Spaceland

Overview
Spaceland is a turn-based tactical game taking heavy inspiration from classics of the genre, such as the XCOM Series or the less known Incubation, to give an idea of how it plays out. Developed by indie studio Tortuga Team, this title will narrate the events revolving around a duo of Space Rangers, stranded on a glacial planet after responding to a distress signal, where a routine mission turns into a struggle for survival.
The game plays out in a simpler manner compared to others of the same genre, for example all the management mechanics customary to XCOM are not present here, and also character development is rather limited, consisting only in upgrading gear and weapons, and also abilities in basic skill-trees. As for missions, other than a main objective of course, they have turn-based mechanics typical of this genre, such as each character having a set amount of AP per turn, usable for both movement and actions, a destructible cover system, distance-based damage falloff and precision reduction, and different damage types / resistances. Unusually, characters falling to the enemy cannot be revived, but instead stay KO until the mission ends.
Even without very complex mechanics, Spaceland manages to offer interesting gameplay choices, putting different objective types, new abilities or other variables in each mission, preventing the experience from becoming repetitive. The fact each level has secondary objectives, namely Secrets, Par Time and Heroes Alive, makes it worthwhile to replay a mission multiple times in order to get all those sweet extra upgrades and cash, certainly needed further on to not be under-powered.
This game also has some issues, two of which are most prominent: at the moment, extensive grinding of already cleared missions is mandatory to unlock late-game items, because even completing all side-tasks will not grant enough money to get top-grade gear, while a particular mission nearing the end of the game is currently extremely unbalanced and relies more on sheer luck / RNG rather than skill to be beaten.
Overall, Spaceland is a pretty good turn-based tactics game that gets the core elements of this genre right, offering a simpler experience than most competition, yet also manages to make it interesting and fresh enough to not be generic. It has some problems, but still in the end the positive sides overcome the bad ones by a good margin, and for the price of 15€, offering around 8-11 hours of content, is definitely a fair deal.
Rating:
Decent
Pros & Cons
🔵 Pros
+ Solid base gameplay formula, united with new mechanics every few levels, make for an interesting experience.
+ Simple but pleasant, clean graphical style.
+ Overall adequate challenge level, becoming considerably more difficult in late-game stages.
+ Good weapon and skill balance, none of the characters stand out as under or over powered.
🔴 Cons
- Excessive grinding of already completed missions is required for having enough coin to unlock all late-game gear.
- A specific mission is currently extremely unbalanced and needs a rework.
- Storyline is rather uninteresting and not very involving for the player.
In-Depth Breakdown
🎮 Gameplay Analysis
The gameplay of Spaceland branches into Team Management, Exploration and Combat.
Team Management consists in choosing the gear setup for each of the fighters, upgrading their abilities and items, and also deciding which ones of them are better suited for the current mission. Each team member can only use specific weapons and armors, divided into categories, while the same secondary weapons can be used by several characters: every once in a while some events will lead the squad to finding better weapons, armor, however putting them back into service condition requires coins, earned by completing missions, defeating enemies, and fulfilling secondary objectives. Skills are upgraded via chips, awarded almost only by secondary mission targets, in simple skill trees consisting of two skills per character, each upgrade making said abilities better in range, power or number of uses. At first players are unable to select party composition, a function only unlocked later on in the campaign. Each team member is completely restored between missions.
Exploration in mission levels is done in a turn-based fashion, with a fog of war mechanic barring unexplored areas into a grey mist that regenerates when a certain area is out of sight. On one side, exploring levels carefully leads to more ammo crates, health supplies and also secrets found, but on the other hand, especially in later missions, it is sometimes better to speed up the pace and not face every single enemy the game throws at you, as it can be very dangerous, not to mention time consuming in case you are going for the Par Time objective. In many levels, several doors are opened by activating a variety of terminals, power nodes and contraptions, forming up proper puzzles in some instances. Exploring can also trigger enemies to surface without warning, leaving your team members vulnerable, so being careful in exploring is a good idea.
Combat is as well turn-based, with characters having a set number of AP usable for both movement and firing. Each hero has a limited number of ammo and no spare magazines: to refill bullets, ammo crates are the primary means, completely regenerating munitions - they are however fairly sparse and need to be used with wisdom, as ammo conservation and damage efficiency are two fundamental mechanics of Spaceland's combat. Secondary weapons have unlimited ammo, but also deal much lower damage, have less accuracy, or in some cases are melee only, so are better used for weak enemies or as last resort. Character abilities cost AP to use, have limited charges in some cases and are not refilled by any means, or instead some other ones depend on regular ammo to function, but have no charge limit.
Enemies generally are melee-based, with ranged foes becoming common only in late-game stages, and all of them hit pretty hard, only a few hits mean death for any hero especially early on - but the same goes for most enemies, except the toughest ones. A cover system is present as well, but only is viable against ranged enemies, which also can use it all the same against you - melee ignores cover completely however. Generally, the rule for successful combat in Spaceland is choosing the right heroes for the right missions, and using them effectively by learning their strengths and weaknesses.
🔩 Performance Analysis
The game presents no performance or technical problems, and runs without any issue in 1440p, 144hz . Given the rather simple visuals and lack of any elaborate effect or other demanding graphical features, this game can safely run even on low-end systems without problems, especially if the target is [email protected]
Final Thoughts
Spaceland is an overall solid turn-based tactical game that manages to not be too generic thanks to varied gameplay mechanics and solid base concepts done well. Even with some issues, is still definitely a good one for this genre.
This product was reviewed using a free key provided by the Developers.
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I completed each of the 28 levels twice or more. I earned all achievements in the game, so I believe that I experienced enough from the game now to provide a decent review about Spaceland. Please keep in mind this review tries to be straightforward with important information instead of being a useless wall of text.
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Spaceland is a tactical turn-based game, created by the same developer as the Braveland series. If you don't have AAA-game expectations, then I can guarantee that you will like this game too.
The game was compared to X-com before release. Since then, the store page was changed. Why? Because Spaceland isn't anything like X-com. The only similarity is the turn-based tactical combat. You not going to build bases or have micromanagement. You simply follow a pre-set storyline and fight your way through the 28 levels.
The game design is usual for this genre. Your units have action points. Healing, throwing grenades, using abilities, movement: every action consumes some. Once all your APs used, or you clicked end turn the enemies will use theirs.
Each mission available on easy or normal difficulty. Selecting one of them at the beginning of the game doesn't have much effect, as you can change it anytime.
As you progress in the missions you will unlock more weapons, armors, abilities, and heroes. The game stays interesting as nearly every level offers something new. New monsters, environmental effects, actions, abilities. Alternatively, you can just experience in combat a newly received hero.
Let's see what I enjoyed/disliked in Spaceland:
Enjoyed:
-it is an entertaining game
-never became boring
-challenging, as normal difficulty becomes very hard
-more upcoming content promised for 2019
-enough content to reach the 1h/1EUR value (unless you just go through the whole game on easy difficulty)
-4 bosses and many other regular enemies
-cute, cartoony graphic
Disliked:
-if you unlock a better weapon only one team member can use it, other team member needs to stick with the old one (even if both using same weapon type)
-would have liked a more deep ability tree
-need extra grind to unlock items
-the difference between normal and easy difficulty is, that the health and damage of monsters simply multiplied by 2, without exceptions. On some levels you need to handle massive waves, so on normal you need to handle the same amount, but twice stronger enemies. This makes some normal mode missions insanely hard
Hey, I am an achievement hunter!
I not going to say that perfection is easy on this game. Some missions on normal very challenging. All achievements, except that one, are easy to obtain. You just need to find all secrets, finish levels within turn limit, and perform kills or actions whit each ability a few times. Perfection time is about 15 hours while the difficulty is 6/10. (95-96%, so without the complete all levels on normal, is like 2/10.)
This review was created for Average Achievement Hunter curator
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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
Is this game a masterpiece? When you search for an easy-to-play turn-based tactical RPG with a cheesy sci-fi story, the answer is YES.
Having already played the older games from Tortuga Team (the Braveland games), I did not really expect a complex strategy game. It turned out I was wrong, the game gets more complex with every mission. It won't reach X-Com levels of complexity, of course. I really enjoy this game. The game starts with small maps, but they get larger the further you progress. You learn new abilities, get new weapons, encounter new enemies.
Reacting to a distress signal, you begin to explore an unknown base on an alien planet. While the base seems to be abandoned, you soon find aggressive aliens and a small squad of soldiers sent on a reconnaissance mission. They are in need of your help. Mission after mission you dive deeper into the story and find parts of the background story, surviving soldiers, new aliens.
Missions play out on maps in variable sizes in turn-based combat. Move, shoot, open doors, hack computers, plunder ammo boxes, use abilities… the usual stuff. Sometimes your characters comment on the action during the missions. There are 2 difficulty settings, the first mission I did not win on my first try was mission 8. Later it does get more difficult, even on easy. If you want a challenge, start the game on normal difficulty setting.
Between the missions you can upgrade your skills & gear, talk with your characters, and read entries about discoveries you made during the missions in the encyclopedia.
Conclusion:
Enjoyable turn-based tactical fights with linear background story.

I had fun with it. It is 28 levels and I completed it in 16 hours with 100% achievements. I wouldn't say it is casual, since the missions get pretty tough (on Normal, which is the highest difficulty). You start with only 1 person in the squad and that increases as you find more people. However, eventually you can't bring everyone on each mission so you need to pick the team that is best suited. Some (or all) of the slots will be locked into specific members.
There are 2 upgrades, equipment (weapons and armor) and abilities. You need cash for equipment and chips for abilities. Each mission has a set of objectives, which gets you cash and chips. However, you only get the bonus the first time you complete them in a mission. You can replay missions for missed objectives, or to grind cash (killing monsters always gives cash). They also added daily missions in, that you can run to get more chips and cash (one per day).
With that said, you'll likely not have enough of either to upgrade everyone. You can respec the usage of chips for 300 cash. This might be my biggest complaint, because you don't really know who you are going to use and with both chips and cash being limited, it makes it a little hard to know if you picked the right upgrades. I suppose that could lead to some replayability...
Weapons and armor are sometimes shared between the team (i.e. some people use medium armor) and you only get one upgraded piece, so you have to chose who uses it. I found that before I went on a mission, I'd have to figure out the team and then go swap in the better gear. This seems like it could have been handled better.
Tactical choices seem pretty good, not enough RNG to get in the way and you see hit percentages and damage you will do, which allows you to make good choices.
They have Easy and Normal difficulties. Normal gets pretty tough. I used easy a couple times when I was looking for secrets, and it is quite a bit easier than Normal.
Tough one to know how to recommend. I would say that if you don't like it, you'd probably know within the 2 hour refund period...

It seems like any turn-based cover squad game is referred to as XCOM-like these days, but aside from a few superficial similarities it isn't a good comparison. Those familiar with the Braveland series will recognise the more-or-less linear overworld progression with very light RPG elements. Some people will unkindly compare this to a browser game, but in fact it's a solid tactical shooter with good cartoony graphics. The first 12 or so missions provided little challenge aside from that it's often necessary to replay the missions a second time to collect all the in-game 'chips' for spending on upgrades. That's because there's always a secret on each level, and there's a timer for achievements, so you often need to do a 'thorough' sweep and then a speed run. This would be annoying if the levels were longer, but they are short so it's okay. A better comparison to this game is the old Battle Isle Incubation, the legendary puzzle shooter. I'm only about 15 missions in now but I'm just starting to get the Incubation vibe...
EDIT - 15 hours to complete the campaign on normal (which is the hardest setting). The game is a nice challenge and there's a good amount of content. Not much replayability at the moment, but I believe the devs are adding side quests and alternate endings so that's all to the good. What will really make this shine long term though is multiplayer.

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Spaceland is a casual tactical turn-based game created by the same developers as the Braveland series. While there is some tactical play, I would never compare this game to XCOM as the developers have written into the description. It's much simpler and less thinking than XCOM so do not go into the game thinking that's something to pick up when you are wishing to have a similar experience.
The game is easy to understand and when you have a new game mechanic introduced at any time, the game will teach you about it. You will never feel lost as a result.
Your team members will each have a different short skill tree that can go through a few upgrades. You will be able to unlock 7 party members. You can unlock different types of weapons as well as armour.
The game does require you to pay attention to the situations that you are dealt. There are 20 different enemies and you need a different strategy to kill each one. For example, some can only be killed if you shoot them in the back.
The battles are turn-based. You can move, attack, or use a skill until your action points are depleted.
Killing enemies will give you gold. Winning a level will earn you some chips. The number of chips you get will depend on a few different factors, such as if you completed the level in a specific number of turns, if your party members all survived, etc.
The game gives you two difficulty settings: Easy and Normal. In addition, you can go back to a previous level that you have won to try to earn more gold or get the remainder of the chips that you missed.
Graphics
The graphics are very good. I like the way colour is used in this game.
Music & Sounds
There's not much special here. During combat, the music can be too monotonous.
Controls
This one can be fully played with a mouse.
Pricing
For what I would consider a rather casual game, a base price of €14.99 Euro is a little bit too expensive. The game has no regional pricing
Gameplay Video
Verdict
Spaceland is really a casual game with some tactical play. The developers compare this to XCOM in the game description, but I would not do that. This has a same kind of gameplay as their previous games, though with the additional take cover, go into overwatch, etc.
Looking at it as a casual strategy game, I would give it 8/10. But I do think the price is a bit too high for a casual title.
If I were to compare this side-by-side with the stronger tactical turn-based games out there, I can only give it 6/10. If you think you are getting into a new XCOM-style game to satisfy a certain itch, I believe you will get bored fairly easily. Even on normal, this game is easy.
I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.

Squads with upgradable weapons, turn-based tactical box kicking, simple multiplayer co-op, colorful art, dialogue, and story. Lots of fun for fans of the genre, and a nice starting point for newbies