Good luck to all.......

I may add more information as and when I get time to play more of this excellent game and then conclusion before the giveaway is over next week ........ :)

Dreadlands - early access version:

In Brief:

Dreadlands is a post apocalyptic turn based isometric strategy game on the lines of XCom meets Fallout with a Borderlands theme. It also has a Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden feel to it (given away via Epic Games some months ago) and even Phantom Doctrine. (w.r.t. to the turn based mechanics) .

Developers Introduction:

Dreadlands is a turn based skirmish game in which you control a gang of misfits and mercenaries, battling for survival and supremacy in a lush post-apocalyptic setting. Pick your crew from one of the playable gang factions, all distinctly different play styles, lore and visuals.

The Game:

The game reminds me slightly of Borderlands except its has an isometric viewpoint instead of first person. It’s also got an XCom and early Fallout feel to it, so if you enjoy any of those games, this will scratch an itch. If you’ve never played XCom, then no worries as there is an excellent tutorial that helps you through the early stages of the game mechanics, teaching you the basics of the game such as your gangs home base, the mercenaries and other misfits you can hire. You’ll start out with a small bunch and have to complete missions, each of which earns you rewards such as cash, which can be used to purchase mercenaries to expand your group, as well as other items such as medical supplies for example bandages that revive downed fighters, stops bleeding and heals a fighter of some HP, repair kits that are used to repair weapons when they jam and damaged armour, as well as ammo, antidotes to poisons, weapons and other stuff such as scrap for creating weapons etc.

When purchasing mercenaries you can inspect their attributes such as the number of moves they can make, their melee and ranged attacks as well as armour and hit points plus the weapons they carry and the skills they have. Each mercenary has different attributes and skills, for example a cloud feeder shaman can move five places has a melee score of 4 and a ranged attack of 3 has no armour and 5 hit points. While in your home base you can select a gang symbol from several, with more than can be unlocked as you progress. The tutorial also shows you how to move and describes some strategies on how to survive the dreadlands. Missions are picked up via your home base or while you are out in the dreadlands. There is a world map that is accessed via the M key and will show you various regions such as Franklin Hills, Gauntglow, Eyphus Grove, The Sprawl as well as various villages and points of interest such as trader camps where you can buy and sell gear that you’ve found or picked up from downed enemies.

There are initially two factions to choose from. The Tribe-Kin. a group of nature worshiping individuals who use their enigmatic powers to command ferocious beasts and display mystical Totems on the battlefield. Tribe-Kin hunters are know for their mastery of long range sniping. They are extremely territorial and aggressive. The second faction are the High Plains Scrappers; they are a hot tempered bunch of junk tinkerers, renowned for being able to turn any pile of scrap into a lethal weapon. they fight by utilizing their extraordinary engineering skills, using a combination of mines, poisons and other ingenious contraptions. There will be a third tribe called the Skarbacks, which won’t be available until the game leaves early access (according to the developers around six months from now).

Some tips to remember

1) ... When a fighter is hit by a ranged attack they become pinned which reduces their action points to one when the next turn starts, so it’s wise to use cover to your advantage.

2) ... When a fighters Hit Points reaches zero they are downed and will be unable to perform any normal actions

3) ... Downed fighters can be revived using bandages or by certain gang tactics

4) ... A Downed fighter will be removed from the battle i.e. go out of action after 3 turns

5) ... When shooting a ranged weapon for a second time there is a chance it can become jammed. If a weapons jams you need to use a repair kit or at a workshop using scrap.

6) ... Low cover provides moderate defense to ranged attacks, full cover provides excellent defense to ranged attacks.

7) ... Stay in cover whenever possible to reduce the possibility of being hit and avoid getting flanked; i.e. getting hit from the side by a ranged attack.

8) ... Once engaged in melee a fighter becomes melee locked. If a fighter chooses to get out of melee the opponent will get a free attack.

9) ... While melee locked a fighter cannot use or be targeted by ranged weapons.

10) ... Whenever you perform a positive action, for example flanking, hitting or executing enemies your morale bar moves towards the enemies side.

11) ... Negative actions for example, missing attacks or hitting your own fighters results in your morale bar moving towards your own side thus reducing your morale.

12) ... So long as your gang leader remains in the battle you morale bar increases positively a little each turn

13) ... When the bar pushes behind the marked like on a teams bar they will become broken. This results in a penalty to both movement and to hits.

14) ... To carry out a ranged attack on a target, use your left mouse button and point at the target with your mouse cursor.

15) ... To charge an enemy with a melee weapon left click on the target when they are in range.

16) ... Use the keyboard key X to switch weapons.

17) ... Press the shift key for a map overview

18) ... Use the space bar to switch between characters in your gang

19) ... While in your barracks that is located in your home base you can inspect your fighters stats and upgrades as well as their inventories as well as switch their gear.

20) ... You can recruit new fighters (so long as you have enough gold) from the base bar

21) ... Burst weapons can’t use the aim function, but have a 25% chance to hit missed attacks for one third of their gun damage.

22) ... Avoid toxic pools (fluorescent green in colour) as you will receive 1 damage point per turn if you move through them. Toxic pools can be found around burst oil drums. You can also create a toxic pool by shooting undamaged oil drums.

The games looks great and plays well (so far with my limited time in game). If you win one of the 25 Steam keys, please remember this is still in its βeta phase and was released three days ago (10th March) as an early access title. My review will be based on my previous Beta testing of the game back in December last year plus a few hours of game play with the early access release which I received for free from the developers via the game giveaway team. (Thanks, appreciated). I will expand on this review over the next few days as and when I get the opportunity to play the game. I’m really looking forwards to seeing this game grow over the coming months. There has already been an update within a day of installing the game. This sub genre of strategy games was one of the first of this type of game I played twenty-odd years ago (i.e. UFO: Enemy Unknown).

For those who don’t know what early access is; its basically a game that is still under development, but is in a playable state, usually in the beta phase. The developers advises that you will almost certainly come across a multitude of possible bugs and crashes. As yet I’ve not had any crashes and no bugs after a few hours of game play. The developers have listed the following features that they intend to add during the early access period:

 PvP Rankings and Seasons
 Co-op
 Endless dungeons
 Base Management and Upgrades
 Sacrback Gang Faction
 Next chapter of the main game

You can see Steam community reviews HERE and some videos of game play HERE (via the Steam store page and HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

You can also read a couple of reviews of the game (one of which was posted before the game went to early access) HERE and HERE