Broken Lines

Going in without much research towards the game I ended up being quite satisfied with Broken Lines.
My first goal was to try and see what this game could resemble. It was not a traditional turn based strategy game where you could overwatch and take a shot with a hit or miss ratio. But it was also not an action isometric game as well so it was a bit of a mix from different gameplay variants that ended up being a refreshing yet positive experience. The mood is dark and gritty during the entire game. For every bit of hope there’s another challenge your team will face. And even if there’s no apparent danger the simple tension between different personalities will be enough to chain a negative (or positive) reaction making some relations more tense or easier to get along.
You will need to manage a bit of supplies and make sure your team is well fed. Failing to do so will start to bring morale down or having to face harsh choices such making some soldiers starve so others can eat or divide the misery in an equal share, affecting all but not on a higher level. In order to prevent this, keep your supplies in stock, search for crates during the missions and you will be fine. As you progress the story you will have different choices to make. Sometimes the most obvious one could not be the better one to choose from. Your soldiers will vouch for their own opinions but you might never reach a scenario where they will all agree with each other (unless during certain key missions). To show empathy, misery, to let a prisoner live or die, to rob a civilian from the scarce food or leave them be will all have different effects on your soldiers. Remember that not all have the same good-guy-hero motivation. Before entering a main mission, you have some opportunities to try these choices as well as buying some goods, which you should do when possible as having a better weapon or a healing item can turn the mission greatly in your favor.
Each mission is brief and does respect the player’s time, meaning it’s a great game to play in short bursts or if you just want a quick gaming session after a long time. As you go further in these missions you will face choices as to what to focus on, how to reach a certain location or if you want to focus on revenge, saving the life of civilians or just get something to improve morale. Remember, even if that is what you want there may be a turn of events so expect a different outcome which can affect the end game.
My first run I was focused on saving too much of my money which meant going in with weaker weapons. By ignoring some crates during missions, food began to be scarce and right when I thought I was going to make it… my soldiers could not take it anymore. They did their best but when you reach a status where it’s not only your body that is giving up, but the mind as well it becomes very hard to keep momentum going forward. On my second playthrough it was a whole different story. I went in with the best weapons I could use, buying and even switching weapons from one soldier to another based on who I was choosing to start the mission. I kept supplies in stock. I always had some sort of bigger firepower such as a bazooka or a grenade to quickly get out of a difficult situation. This time around, I reached the ending. Whether it was a good or happy one, that is a whole different story as well. The game leaves many questions unanswered and that is okay. I tried to flee, I risked it going to the unknown and there was no guarantee I survived. Still, it was an ending and it felt good enough for closure despite not having all the answers I wanted.
At around the 7 hour mark I reached the end game twice, when playing on the easier difficulty. There were more variants to be played, more different scenarios to find and unlock but at this time I felt like I had my fill with the game and I was happy with the time I invested in it.

Love XCOM and was looking for a similar game. Hasn't quite got the polish of XCOM, and is a little less tactical, but really enjoyed the game and the story. Overall very fun, just lacked a little depth to the combat. 8/10

takes a bit to get used to the timed stop-go action. once I did i could make some really neat sequences.
I found a bit difficult to "attach" to the characters. A bit too random character development.

A fun and unique war game that has some of the real time tactics feel but without all the complexity of more traditional RTS. Feels strategic and satisfying to pull off maneuver and I found the interface pretty intuitive for the amount of control it allows over the characters.

You will probably breeze through this game in couple of hours so it is recommended to buy this on discount (unless you want to go through campaign multiple times to experience multiple endings). You dont control the soldiers entirely, just their movement and some abilities, they fire at enemies automatically once they get close enough. Still it is nice mechanic that brings something new to the table and gameplay is fun and enjoyable.

Amazing game and gameplay, started with 8 characters ended up with 6.
ust a tip, if you play it in hard make sure to put the revives to one per misson rather than 1 only. this way your soldiers will heal wounds at the camp

You have a pool of soldiers, and choose four or five to take on a mission. You give them orders, and then it is carried out for eight seconds before you can give them orders again. The soldiers also have certain abilities, like healing, throwing grenades, moving extra fast and so on. There are not very many missions in the game, but it is a fun and good game.