Corruption 2029: a festival for XCOM fans?

If you like turn-based tactical games à la XCOM, you will be pleased that the Swedish developers of The Bearded Ladies have specialized in precisely this type of video games. After their surprise hit Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden from 2018, they are now launching Corruption 2029, a game that uses the same engine as its predecessor and is largely similar, but is slightly weaker in almost every respect.

It can be said in advance that Corruption 2029 is the slimmed-down version of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. It starts with the plot, which is located in a similarly dystopian setting as the story about mutated animal humans, but never reaches its level. The game gives you the most necessary information at the beginning and only a few new details are added during the campaign, which are all largely irrelevant and interchangeable.

So that you still heard about it: After a civil war, the United States of America is in ruins. You take control of a three-man speci al force that moves deep into the enemy territory to reveal the secret of the mysterious corruption that is supposed to allow the enemy to resolve this conflict soon.

Apart from a handful of clichés and a resolution that can at best be described as a video game equivalent to B-movie plots, there isn't much else you need to know about the world of the title and the events that take place in it. The few details you get in regular briefings are just to justify your next assignment. Otherwise, it is only relevant that you are the good guys and your enemies are nasty fascists who have to be defeated.

Rich, turn-based strategy

The campaign has a length of approximately 12 hours and is divided into three chapters, each with six missions. Since each mission also has optional tasks in addition to the primary goal, this time can be extended a bit by revisiting areas that have already been completed in order to receive rare rewards. Throughout the duration, you play with the same three figures that can be improved by modules and implants that you receive after successfully completing a mission.

Instead of a skill or level system, you use these technologies to improve values and adapt the trio's abilities to your playing style. For example, armor or life energy can be increased or you have a better chance of critical hits. That sounds very nice in the first place, but the actual possibilities are limited, since each unit has a very specific role that can usually only be played out solidly with obvious improvements.

So it makes little sense to give the sniper protective armor, while the melee has a higher chance of critical hits, as there are rarely situations in which such a split would be worthwhile. If this corresponds to your playing style, you can of course look forward to the possibility, but in later sections a deviation from obvious combinations has often turned out to be fatal. It is entirely up to you how you go about the missions, but those who do not bow to the basic plan of the developers will hardly achieve success with an overly experimental team.

Each member of the trio can only have three implants and carry two weapons with them, which makes it absolutely necessary to find the right composition of improvements and to play them out accordingly. It is also important in Corruption 2029 to remain undetected for as long as possible and to use the terrain to your own advantage. If your camouflage flies up, there will be a fight, which, like in Mutant Year Zero, will be extremely difficult if you are not familiar with the environment and its conditions or have failed to eliminate enemy special units in advance.

Before such conflicts arise, you can freely explore the area and silently kill isolated enemies. However, you must make sure that other units do not notice your action, otherwise there will be a shootout. Unfortunately, the AI doesn't care much about what's happening outside of their perception tunnel. It happened to us several times in the campaign that opponents on their patrols simply trampled over the bodies of their comrades and thought little to nothing.

In battles, each of your units has two action points that can be used for actions such as running, reloading, or performing special abilities. Which course you choose has a big impact on the events, because even on the medium level of difficulty Corruption 2029 hardly allows mistakes and luck doesn't matter much. Those who use the wrong cover, who still rate low probability of being hit as good enough and who use the wrong modules, will very often wear mourning.

Small world, big hit

Your options before and during the battles are as extensive as in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, but the actual freedom is somewhat more limited. There are similar cuts in the B grade for the different regions and in the mission design. The locations are pretty to look at and inspire with beautiful light and shadow effects, but at the same time they are much too similar. The always the same vehicles and houses, very similar terrains and only a handful of enemy types, which often differ from each other only in their armor and armament.

Corruption 2029 – Shady Oaks gameplay walkthrough

The video shows gameplay from the upcoming tactical game in XCOM blend for almost half an hour.

Most of the orders are largely identical. Most of the time your command is to kill all the enemies in the area. There is rarely a moment of change when you have to rescue a person or secure documents instead. Even the side missions hardly contribute to the change, especially because they usually send you to the same area, where the same enemy types are waiting for you in a new combination.

Apart from that, the title does not have to hide from much larger productions like XCOM. Those who can overlook the varied world and the flat 08/15 plot will be rewarded with demanding battles that are tactically demanding, offer playful freedom and come up with a motivating reward system. However, the learning curve when playing is extremely steep. While the first three missions can still be classified as easy, the level of difficulty increases sharply afterwards.