Summary
The mix of a twin stick shooter with real-time strategy elements is fun and engaging. Missions are varied and the game play loop is satisfying but somewhat repetitive as you progress trying to complete each campaign. There is also co-op with up to three friends but as of writing this I didn’t get a chance to give that mode a try.
Developer – Ironward
Publisher – 505 Games
Platforms – PS4/5 ( Reviewed) , Xbox Series S|X ,PC
Review copy given by Publisher
Red Solstice 2: Survivors Ultimate Edition recently released for consoles and includes all of the DLC content packaged together. I wasn’t familiar with the original entry so was interested in checking it out to see what exactly Red Solstice has to offer. There is a lot to this package and I will try to be as detailed as I can without overwhelming you with the amount of mechanics and how it all works. However, it is safe to say without reading the rest of this review, Red Solstice is worth picking up if you are a fan of twin stick shooters and strategy games, although I feel like there is a bit more that could have been done with some of the elements and presentation. With minor technical glitches and some repetitive gameplay loops aside there is definitely enough to keep you engaged and having fun!
When I first started the tutorial I was a bit overwhelmed as I’m sure the transition to controller from mouse and keyboard was quite a feat. Honestly, I don’t even remember all the controls after my time with the game but I was still able to play it proficiently. Your main soldier is controlled with the left stick and aiming is done with the right. Based on how long you are holding your aim your characters critical hit chance with the gun. You have a wide variety of different usable items at your disposal as well as weapons that you can equip to build your character as you see fit. Turrets, explosives, health kits, ammo resupplies, you name a type of item you can probably find it. As you also continue playing the game you will unlock additional item types such as traps to capture aliens for research purposes.
As you progress through each mission you will gain experience that you can use immediately to level up individual skills your character has such as increasing critical rates, healing potency, grenade skills, etc. These levels are reset each time you complete a mission but are easily leveled upon making your way through the map again on the next mission. After each mission you also gain skill points that help you permanently increase your squad and yourself such as leveling your max health, damage bonuses, resistances and the like. These are static bonuses and won’t disappear, however some skills are only available in skirmish modes and not the campaign. These can also be reset and you can respect your points in case you want to try something new. As you progress through the campaigns you will also recruit other soldiers as well that can rank up and learn new skills and passives as well. These squad members are fully AI controlled and will follow your commands as you see fit. You can direct them to follow you around d the map or direct them to hold specific points. I found myself just letting them follow me around and they were more than capable at holding their own. These squad members also have selectable classes such as support, scouts, and damage type classes. They have different weapons and abilities unique to their class and can make all the difference in destroying the enemy hordes present on each map. I highly recommend at least having a medic in your squad to help keep the units healthy and not have to stress about using a lot of healing consumables.
Your main unit’s starting loadout can be changed and customized based on your needs as well. Different primary weapons can be equipped as well as secondary weapons that use specialized ammo types can also be customized with different attachments that change their capabilities. Not only can your weapons be customized but also your load out of modules in your armor to provide you with different abilities and passive stats. All of these come together in so many different ways to make each load out feel unique and powerful. Another nice aspect to this is being able to customize the armor style with customized colors, patterns, and visuals. I loved when games provide this level of depth to make your character feel unique in visible ways not just play style functionality.
The maps themselves are decently sized, usually a square that takes a few minutes to traverse end to end and have multitudes of enemies that progressively spawn faster and more dangerously as time spent playing the individual level increases. In randomly found side missions, there is usually one primary mission to complete but there will be randomly generated events that spawn on the map that are optional to complete but provide a variety of different rewards. These side mission maps can take anywhere between 5-10 minutes to completely unless you really want to drag them out. Story missions on the other hand are more defined objective maps such as escorting a VIP, reaching certain objectives to help NPC characters with their missions, or holding out against waves of enemies. They have similar missions as the side missions but typically are much more structured and story driven. I personally found this the best part of the game and the side missions more mundane and repetitive but necessary to progression of the second half of the game which is planetary management.
On the planetary view of the game in between missions you are able to direct and guide your crew to different areas and fight against the overall infection of the planet and maintain a level of safety and peace. There are several primary nodes on the planet that serve as bases of operation for your squad, each with different bonuses and levels of infection to manage as well. You can build additional outposts at these hubs that will allow you to gain more supplies, research units, and deployment tokens. As you progress time forward at these hubs new side missions and eventually campaign missions will unlock with limited time frames to complete each one. On top of these missions you also have requirements that you must fulfill like researching new technologies and capturing aliens to progress further into the campaign.
This is your basic loop of gameplay, complete a campaign mission, get assigned new research goals, pass time by completing side missions and gather resources to then unlock new technology to upgrade your base capabilities, to then unlock a new campaign mission while ranking up your squad through these missions and tasks. As time goes on, infestation rates and difficulty increases all in a race against time and resources before your planet is overrun by the enemy alien force. In terms of length, the game should last you easily 20-30 hours and with 4 DLC campaigns, multiple difficulties, and a skirmish mode, it could last you quiet a bit more depending on how deep you want to go into the game.
Overall, Red Solstice 2: Survivors Ultimate Edition packs a ton of content into one package. The mix of a twin stick shooter with real-time strategy elements is fun and engaging. Missions are varied and the game play loop is satisfying but somewhat repetitive as you progress trying to complete each campaign. There is also co-op with up to three friends but as of writing this I didn’t get a chance to give that mode a try.
