In a dark, futuristic world, being a superhero is forbidden. Not by the government, but by the only force in King City that matters – The Company. Capes takes the turn-based strategy genre and gives it a comic book feel, putting you in control of a young group of superheroes trying to mete out justice in a city where justice doesn’t exist. While some of the visuals lack a bit of polish, the actual gameplay in Capes is heroic enough to make up for it.
If you throw Boys and The guards into a blender with XCOM 2, what you would be left with would be Capes. Developer Spitfire Interactive knew exactly what tone it wanted and stuck to it. You start with two superheroes and a grizzled veteran operating from a bunker and slowly assemble a team capable of freeing King City from the grip of the Company, which is so evil it doesn’t need a real name.
The story is never revolutionary nor is it bad or predictable. It feels like a serviceable comic book plot that never tries to challenge convention, but still doesn’t feel lazy. The writers clearly know which tropes to use and how they work well enough that everything feels more like homage than parody.
There are a lot of small details that make Capes look like an interactive comic. The speech bubbles, for example, are a great detail that unfortunately become necessary due to sound balancing issues in certain scenes. We like the game’s willingness to lean on comic book tropes – you’ll see plot twists coming, but they fit the world the developers have built. There are plenty of classic comic book references sprinkled in so you can pay attention to the little details of each character’s design.
However, it is not that the presentation always works. The visuals are generally very dated. Characters in rendered cutscenes have almost no expression and limited movement, leaving much emotion to a group of enthusiastic but inconsistent voice actors. The 2D visuals look better, but they all have that annoying wobble that mobile games use to make characters look like they’re animated when they’re not. Visual issues can make it difficult to pinpoint exactly where the pointer is or figure out exactly why a particular power won’t land.
Where Capes succeeds is in gameplay. Each hero has powers that deal damage or protect their allies. They each function differently enough that they never repeat themselves, but they’re not so unique that you don’t know what to do with them. Since there’s no chance of hit or miss—each attack hits and deals a certain amount of damage—understanding these powers and using them effectively is the key to winning the many missions your superhero team is sent on.
Not only are the hero powers unique, but they also have an ultimate that can deal massive damage or completely block the map if used correctly. There is a wonderful balance with the top moves that we really appreciated. Some charge faster but do less damage. Others are slower to load, but much more useful. Neither is inherently better than the other – it just depends on how you build your team.
Our favorite thing about Capes’ combat system is the use of Team Up attacks. Certain characters can help each other during a mission, increasing the power or range of their attacks or giving them greater mobility. Facet, the crystal-carrying tank of the party, really shines in this regard. A few of his attacks do a lot of damage, but he generally increases the damage of nearby teammates. This makes positioning not only enemies, but also other heroes vital to your strategy.
Although you start with just a few heroes at first, you quickly get a full roster of characters and need to spend some time between missions leveling them up or unlocking skills. Levels can be earned by taking heroes on missions and earning XP while completing optional objectives can earn SP to upgrade your heroes. Some of the optional objectives will be out of your reach the first time you attempt them and you will have to go back and try again when your team is more powerful.
Due to the lack of RNG altering your plans, the missions feel more like a puzzle with a definite solution than unpredictable battlefields. This may not be to everyone’s taste, but we find it less frustrating than when our best-laid plans fall apart because the dice roll of the game works against us. That’s not to say every mission is easy – there’s a spike in difficulty at the start of Act I that almost had us dropping the controller until we figured out the right tactics. However, even when we failed, it always felt like victory was possible if we made just a few different decisions, which is exactly the kind of challenge we like to see in a strategy game.
Capes won’t win any awards for its visuals, but the gameplay more than makes up for the dated look. It rewards careful planning and clever use of powers, while choosing the Team Up power gives characters a synergy that makes them feel like a group that has already worked together. It’s not the best strategy game on the Switch, but it’s definitely worth considering.
Conclusion
Despite some visual flaws, Capes is a very solid turn-based strategy game that takes the best parts of XCOM 2 and gives it the superhero treatment. The tactical gameplay will have you thinking about the best way to position your growing roster of heroes each turn to help save King City from the evil Company. Even the predictable plot doesn’t detract from how well-balanced and entertaining Capes is. Fans of strategy and comics will find something to enjoy here.
