Warhounds Review in Progress

Warhounds is a turn-based tactics game about an elite mercenary squad with an old-school action movie vibe, inspired by XCOM and Jagged Alliance. Recruit unique fighters, upgrade your base, and fight for Africa’s future.

The first thing you will notice, jumping into the game, is that the combat feels rewarding for proper positioning & playing tactically. On the other hand rushing and pushing too far ahead will find you out of position as enemies emerge. One of the early questions I asked is “do the numbers displayed for a shot feel real?”. Since there is always a running joke that similar games like XCOM often miss 80 to even 90 percent shots. And, I can confidently say in my playthrough I didn’t experience any of that provided you are positioned correctly with nothing blocking your way.

Everything depends on a familiar action point system. Where if you move too far you won’t be able to take another action that turn. So deliberate and tactical movement is a must to really take advantage of the environment. At times it feels like the U.I. may not convey all that well that a specific move is going to spend all of your action points. I often found myself constantly double checking a movement's cost, especially moving to different levels. Field hazards like explosive barrels also play a key role and can really give you the edge in a combat scenario if taken advantage of properly. The various types of cover are also important to keep in mind. Wooden structures can be blown apart while metal can give you a solid defensible position.

The banter and attempts at witty humor from your soldiers often fall flat. The music also feels like a missed opportunity at times when it could be used to really convey intense moments. The base building shows potential to give fans familiar with the genre the feeling of a home between missions. All in all I’d say the game feels a bit rough at times but it is ultimately a playtest to iron out those edges. I find myself eager to see the results of the feedback applied from the playtest and final polish before the games launch. To see just how much the team can elevate the experience.

Life is a Game Magazine was supplied a code for the current playtest of Warhounds for this review in progress