It was about time I covered an indie game, although nowadays there is quite a lot to choose from, when it comes to good ones… Well… Let’s just say I am a stalwart believer of Sturgeon’s Law, no, you cannot change my mind, in my writing, I do try to be more positive than how I usual am.
I did want to cover Knuckle Cracker’s games at one point or another, and since I have been keeping the Sci-Fi RTS theme for this month, might as well start with this one.
For a one man venture, its a surprisingly good and in-depth game, easy to learn, not that hard to master.
This time, no problems whatsoever, with 0 crashes, and a very stable game, which is surprising, taking into account how many calculations it does at any given moment, due to the physics engine.
Anyway, I don’t have much else to say on this intro, besides the fact that is going to be a shorter one, as there isn’t that much to cover with this game.
Let’s jump into the review.
Story and Setting
Deep within Redacted Space, awaits a secret, a secret coveted by many corporations, the coordinates for the Origin Planet, Terra, aka Earth, which has been lost for millennia.
Thing is however, no one who has ventured inside Redacted Space, has managed to live to tell the tale, a fact which has only served to increase its allure.
This time, the Ticon CEO and his crew, have decided to be the ones to uncover the mysteries buried inside the deadly system. Yet another group of adventures wanting to make it big.
But, much to their surprise, they stumbled upon what made all those doomed expeditions from the past meet their end, they stumbled upon the security system, The Particulate.
With every new jump, more questions than answers emerge, and soon however, the crew see themselves fighting tooth and nail to survive against an ever evolving enemy.
That information, better be worth it.
Thing is however, no one who has ventured inside Redacted Space, has managed to live to tell the tale, a fact which has only served to increase its allure.
This time, the Ticon CEO and his crew, have decided to be the ones to uncover the mysteries buried inside the deadly system. Yet another group of adventures wanting to make it big.
But, much to their surprise, they stumbled upon what made all those doomed expeditions from the past meet their end, they stumbled upon the security system, The Particulate.
With every new jump, more questions than answers emerge, and soon however, the crew see themselves fighting tooth and nail to survive against an ever evolving enemy.
That information, better be worth it.
Addendum: All the games made by Knuckle Cracker share the same universe, this one does contain references to the other games, but you don’t need to play them to follow the story, the story of these games is not meant to be taken seriously, it even makes fun of itself (sometimes), so don’t worry if you don’t get the references to the Creeper World games.
Presentation
Its a 2D game, there is quite a lot of attention to detail, but, for the most part, the best way to describe this game’s visuals, its the word utilitarian. Being able to zoom in and watch your ships weapons as they fire, or see the damage done to your ships, is quite cool.
It doesn’t look bad by any means, and it gets the point across, although they aren’t the fanciest, nor stylized.
You can tell what a ship has equipped, you can easily find the resources in the map, you can tell what’s dangerous, etc. All at a glance, which makes decisions easier.
As for the Particulate, well, its a red wave coming towards you, its impossible to miss, thanks to the color coding, its also easy to spot your own anti-particulate, its the same for the plasma clouds, the defensive walls, controlled terrain, and emergent. If anything, its designed to look more intimidating than what it is, but its also designed to make it easy for yourself to grow cocky and make mistakes.
It doesn’t look bad by any means, and it gets the point across, although they aren’t the fanciest, nor stylized.
You can tell what a ship has equipped, you can easily find the resources in the map, you can tell what’s dangerous, etc. All at a glance, which makes decisions easier.
As for the Particulate, well, its a red wave coming towards you, its impossible to miss, thanks to the color coding, its also easy to spot your own anti-particulate, its the same for the plasma clouds, the defensive walls, controlled terrain, and emergent. If anything, its designed to look more intimidating than what it is, but its also designed to make it easy for yourself to grow cocky and make mistakes.
All in all, graphics wise, it looks alright.
The portraits for the characters are ok, not really bad, not really good, they look too similar to each other, but, otherwise, they are fine.
As for sound, there aren’t that many music tracks, but, they quickly become overshadowed by the constant sound of gunfire and explosions, still, what you get to hear its pretty good.
Big weapons have a unique sound, but, most weapons are either silent, or become unnoticeable in the constant stream of battle, you will likely just hear rockets when they hit their target, rather than when fired. Some support units can be heard when they are recharging, and some very dangerous weapons can be heard when they fire.
Explosions on the other hand, do stand out, and are most likely accompanied by a notification, either to tell you you lost a ship, lost a mine, lost an omni, or that you destroyed an enemy structure, or ship.
An unsuccessful disastrous attack can become a cacophony of explosions, as you watch your fleet be consumed by the Particulate.
There is also a sound when your command ship is attacked, and another specific sound when its forced to retreat.
As for voice acting, there isn’t any, 1 man venture remember.
The portraits for the characters are ok, not really bad, not really good, they look too similar to each other, but, otherwise, they are fine.
As for sound, there aren’t that many music tracks, but, they quickly become overshadowed by the constant sound of gunfire and explosions, still, what you get to hear its pretty good.
Big weapons have a unique sound, but, most weapons are either silent, or become unnoticeable in the constant stream of battle, you will likely just hear rockets when they hit their target, rather than when fired. Some support units can be heard when they are recharging, and some very dangerous weapons can be heard when they fire.
Explosions on the other hand, do stand out, and are most likely accompanied by a notification, either to tell you you lost a ship, lost a mine, lost an omni, or that you destroyed an enemy structure, or ship.
An unsuccessful disastrous attack can become a cacophony of explosions, as you watch your fleet be consumed by the Particulate.
There is also a sound when your command ship is attacked, and another specific sound when its forced to retreat.
As for voice acting, there isn’t any, 1 man venture remember.
Mechanics
Resources wise, there is only 1, power, which you get in multiple ways.
First, is mines, ships with the Lathe module can build it, mines are your most valuable source.
Then there is mire, for that, you get omnis, those are small turrets you deploy on solid ground, and they slowly expand your control zone, that controlled zone is called mire, and it gives you some income.
Finally, there are little asteroids, which serve as a very needed injection of power into the supply, which is mostly something for getting your war machine started.
Everything (besides some very few edge cases) requires power, not just when being built, they also need it to keep fighting, the more intense the battle becomes, the higher your expending.
But, there is another little thing, ships and omnis can only receive energy when in range of either a mine, or a re-supply ship (resupply ships can get around the restriction themselves by using re-supply planes as part of their kit), so, a certain amount of smart usage of logistics on your part is a must.
First, is mines, ships with the Lathe module can build it, mines are your most valuable source.
Then there is mire, for that, you get omnis, those are small turrets you deploy on solid ground, and they slowly expand your control zone, that controlled zone is called mire, and it gives you some income.
Finally, there are little asteroids, which serve as a very needed injection of power into the supply, which is mostly something for getting your war machine started.
Everything (besides some very few edge cases) requires power, not just when being built, they also need it to keep fighting, the more intense the battle becomes, the higher your expending.
But, there is another little thing, ships and omnis can only receive energy when in range of either a mine, or a re-supply ship (resupply ships can get around the restriction themselves by using re-supply planes as part of their kit), so, a certain amount of smart usage of logistics on your part is a must.
As for the Particulate, it follows some physics, but it has a certain degree of smarts for its AI, but, its most likely strategy, is to overwhelm you, it will try to exploit weaknesses in your frontline, as well as try to flank you if you give it the opening.
The Particulate can take many forms to make it more difficult for you, and, it also has access to some replication technology, either to make bootleg versions of your ships, and ram those against you, or actually copy your ships for a mirror match (this one doesn’t happen in the campaign, but its a thing that can happen in challenge missions, simulations, and user created missions).
It can also take over mines, either to fuel its own ships, or be an annoyance, it can also take over solid ground with its own mire, which is harmful for your omnis, and can spawn emergent.
Some Particulate structures can launch emp balls against your ships and mines. For those, only a discharger works.
Emergent, are little cubes that can spawn from mire, which move around at random for the most part, but will hone in on whatever enemy is close. The best response against it, is rockets.
The Particulate can also make defensive walls around its structures, but, its mostly tied to how the mission is scripted.
The Particulate can take many forms to make it more difficult for you, and, it also has access to some replication technology, either to make bootleg versions of your ships, and ram those against you, or actually copy your ships for a mirror match (this one doesn’t happen in the campaign, but its a thing that can happen in challenge missions, simulations, and user created missions).
It can also take over mines, either to fuel its own ships, or be an annoyance, it can also take over solid ground with its own mire, which is harmful for your omnis, and can spawn emergent.
Some Particulate structures can launch emp balls against your ships and mines. For those, only a discharger works.
Emergent, are little cubes that can spawn from mire, which move around at random for the most part, but will hone in on whatever enemy is close. The best response against it, is rockets.
The Particulate can also make defensive walls around its structures, but, its mostly tied to how the mission is scripted.
You also get access to your own version of Particulate, it isn’t as complex, but it can do pretty much whatever basic Particulate can do, you have a ship module for handling it.
Then, there are plasma clouds, both yours and enemy Particulate can make them, and they are also tied to the level design, these clouds have a very simple purpose, they slow the opponent, but, as they do their thing, they slowly grow weaker (You can see it turn gray as it losses effectiveness).
Some of your ships have the particle beam, which allows them to replenish your own plasma clouds, and get rid of the enemy plasma cloud. The Particulate replenishes theirs solely by going over it, your own Particulate does it, sometimes.
The Lathe module, is not just for building, its for fighting as well, as its the only way for you to destroy enemy structures, do be careful, as as soon as the Lathe gets to work, the Particulate will become more aggressive and will come for your ships with a vengeance, and, if you don’t manage to destroy the structure, it will slowly heal back to full. The Lathe also collects amp gems, schematics, licenses, and story items.
Then, there are plasma clouds, both yours and enemy Particulate can make them, and they are also tied to the level design, these clouds have a very simple purpose, they slow the opponent, but, as they do their thing, they slowly grow weaker (You can see it turn gray as it losses effectiveness).
Some of your ships have the particle beam, which allows them to replenish your own plasma clouds, and get rid of the enemy plasma cloud. The Particulate replenishes theirs solely by going over it, your own Particulate does it, sometimes.
The Lathe module, is not just for building, its for fighting as well, as its the only way for you to destroy enemy structures, do be careful, as as soon as the Lathe gets to work, the Particulate will become more aggressive and will come for your ships with a vengeance, and, if you don’t manage to destroy the structure, it will slowly heal back to full. The Lathe also collects amp gems, schematics, licenses, and story items.
Then, there are the amp gems, those have 2 uses, you can install them on a ship to improve all its modules (but it also makes it use more power), or you can use them for your tech tree, which gives some really nice improvements to your units and production, its up to you to decide how to use them, don’t worry you can still get them back if you feel they are needed elsewhere.
Why do I keep talking about modules? Well, you see, although the game does have its own ships for you to play with, it also gives you access to a ship creator for you to go crazy with.
You can play through the whole campaign, and scenarios, with your own custom fleet.
Bear in mind that the fancier the ship, the more power its going to cost.
A neat thing, is that ships can be used as they are being built, if you need it urgently, and it has some weapons, then you can send it.
The direction your ship its facing, and its armor are very important, your ships will only be destroyed if the Particulate reaches the core module, so making the thick armor face the Particulate is THE strat.
You can also take advantage of the physics engine, by using explosions to push back the Particulate, and give yourself some breathing room, or use thicker ships to tank while your combat ships deliver the pain, options is what you have.
I won't be covering the minutia of the weapons, nor some gimmicks, as I expect you to learn them on your own.
Your command ship does work a little differently, if its core is hit, it will jump away for some time, during that time, your power generation will go to 0, until you summon back your command ship.
As for game modes, besides the campaign (which is quite short), there is Simulation, which lets you play around with your ship designs, and Inception, which are missions which are either gimmicky or more difficult.
Finally, the game has a mission editor, and you have access to the exchange, which are missions created by other people which you can download and play.
Why do I keep talking about modules? Well, you see, although the game does have its own ships for you to play with, it also gives you access to a ship creator for you to go crazy with.
You can play through the whole campaign, and scenarios, with your own custom fleet.
Bear in mind that the fancier the ship, the more power its going to cost.
A neat thing, is that ships can be used as they are being built, if you need it urgently, and it has some weapons, then you can send it.
The direction your ship its facing, and its armor are very important, your ships will only be destroyed if the Particulate reaches the core module, so making the thick armor face the Particulate is THE strat.
You can also take advantage of the physics engine, by using explosions to push back the Particulate, and give yourself some breathing room, or use thicker ships to tank while your combat ships deliver the pain, options is what you have.
I won't be covering the minutia of the weapons, nor some gimmicks, as I expect you to learn them on your own.
Your command ship does work a little differently, if its core is hit, it will jump away for some time, during that time, your power generation will go to 0, until you summon back your command ship.
As for game modes, besides the campaign (which is quite short), there is Simulation, which lets you play around with your ship designs, and Inception, which are missions which are either gimmicky or more difficult.
Finally, the game has a mission editor, and you have access to the exchange, which are missions created by other people which you can download and play.
Final Thoughts
Although imo, this is the weaker of the Knuckle Cracker games that I have played, its still a very solid one, its just boils down to personal preference when it comes to comparing it with the rest of the series.
My only complains, is that missions can take a bit too long, and can become somewhat tedious as you barely see a dent on the Particulate swarm, and that the notifications can easily swarm as you lose ships and destroy enemy ships/structures.
There isn’t much else to say about this game really, I like it, it has a lot of customization, and a lot of very cool missions made by the community.
The campaign its pretty meh, but it does serve as a way to slowly introduce you to the core mechanics, which become more important in challenge levels.
It was a good excuse to use the Indie Dev prefix.
All in all, this is a pretty solid game, and very good entry point to Knuckle Cracker games, if you are interested.
My only complains, is that missions can take a bit too long, and can become somewhat tedious as you barely see a dent on the Particulate swarm, and that the notifications can easily swarm as you lose ships and destroy enemy ships/structures.
There isn’t much else to say about this game really, I like it, it has a lot of customization, and a lot of very cool missions made by the community.
The campaign its pretty meh, but it does serve as a way to slowly introduce you to the core mechanics, which become more important in challenge levels.
It was a good excuse to use the Indie Dev prefix.
All in all, this is a pretty solid game, and very good entry point to Knuckle Cracker games, if you are interested.
Pros
- + Simple and easy to understand core mechanics.
- + Many customization options.
- + Tons of user made content.
Cons
- - Missions can become tediously long.
9
Gameplay
This is the biggest strength of the game, it gets you into the fray quickly, and its simple enough that you can tell exactly what's happening at any given moment, it rewards mastery of module usage.
7
Graphics
They look pretty good, and get the point across, it can look like an old flash game, but that's fine in my book, the portraits however, are meh.
5
Story
Its not meant to be taken seriously, and its only there to justify jumping from system to system.
8
Sound
The music is good, and it doesn't get old, but it can get overshadowed when the chaos begins, for the most part, everything in the sound department conveys the information in an effective manner.
8
Replayability
The campaign, and Inception are alright, but the real meat of the game is on the user created content, which there is a lot of, although difficulty is all over the place, as you would expect.
8
out of 10
Overall
This game prides itself on customization options and very solid core mechanics, which drives you to become creative with your approach. The game rewards proper knowledge and usage of its mechanics, and punishes carelessness and hubris. All in all, its a pretty solid Indie RTS.
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