Massive Damage’s tactical RPG Star Renegades shares many similarities with the studio’s previous game, the abandoned space station turn-based survival sim Halcyon 6 Starbase Commander . Fantasy setting, turn-based combat, roguelike elements, pixel art. However, in Star Renegades there is much more “bagel” than in Halcyon 6.

So, unknown aliens attack your planet. There are many of them, and they are stronger. Quickly enough, they suppress any resistance, and you yourself die in battle … But, this is not the end. In another place, at another time, on a planet besieged by the same evil aliens, a certain scientist manages to send a bot through the portal, carrying a message. A message to yourself in another dimension. He warns his doppelgänger of the impending invasion and asks him to organize resistance. The military is gathering a team of thugs who are capable of … moving a little further in the confrontation with the aggressor, dying heroically, but having time to convey the message to the next reality, where their counterparts will already be preparing for the inevitable battle. And so on, until one of the teams has collected enough knowledge, experience and weapons to end the invasion in at least one of the dimensions.

As you already understood, the Star Renegades roguelike system is explained in terms of the theory of parallel universes. The fallen fighters pass on information about the lieutenants of the Imperium and the resources necessary to unlock the augmented characters, their main features and weapons to their twin heirs. Everything else – experience and levels, new skills of heroes and statuses of relations between them, are saved only within one universe. However, these are parallel worlds, they are indistinguishable. ?

Like Halcyon 6 Starbase Commander, the studio’s new game is made in the style of pixel art. But over the past 4 years, the Massive Damage artists have seriously upgraded their skills, and Star Renegades looks just fantastic. Especially on the map and battle screens, and especially in dynamics. Even though this is an isometric game, there is a sense of volume, depth of field, dynamic lighting, lighting of hero and enemy sprites during the application of weapons or effects, etc. In terms of pixel art, I would put Star Renegades next to such a visual masterpiece as Children of Morta . They are different in style, but the detail of pixel art is similar here.

The combat system of Star Renegades is also inherited from Halcyon 6. These are turn-based battles between enemy squads (ours on the left, bad guys on the right), only in Star Renegades the parties do not take turns, as in the previous game, but within a single timeline within one move. And the basis of the battle is the interrupt system. Most attacks or special abilities not only deal damage to the enemy, but also stun them, shifting them to the right in the timeline. If some action moves the fighter beyond the scale, then he will completely lose his turn. It should be borne in mind that if you or the enemy act before the target of the attack, then you inflict guaranteed critical damage, with very significant bonuses to damage.

So the whole combat strategy in Star Renegades is based on shifts, interruptions and critical damage. To do this, you need to calculate your actions and their consequences for the move ahead, as well as take into account future delays in the actions of all your characters and opponents. This is an interesting tactical task, including for spatial thinking (not all points on the battlefield can be reached immediately). Naturally, different heroes, and there are more than a dozen of them, interact with each other in different ways, moreover, depending on the relationship bonuses that can be developed with the help of special cards on halts, they can also receive combo attacks that cause colossal damage.

To defeat the adversaries from the Imperium, our rebels need to stop the aliens on three planets, preventing them from extracting the energy cores of the ancient titan race that left the universe, and then go to the enemy ship to deal with the mysterious Mother (no, this is not the same android, that in the series Raised by Wolves ). In the final battle on each of the planets, the passage of which consists of 7-10 battles, you will meet the Giant, an especially large boss with a huge line of shields and health. Plus, from time to time, lieutenants with unique bonuses will come across among the rank and file soldiers of the Imperium, for defeating which you can get a special reward.

Although the combat system of Star Renegades is unusual and seems difficult to master at first, once you understand how it works, the first two planets will no longer cause you any problems and their passage will turn into a routine. Yes, these 15-20 battles can be spent on mastering new heroes and searching for combo skills that can break the enemy’s resistance on the third planet or in the final battle … But on the fifth playthrough, killing the same soldiers of the Imperium, now without receiving a single shot in response, is simply boring. And this is perhaps the main problem of Star Renegades. At the same time, it is impossible to give the player the opportunity to start the campaign from the second or third planet, he simply will not have time to upgrade his heroes.

As a result, despite the interesting combat system, as a “bagel” Star Renegades is imperfect. In the same Hades , due to the use of various weapons and gifts of the gods, it is interesting to crush enemies for the twentieth and hundredth time, but here, alas, no.

Nevertheless, Star Renegades is a good, worthy game. It has an interesting combat system, a good selection of fighters of different specializations, chic pixel graphics and good humor, which we remember from Halcyon 6. I can’t say that I recommend immediately buying this game to all fans of turn-based roguelikes, but I will add it to the list desired and purchased at one of the sales is definitely worth it. At least for the graphics.