information in doses. There is a log which keeps track of the lore of your daughters, and the monsters you encounters, as backstory, but it's very cryptic. A few of the commands are obtuse. I got stuck in a couple spots, even in the tutorial, until I figured out what button I was supposed to press. This game could use some QoL features. That said, I'd rank it an easy 9/10. It's kinda like the Dark Souls of Tactical War Games. The gameplay is nothing like X-Com, except you move in squares. There is no cover. There is a dodge and armor chance. The timeline is the major feature, where you can bump enemies back, yourself forward, or detonate timed attacks. I found it every bit as strategic as X-Com, and I like it as much. The lack of RNG is to be applauded.

Originally Posted by Void000
I've heard there are new monsters the further you get into the game, and some of them are particularly creative!

I can confirm this as I made it into Chapter 3 earlier today. I've been swamped with work since, but I'll put some more hours into it tomorrow. So far I'm finding the gameplay engaging and the story, while weird, has me intrigued.