August has been a pretty busy month for me! I’ve been working on several freelance projects, and I can finally begin my search for an upgrade on my gaming laptop. Sadly, that will mean all my jokes about my old-man gaming system will no longer have merit!
Ahem, onto today’s little piece. While working on my reviews on Sassygamers, I decided on a different approach this year. Scar Tries is my way of handling games very early in development or games which I am unsure about. That way if I find a game does not work for me, I can put it aside for a later time. Take X4: Foundations for example. When I first played that game a couple of years ago, I struggled to get into it. That series is an odd, janky take on the space sim genre and it took me a long time to get invested. Since last year, something clicked for me, and now X4 Foundations is one of my favorite games to play when I need to unwind. I have a review of that game, so watch this space!
That brings me to Ratten Reich, an ambitious squad-based RTS that recently launched in Early Access. Developed by MetalladllersStudio, this is a small team with one hell of a vision. It has received a mixed launch, mainly due to the early stage of development for the cost of entry. Early Access is still a spicy topic for many people. As much as I love playing and covering in-development games, it comes at a price. Sometimes, games just released before they are ready, and it ends up hurting the game’s impression in the long run.
Unfortunately, Ratten Reich was launched before it had time to cook. It pains me to say that because I love the concept, but there are too many rough edges to recommend buying into the present version right now.
Ratten Reich brings us into a dark, wartorn world where animal factions fight each other for survival. No humans, just very aggressive rats, mice, and lizards. It is set in a fantastical version of 1930s Europe, and the German vibes are everywhere. I quite enjoy the game’s visuals and sound design, and the few missions available at launch gave me a decent impression of the world the studio is building. All the groundwork implies a fascinating setting with lore and history to back that up.
Content-wise, there is not much. A tutorial level teaches players the ropes of infantry management, as well as the first mission of three campaigns. That is all we have in terms of content: no infantry customisation, and no skirmish mode. While they are present in menus ‘under construction’, they won’t be coming for a while if the roadmap is anything to note.
During gameplay, there are a couple of areas that need heavy work, especially the pathfinding and enemy AI. My troops kept running into enemy gunfire which is a great recipe for dying, and they got caught up on terrain a few times. The enemy AI is more challenging because they can see your troops from a mile away, so I found it tough getting my soldiers in to take them out. Eagle eyesight is fun when it is realistic, but both these regards drag down the fun factor. I enjoyed myself in a few instances, and I love the destructible terrain mechanics. I quite liked the tutorial level for giving players an interactive way to learn through gameplay.
There is no way to save progress during missions right now, so if you have to leave during one, you will have to restart the whole level. This was deeply frustrating when the game booted me back to the desktop after a ferocious fight during the escort scenario. In another instance, the truck carrying the lady I had to escort to safety would not move even after I cleared the area of enemies. You can imagine my annoyance when I had to restart the level. There are smaller things like typos in dialogue and voice acting not matching the sentences.
To conclude, Ratten Reich is a mixed bag. Early Access titles must offer players a good enough incentive to back them early. When a release suffers from technical problems, it hurts that crucial first impression. If Ratten Reich launched with more content or the current content without the pathfinding problems, I would probably look upon the game more favourably. With all this in mind, I find it difficult to recommend Ratten Reich in its current launch state. While Early Access is open about supporting a game despite early development, there are much better choices on the market.
That does not mean it has no redeeming qualities. Despite all my issues with the game, I think this has potential. I like the background of the world, and the visuals and music are pretty good. We need more tactical war games on the market, especially after the disappointing releases of Homeworld 3 and Company of Heroes 3. Where else can I lead my team of rats to bloody glory against my mice arch enemies? There is a good game in here, but it is unfortunately undercooked. My advice to the developers would be to focus on fixing the major pathfinding and AI bugs and to release some kind of skirmish mode. Even a couple of maps and some ways for me to play with the units would keep people sated while they work on the rest of the game.
I will give it some time in the oven to cook before I return to it.
