This is the third entry of a four-part series I'm doing this month where I try out the demos of four very recent or upcoming turn-based tactics titles (try saying that four times).
The first thing I noticed when I booted We are the Plague is the beautiful yet grim artwork, which reminds me of that of last year's Iratus: Lord of the Dead. However, while the artwork is nice to look at, the demo's showcase of combat is not looking good. There are a couple of glitches here and there. Granted, it's still just a demo, but still.
The game is played on a tile-map consisting of two modes, which are free-roam and battle mode. On free-roam, you travel around as one character which acts as the collective of all your characters. Once you get close to enemies, the battle mode is triggered, and all your characters get into positions. I don't like how little there is can be done in combat. There are only three things you can do other than moving, namely: Attack (unleash an attack), Defense (be on the defensive) and use your Ability. That's it. Moreover, there's only one Attack type. No area of effect attacks, no crowd control, zone of control or abilities that manipulate positions (such as an attack that pushes the enemy, for instance). Even if you flank an enemy to protect your range character for example, nothing is stopping the enemy from moving towards the character you're trying to protect and attack that character.
Therefore, with so little control, combat feels random. If you're unlucky, the main character gets a hard hit and you're pretty much done. All you can do is hide him from combat because once he's dead, you're done. If your only load game is at the point where he's low on health, you're also pretty much done. If you get into the second part of the game with your characters on half their health, you're pretty much screwed. At that point you can't afford to miss and enemy that hits you back with 27 damage, which is bound to happen due to how random the game is. Weirdly enough, combat is way too easy once you get the groove.
One thing I don't get is that the demo's achievements somehow counts towards a player's personal achievements stats. Which is fine in most cases - demos like Legend of Keepers: Prologue for instance, are really polished, although its achievement doesn't count. I have even played full and much more polished albeit free games which achievement somehow doesn't count. But for a demo with such a shallow combat system, this demo shouldn't have demanding achievements (eg Veteran achievement) that somehow demands player to put so much effort into something that's only supposed to be a demonstration, not a full game.
There's also a bunch of glitches in the demo, even game-breaking glitch. For instance, in one of the level, the exit area is at the edge of the screen, near the characters' portraits. If you're lucky, you can click on the exit area without clicking the portrait. Problem is, the portraits have a huge "hit box". I couldn't click on the area on the screen at all without "clicking" the portrait area. But that's not the end of it. Clicking on the portraits brings up the inventory menu. Once you exit the inventory menu, the moving interface is gone. Which means that's it for you. If you click on the keybord, the moving "arrow" is brought back but it doesn't do anything. All you can do is go to main menu, reload the game and try again. But for the level that I'm talking about, you're stuck because you can never not hit the portrait (edit: to solve this issue, click on the very edge of the top left of your screen). I've also been stuck at the end-of-level stats screen.
That said, the atmosphere is great. It's bleak, sinister and beautiful at the same time. The "level screen" is also beautiful, much like a painting. I love the animations, both the free-roam animation and the battle animation. Technically, due to the glitches, it's easily the worst demo I ever played, but I still enjoyed it.
Therefore, with so little control, combat feels random. If you're unlucky, the main character gets a hard hit and you're pretty much done. All you can do is hide him from combat because once he's dead, you're done. If your only load game is at the point where he's low on health, you're also pretty much done. If you get into the second part of the game with your characters on half their health, you're pretty much screwed. At that point you can't afford to miss and enemy that hits you back with 27 damage, which is bound to happen due to how random the game is. Weirdly enough, combat is way too easy once you get the groove.
One thing I don't get is that the demo's achievements somehow counts towards a player's personal achievements stats. Which is fine in most cases - demos like Legend of Keepers: Prologue for instance, are really polished, although its achievement doesn't count. I have even played full and much more polished albeit free games which achievement somehow doesn't count. But for a demo with such a shallow combat system, this demo shouldn't have demanding achievements (eg Veteran achievement) that somehow demands player to put so much effort into something that's only supposed to be a demonstration, not a full game.
There's also a bunch of glitches in the demo, even game-breaking glitch. For instance, in one of the level, the exit area is at the edge of the screen, near the characters' portraits. If you're lucky, you can click on the exit area without clicking the portrait. Problem is, the portraits have a huge "hit box". I couldn't click on the area on the screen at all without "clicking" the portrait area. But that's not the end of it. Clicking on the portraits brings up the inventory menu. Once you exit the inventory menu, the moving interface is gone. Which means that's it for you. If you click on the keybord, the moving "arrow" is brought back but it doesn't do anything. All you can do is go to main menu, reload the game and try again. But for the level that I'm talking about, you're stuck because you can never not hit the portrait (edit: to solve this issue, click on the very edge of the top left of your screen). I've also been stuck at the end-of-level stats screen.
That said, the atmosphere is great. It's bleak, sinister and beautiful at the same time. The "level screen" is also beautiful, much like a painting. I love the animations, both the free-roam animation and the battle animation. Technically, due to the glitches, it's easily the worst demo I ever played, but I still enjoyed it.
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