After a Red Solstice which was in my opinion very pleasant, the 505 games studios offer us a preview of Red Solstice 2 which will be released in June. Although it was only a beta version that passed through my hands, these few moments gave me an idea of what the game will be like next. But let's see this in more detail...
History
The earth is being destroyed by the infestation...because of this, the rest of humanity has fled to Mars and its moons to continue surviving. You are the enforcer, relentless and resolute, tasked with carrying out perilous missions to restore what has been lost. Moreover, your most important colony has been destroyed... the misfortunes may have only just begun...
My opinion: the story pulls fairly well-known strings: infection, exodus, survival... but when the style of play goes with it, it's a little extra. Anyway, I can't wait to know the rest of this epic!
Graphics and atmosphere
Red solstice 2 was running at my home in epic quality with no performance issues (tested with a Strix G17 laptop). Graphically interesting, the atmosphere has what is clearly expected of this kind of game! It's dark, it's gloomy and we see very dirty infested people rushing at us. The view allows us to appreciate the interactive aspects of the maps all the more... like for example the explosion of the road following a gas pipe in "unfortunate" interaction with a grenade after I decided to leave it. open and let gas escape... Although it's not perfect, it's still visual and believable enough to be enjoyable.
The background sound punctuated by the sound of gunshots and flamethrowers as well as a fairly discreet music allows us a fairly good immersion for the moment. Even if I admit that I would have appreciated a boosted music during the most intense assault phases.
Gameplay
The game offers two very specific phases. The first is the creation/restoration of the operational infrastructures of your base by researching to unlock equipment and the like from your ship in orbit while the other is a phase in the field after a fairly nice preparation. During this preparation, you can choose your class, your weapons, your companions (3 bots maximum in your squad) or the players who will accompany you. This promises the game to be playable alone or in a team depending on what you prefer.
I only had the chance to test the assault and the medic during this session, but it gave me a fairly global experience of the game. Once you land on the planet, you will have to complete the main objectives by paying attention to possible secondary missions, but also to the various lockers and other caches that will give you precious resources, equipment and consumables allowing you to survive. Because yes, the first crucial thing: the ammunition which will be emptied at high speed in view of the excess enemies who have come to attack you. In addition to that, you will surely need the many healing items, turrets and other explosives for your most hardcore missions. And after the battle, you can also allocate skill points for your character or his squad to strengthen your resistance or your efficiency among other improvements.
But the environment is also a potential source of destruction for your favorite enemies... but also for you. Because blowing up a gas pipe in the street, a barrel or a car will do rather colossal damage to everyone in the area of the explosion. But others are quite safe for you, like punctured gas pipes that can form fiery barriers along a road... It's up to you to find out what will work best to keep you alive!
The six classes planned for the release are as follows:
- Assault: front unit, it is mobile and armed enough to face many eventualities.
- Medic: Are you injured? he is there for that! More at ease with healing than with weapons, that won't prevent him from piercing your enemies.
- Heavy: Are you overwhelmed by a large number of enemies? this class will decimate them quickly and badly... as long as you have ammunition in large quantities...
- Demolition: do you want to blow up a wall, set traps or just liven up an excursion with beautiful powerful explosions? You have found your class!
- Sniper: stealthy and precise, the sniper will be your ally to monitor an area effectively and eliminate targets from a distance.
- Recon: just as stealthy as the sniper, it will however be dedicated to finding resources. A real adventurer, he will do his best to support his team!
Important points
The combat is in real time and some features allow you to focus on the mission. For example, you can activate an ability that can auto-attack approaching enemies... quite useful while you're looking at the map. In multiplayer, the importance of communication and teamplay will be really essential as the challenges will be difficult afterwards. If you are soloing, what will matter most is the composition of your squad so that it is balanced.
From your ship, you will mainly have to accumulate resources by scanning the zones from the world map. You will unlock missions and spend your time researching new technologies. The advertised playing time is 20 hours, but a skirmish mode will surely allow you to increase it until you get tired of this game!
Summary
This little preview of Red Solstice 2 made my mouth water for the version that will be released on June 17th. I can't wait to be able to try it in full version with other players for necessarily interesting games. 505 games studios have shown us here a sequel that is worth a look and that may appeal to fans of the genre. Will the game live up to expectations? I'll let you know when we preview the final release!
