Deadnaut - a new Sci-Fi "Roguelike-like"

[Nefaro]

just keep an eye out that if your thoughts on this game show up on someone else's page elsewhere that you actually gave them permission to use your thoughts, or you rein them in

???

Have our thoughts been getting pillaged by plagiaristic reviewers lately? 

C:-)

[panzerde]

Is that why I'm more forgetful? I was going to chalk it up to turning 50 this year, but man, if my thoughts have been getting pillaged...





Wait, what did I come in this room for again?  ???

[TacticalWargames]

How odd...at times it feels like the twilight zone..or X Files.

just keep an eye out that if your thoughts on this game show up on someone else's page elsewhere that you actually gave them permission to use your thoughts, or you rein them in

???

Have our thoughts been getting pillaged by plagiaristic reviewers lately? 

C:-)

[panzerde]

Bought and gave it an initial run. Interesting. The content is procedural, so every mission will be different. It isn't like Xcom in terms of being able to do much tactical positioning. The graphics in the playing area are simple but pretty obvious as to meaning.

I had some trouble getting used to the somewhat non-standard keyboard controls - I kept wanting to rotate the map using Q and E and in Deadnauts these switch screens, while Z and C do the map rotation.

Very atmospheric. Also not easy. I wiped on my first mission before exploring half the ship. I was using an auto-generated crew rather than creating my own. They were very dysfunctional as a team and it showed!

[TacticalWargames]

I too find the concept and the Ui interesting...though it does need some more indepth gameplay. I think it would have benefited from being WEGO rather than realtime though.

[tgb]

Zombies!

[Huw the Poo]

They did support Linux after all!  So I picked this up last night.  It's one of the more atmospheric games in my library, that's for sure.

Hot tip: read the quick start if nothing else.  There's no way you'll figure everything out on your own in this game.

Gave it a quick try.  Imported myself as a character of course, and apparently made myself female - oops!  I managed to explore about half of the first derelict before getting wiped.  I hadn't read the quick start by this point so I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I had fun nonetheless.  Now, armed with more knowledge, I'm looking forward to diving back in later.

By the way, although I generally prefer turn based games, I believe that real time was the right decision for Deadnaut.  The atmosphere and some of the mechanics would suffer too much if the action kept stopping.  It isn't exactly frantic anyway, at least that I've seen so far.  You certainly don't need any twitch skills to play.

[JasonPratt]

No idea how I missed this earlier! Promptly wishlisted (for next year ;) ).

[Huw the Poo]

Well Jason, I'm sorry to inform you that Deadnaut gets more compelling as I play it. :)

I haven't finished reading the manual yet but I know more than I did for my first game.  I actually had a mission going for a while!  One type of adversary you face is a security protocol called a Watcher.  These things wander the derelict's network and generally interfere with your mission.  They actively target your deadnauts and try to sever communication links, resulting in poor vision inside your cockpit and an inability to transmit orders to your team.  The deadnauts, in turn, can panic if they aren't receiving orders.  It's quite something when you're about to investigate a new room when suddenly your viewport fills with static and your mic picks up a load of noise, and you can see your team's heart monitors go haywire!

There's a surprising amount to the game.  Each deadnaut has their own personality traits and skills.  You unlock and buy new equipment as the campaign progresses but even here you need to be careful; a rocket launcher will make mincemeat of many aliens but will quickly breach the ship's hull with obvious consequences.  It's all about playing it safe and making slow, steady progress.  Hacking terminals to activate firewalls for brief (but welcome) respite from the Watchers and remotely locking/unlocking doors, scanning for bad guys in the next room, trying to keep comms active, ensuring your team are working well together, deciding whether to use stims (unlimited use but diminishing returns and increased withdrawal symptoms), worrying about the structural integrity of the ship, and so on and on.  It's a claustrophobic and tense game which almost compels you to play quickly even though there's no need.

My most recent run was going rather well until I entered a room and suddenly my team started flatlining left right and centre.  I'm not sure what happened, although I believe there may have been a security gun in there which just mowed them down as they entered.  It's a shame there's no "you were killed by x" screen when you wipe.  I'll finish reading the manual and maybe post on Steam to find out what the hell happened.  When (if) I ever finish a campaign - or even a single mission! - I'll post a small AAR.

Good game.

[JasonPratt]

My future self came back into the past to wipe my memory of everything you wrote after "Well Jason, I'm sorry to inform you that Deadnaut"

[Huw the Poo]

It's only 7 quid!  That can't even register as a purchase, surely?

[JasonPratt]

It's the principle of the thing. I've failed taking a stand already once (with Warlock 2: Exilic Boogaloo -- a choice I frankly regret on its own merits, btw). I should have more discipline afterward, not less.

....I, uh, couldn't find a smiley to represent more self-discipline, so please accept this R Lee Remey instead.