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Turn-Based Tactics Forgotten But Unbroken - WW2 resistance turn-based tactics
- Thread starter Taka-Haradin puolipeikko
- Start date
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- ww2 is sooo-o passe
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Cool! When I saw Classified: France 44 I thought it was this project rebranded after the failed Kickstarter:
It looks very similar and the machine guns are used in exactly the same way (ie a character fires in roughly 180 degree arc in front of himself). Good to hear these dudes are still around working on their own game and they even found a publisher.
It looks very similar and the machine guns are used in exactly the same way (ie a character fires in roughly 180 degree arc in front of himself). Good to hear these dudes are still around working on their own game and they even found a publisher.
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https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2122090/view/4182235001954948227
Forgotten But Unbroken | New Demo is Now Live!
Hi Everyone!
We are extremely excited to announce that Forgotten But Unbroken’s massive new demo is now live on Steam! In addition, make sure to watch the game in action during today’s Future Games Show ‘Summer Showcase’ broadcast, starting at 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 8PM BST.
We are working incredibly hard to bring our vision to reality, and this new demo represents our latest progress towards that goal. There’s a wide variety of missions in the demo, though incredibly this is a mere sample of what the final game will deliver.
The demo comprises six highly varied missions that you will likely face at the beginning of the full single player campaign. [Note - We say ‘likely’, because you can progress through the campaign in a totally non-linear manner]
You will defend stranded Resistance fighters, defy the odds in a daring escape from an enemy ambush, outfox enemy patrols with mines and ‘kill box’ ambushes, assault weapon installations behind enemy lines and much more. You’ll also get to experience a sample of the base camp metagame, more on that just below.
Yes, it’s a big demo - so get ready for a heavy shotgun blast of true WWII action. PS: Adrenaline is included!
Between missions, you will access the Resistance camp metagame, getting a glance of what we plan to do with character progression, team assembling and customization, and other systems that you will use during the campaign. The replay potential is vast, especially with our non-linear campaign progression that really shakes things up depending on your choices.
We have prepared a brief guide for everybody to get the hang of the game before venturing into the demo.
We hope you will enjoy this first bite of the game.
We encourage everybody to leave feedback in the Discord channel so we can continue polishing the game till the final release.
Enjoy and see you on the battlefield!
The Forgotten But Unbroken Team
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Tried the new demo. TBH fam they need to optimise this shit a lot - loading times were way too long and a cutscene at the start of the first mission stutered like a motherfucker.
Other than that, the game certainly looks like the devs put more work into it since the last demo, but they better put in way more work still before they try to release this.
To recap:
- its basicaly nu-XCOM, you actually have oldschool AP (the number is probably calculated from the agility of each character or something, people have like 60-80 APs), this is fine, but the problem is that attack actions cost huge amount of AP and it seems you only get to attack just once like in classic nu-XCOM
- enemies (including mooks/wehrmacht riflemen) seem to be way too bullet spongy (I shot a single soldier 3 times with rifles and he still stood, this just doesnt look good in a WW2 setting)
- there is a supression mechanic, your characters can lose a turn if there is too much fire coming at them - it doesnt seem to work on enemies though, which is bad
- there are some lulzy enemy types such as Hlinka´s Guard (this was an obscure pro-nazi paramilitary organisation in Slovakia, when it was allied with Germany during the war)
- there is a fairly complex base building/management system (you have like 8 types of resources including stuff like gravel that is used to build/upgrade in addition to money), there are multiple types of buildings (HQ, barracks, storehouse etc), some buildings also require characters to be assigned to various functions in order to work (for example you need to assign someone as a radioman to the HQ so you can contact the Allies)
- characters level up and gain perks, they have a basic inventory with slots for helmets, primary/secondary weapons, grenades etc
- what is interesting is the political level that the game has - you can contact US, britbongs or USSR and ask for various favors, they will also ask things of you and you can build up a relationship between them and your resistence network, good shit
- when you pass time in the base there are various world events that happen (ie developments on the frontline and such) that influence the situation of your resistance group as well
- what is kinda lulzy is that your resistance group is based in Czechoslovakia at the start of the game and the first missions take place there, but you get a mission to rescue a french partisan whose unit got wiped out - like wtf man???
Anyway, looks promising but needs a lot more work.
Other than that, the game certainly looks like the devs put more work into it since the last demo, but they better put in way more work still before they try to release this.
To recap:
- its basicaly nu-XCOM, you actually have oldschool AP (the number is probably calculated from the agility of each character or something, people have like 60-80 APs), this is fine, but the problem is that attack actions cost huge amount of AP and it seems you only get to attack just once like in classic nu-XCOM
- enemies (including mooks/wehrmacht riflemen) seem to be way too bullet spongy (I shot a single soldier 3 times with rifles and he still stood, this just doesnt look good in a WW2 setting)
- there is a supression mechanic, your characters can lose a turn if there is too much fire coming at them - it doesnt seem to work on enemies though, which is bad
- there are some lulzy enemy types such as Hlinka´s Guard (this was an obscure pro-nazi paramilitary organisation in Slovakia, when it was allied with Germany during the war)
- there is a fairly complex base building/management system (you have like 8 types of resources including stuff like gravel that is used to build/upgrade in addition to money), there are multiple types of buildings (HQ, barracks, storehouse etc), some buildings also require characters to be assigned to various functions in order to work (for example you need to assign someone as a radioman to the HQ so you can contact the Allies)
- characters level up and gain perks, they have a basic inventory with slots for helmets, primary/secondary weapons, grenades etc
- what is interesting is the political level that the game has - you can contact US, britbongs or USSR and ask for various favors, they will also ask things of you and you can build up a relationship between them and your resistence network, good shit
- when you pass time in the base there are various world events that happen (ie developments on the frontline and such) that influence the situation of your resistance group as well
- what is kinda lulzy is that your resistance group is based in Czechoslovakia at the start of the game and the first missions take place there, but you get a mission to rescue a french partisan whose unit got wiped out - like wtf man???
Anyway, looks promising but needs a lot more work.
Last edited:
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- Joined
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Got a review copy. While I think the idea is pretty good, like how it feels like X-com in part. There are some pretty big flaws, though. For example, loot can only be captured when sneaking or in battle. Even when you win the mission and clear the map, the loot is just gone. I spotted uniforms and stuff in a box, but I didn't grab it since I was thrown into battle. When I cleared the last objective, aka killing all the soldiers in the village, the mission just ended with zero loot. Another problem with this, is that you don't gain much equipment overall from killing. Sure, you can order in and maybe one of the allied nations is nice and helps you. However, it makes the killing and scavenging a pain. It's ridiculous how poorly equipped I am for being some kind of forest SAS group. Like 20 smg rounds between all my men.
Another big issue is the low damage my men do and the general aim of them. It takes 3 rifle rounds from a karabiner 98k to kill a German. WTF. It does not hold up when you are attacked by 5-6, and it makes for silly gamey battles. The Germans are really good at aiming, however. They hit my men like pros regardless of cover. And you need resources in base to heal up, which is a pain. This could have been fine, though, if the game actually threw you some missions, like sidequests or something. Nope, you just sit in camp and wait for the next mission to pop up. These might be dynamic, as I'm only on my second playthrough since I restarted, but I doubt it. Meaning, it seems to be a fairly linear path of missions. I also noticed the missions started with easy and progress from there. I'm already on medium, with the same shitty equipment.
Very unsure so far. Also, for some reason, I find it hilarious that the men you hire come with their nation's uniform. It looks retarded when in battle.
Another big issue is the low damage my men do and the general aim of them. It takes 3 rifle rounds from a karabiner 98k to kill a German. WTF. It does not hold up when you are attacked by 5-6, and it makes for silly gamey battles. The Germans are really good at aiming, however. They hit my men like pros regardless of cover. And you need resources in base to heal up, which is a pain. This could have been fine, though, if the game actually threw you some missions, like sidequests or something. Nope, you just sit in camp and wait for the next mission to pop up. These might be dynamic, as I'm only on my second playthrough since I restarted, but I doubt it. Meaning, it seems to be a fairly linear path of missions. I also noticed the missions started with easy and progress from there. I'm already on medium, with the same shitty equipment.
Very unsure so far. Also, for some reason, I find it hilarious that the men you hire come with their nation's uniform. It looks retarded when in battle.
Last edited:
Stuck, as far as I know. I tried clicking on the names, but couldn't change anything.
Need to correct some stuff. It does seem you get some loot from battles, but from what I understand, only from people you killed and dropped some (RNG). However, special loot will be passed by. Like uniforms etc.
And to get ammo and resources. You just have to spam the request for aid. There is no penalty from what I can tell. It has a cooldown, but nothing else. I got ammo, food, and medicine now. However, it is also RNG. I got a British pilot hat from the British. Thanks, I guess. I'm sure it will be helpful. Kinda reminded me of the scene in Bridge too Far when they get airdropped hats and a guy dies to get it
Still, the missions seem linear. Restarted again, and I'm getting the same missions (so far).
Also. Here is a skirmish I recorded:
The reason why I shoot even at low chances, is that every shot "panics" the enemy. Only elite troops are immune to this.
And to get ammo and resources. You just have to spam the request for aid. There is no penalty from what I can tell. It has a cooldown, but nothing else. I got ammo, food, and medicine now. However, it is also RNG. I got a British pilot hat from the British. Thanks, I guess. I'm sure it will be helpful. Kinda reminded me of the scene in Bridge too Far when they get airdropped hats and a guy dies to get it
Still, the missions seem linear. Restarted again, and I'm getting the same missions (so far).
Also. Here is a skirmish I recorded:
The reason why I shoot even at low chances, is that every shot "panics" the enemy. Only elite troops are immune to this.
Modron
Arcane
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- May 5, 2012
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- 11,099
Taking pot shots is better than using overwatch?
Well, it depends. But you can combine it. Set overwatch, and then take a few potshots with others, so when the panicked soldier runs out in the open, the ones on overwatch can mow him down. If they hit, that is. But lowering the morale seems good overall. When it's down it stays low, so the soldier in question can be chained panicked.
Finished the game after spending about 20 hours in it. So, here is my review. You can read it down below, or over at my site, if interested.
World War II is always a great setting for turn-based tactical games. There have been a couple over the years, like the always excellent Silent Storm series. One thing this game got over Silent Storm, beyond just being a turn-based tactical game in a similar vein, is that Forgotten but Unbroken incorporates X-com-like base management and survival mechanics in the form of collecting resources. Sounds like a potentially intriguing game, in a backdrop that certainly fits that kind of gameplay. So, does it succeed?
We are partisans
While the story is mostly about some weird multi-nation partisan group fighting for the allied side, it’s also somewhat of a revenge story (if you manage to remember that it is). It starts with Martin Hupka and his wife getting dragged out into the streets by the Germans at the start of the war. Martin and his wife get separated, with his wife presumably executed by a firing squad. This has Martin wanting for blood, which makes him join some kind of partisan/commando group with American leadership to act revenge.
One day many days later, where you, the player, takes over, Martin is on the run after a botched mission. It turns out that a group he was supposed to meet was ambushed and murdered. Eventually, he makes a daring escape after shanking a couple of Germans. Martin returns to base to report what happened, and as it is, this camp is now compromised and must be dismantled. But the fight against the Germans is far from over for him. While the American leadership must relocate, Martin is being promoted to commander, ordered to build a new camp, with fighters from all over the world to continue the harassment of the German army.
From here on, Forgotten but Unbroken starts for real, with you being handed command to establish a base of operations. You will be hiring people to fight, build important buildings to meet your needs, and feed the men under your command. The story is not much more than you getting random radio-calls with missions to accomplish, and to survive until the end of the war. There is the revenge tale too, of course. But to be honest, it was totally forgotten about until the very end when you finally meet the German officer behind the incident in the beginning that changed Martin’s life.
Getting the band together
It’s a mess
Story wise, I found it to be total flub. The historical aspect is kinda cool – how the game makes notes of important events during the war. Yet the story about Martin, and his so-called brothers in arms comes off as extremely awkward. Which is not helped by the overly dramatic and cheesy cutscenes. There is also the problem that all these characters are extremely undercooked, making it hard to care for any of them. This part is a total waste, and should probably not have been made, considering the nature of the game.
You see, these characters are important for the narration, so they can’t die. Let me remind you: in an X-com inspired tactical game… So, instead of losing a guy or two in a mission and continuing, you are met with a game over screen when one of these dudes die. You want them in your squad too, since they are pretty good, and some of them come leveled already. At least, the initial ones. To make it worse, you also get special missions where you are only allowed to use these characters, in which you might or might not have leveled up. I had one such guy. Total crap stats, since I decided not to use him in normal missions, but now suddenly, he must tag along. Talk about a hot mess.
Everything regarding the narration feels meandering, and frankly weird. What are we even doing out there in the forest? I’m I really of any importance for the war? In my playthrough, I mostly captured small depots, and raided a camp or two. I did the harder missions at first, but then I realized it’s actually a choice. After that realization, I constantly had to ask myself: for what reason? You are never told that you have to do anything. The only thing you miss out on are reputation points with either the soviets or the western allies. And you get plenty of points already by doing easy missions. There is a minimum of loot to find too, and in the end, you just have to survive until 1945. Overall, the structure of the game is an oddity. While it gives you freedom, which is nice, there is nothing to compel you to do anything beyond the necessary resource gathering. There is no doom clock, the only required missions you need to finish is Martin’s revenge tale. I sort of felt abandoned out there in the forest, left to my devices, with no connection to the war except for the occasional mission. And then it was all over. Talk about a strange experience.
Yes, look away. This is going to hurt a lot
Turn-based shooting
One thing, Forgotten but Unbroken does better than the story, is the tactical gameplay. However, that is not to say it’s particularly good. There are a couple of reasons for that. The big pink elephant in the room is the use of the modern abstracted NuXcom rules and mechanics. I don’t hate these rules, since I really like Xcom 2 myself, but I’m not entirely sure if it works for a setting that is supposed to be realistic. It just feels very gamey, and at times, it’s even hard to determine how the rules are supposed to work. Occasionally, when standing behind cover that is supposed to give you full line-of-sight immunity, and protect you from bullets, you still get hit – while you can’t target the enemy standing in the same kind of cover.
A few of the other problems is that the damage is way too low, at least when it comes to your own men. Instead of the game relying on caliber and weapons, it’s entirely reliant on perks. You would think a round from Karabiner 98k would put a man down, but no, it’s not so. It takes three shots, which is a total immersion breaker. However, you can increase the damage by gaining certain perks. For example, one perk comes with the chance of instantly killing your opponent from behind regardless of his health. The whole game is built around concepts like this, and while I don’t think it’s bad per se, it just comes off as incredibly gamey for a setting that would have benefited from being a simulation instead.
This system also has the effect of making recruits absolutely worthless, since they don’t have any perks. Their aim will be terrible, and so will the damage. Giving a newbie a good weapon in the original X-com or Xenonauts still made him deadly. Since much of his capacity comes in the form of weapon damage. Because the damage is so low here, a recruit without perks has nothing going for him, even if he manages to score a lucky hit.
What it also does is turn the game into a pure numbers thing, with you immediately being able to tell when you are screwed. If the enemy ever comes at you with superior numbers, you are most likely dead. The reason for this is the once again abstracted rules for cover and bullets, instead of providing a good simulation, like Silent Storm. Having a big machine-gun is just a larger submachine-gun that does more damage to a single target in close combat, instead of a tool of suppression. There are no heads-shot, or crippling shots, depending on where you hit your victim. It’s only dependent on perks and the RNG damage range for the weapon in use. And you can forget about grenades, because these are as rare as finding diamonds on the battlefield. It makes the combat become very boring, and start to feel awfully inauthentic after a few skirmishes. Sure, it’s snappy, yet it never immersed me, or offered any cool true dynamic situations out of the combat.
Going for the French resistance look – for the ladies, of course
Stealth & morale
One way Forgotten but Unbroken tries to alleviate this game-design conundrum is having a morale system. This means that every shot thrown on either side, lowers the morale of the guy being targeted. When a soldier comes under enough fire, he will break and run from cover. This goes for both you and the enemy, and while this has some effect on wounding shots and misses, it does not matter much in the end. Many soldiers you face are elite soldiers that are immune to this effect, which nullifies this mechanic. However, I’m still glad it’s in, as it makes the battles somewhat unpredictable and fluid when you battle regular Wehrmacht troopers.
The second way the game goes about to lessen the risk of “death-by-overwhelming-force” is by having every mission start in stealth. In this mode, you can sneak around to try to take out guards silently, if you are equipped with a knife. It works fairly well, but it comes with two major issues. You can’t stab diagonally for some reason. It’s actually surprising how often a guard ends up standing in such a way, where you can’t stab him – just for him to turn around the next round and spot you. The second problem is that there is no way to move the dead bodies. Having such a big focus on stealth, but not being able to move corpses is incredibly baffling to me. When a body is spotted, the alarm is promptly called, with no way of entering stealth again.
Reload quicker, we have Germans crossing in the open!
The base
Your base starts very small, with resources being very scarce. At first, I had no idea how to get any vital supplies, as the payout from missions was almost nil – in both resources and loot like weapons and ammo. The morale was dropping fast, but then it dawned on me that the secret for success is to spam radio-requests and ask for supplies from your allies. It has a cooldown, but no other penalty, so you can ask whenever you get the chance. And you should do so, as it’s the best way to get food, medicine, weapons, and ammo for your men.
As it works, though, you don’t get any building supplies from your allies. This you will have to raid for. As soon as you have raided your first supply station, you are more or less set. Forgotten but Unbroken gave me the impression that it was going to be a brutal ordeal to survive, but after the first couple of missions you are basically done, especially in combination with you being able to pick missions. You have no reason to go on the more difficult missions that will only act as a drain on your resources, unless you really enjoy the gameplay, of course. The depot raid missions I got and did were all ranked easy to medium. So it was the tasks I took on, and that was enough to survive and maintain a good reputation with my allies. This whole aspect tried to make surviving the harsh winters as a partisan group deeply involved, but looking back on it now, it felt unfinished, with it mostly ending up as a time-waster. A game that does this kind of gameplay better is Last Train Home.
*Super stealth engaged*
The battlefield look
When it comes to the visuals, I find that the game looks pretty good and runs well too. Even the cutscenes have a certain flair, if you don’t count the awkward acting and story. Forgotten but Unbroken actually have some features that are missing from other similar games, like having the secondary weapon show up on the back of the soldier. It’s a very nice touch that is much appreciated from an immersion viewpoint. The game is not a super-looker in any way, but the graphics are clear & crisp, and it’s easy to tell what everything is, and where you can go on the battlefield. The combat animations are also adequate, and it even got ragdolls for death! So, absolutely nothing to complain about here.
However, I got to say, having every character showing up in their nation’s uniform looks a tad goofy when in combat. Thankfully, you can buy or steal other uniforms, to eventually form some kind of cohesive look for your men.
The voice acting is unfortunately as awkward as the acting in the cutscenes. It just comes off as clumsy and odd, not exactly great for a serious drama. This can be overlooked if you really enjoy the gameplay, since these story segments are a minor thing among all the missions you will be running.
Now, you can’t miss from here… I hope!
Conclusion
Forgotten but Unbroken could have been great, but I think the abstracted Xcom-like rules for gameplay, instead of going for a simulated approach really sabotaged it. Like I said, I enjoy the modern Xcom games, so I’m not entirely biased against this type of mechanics, but I felt in this title it just didn’t work. I was demoralized when I realized that the sniper alone was the best class above everyone else, since he had plenty of action-points, good perks, and above all could hit his targets. He did the same damage, as the soldier, or sapper, but the fact he could actually nail his marks from far out, made him automatically the best guy.
Now, this is not unusual in any tactics game, having the sniper taking accurate long-shots. But in combination with the shoddy line-of-sight, and the abstracted cover system – it made it incredibly hard to close-in on any targets with a submachine-gun dude and survive the trouble. Why even bother with anything else when one guy with a rifle is so above all other tactics? Trust me, I don’t want to be too harsh on the game, as I can tell a lot of passion went into it. Yet, in the end, I was just not having fun after the first few missions. I gave it my best, and while I found some enjoyment in the stealth system, the firefights didn’t do it for me. The same goes for the base-building – seeing as it is pretty bare bones, and does not add much to the general experience. The whole package just came across as wasted potential to me. Well, see you in the next WW2 game!
Thanks for reading.
We are partisans
While the story is mostly about some weird multi-nation partisan group fighting for the allied side, it’s also somewhat of a revenge story (if you manage to remember that it is). It starts with Martin Hupka and his wife getting dragged out into the streets by the Germans at the start of the war. Martin and his wife get separated, with his wife presumably executed by a firing squad. This has Martin wanting for blood, which makes him join some kind of partisan/commando group with American leadership to act revenge.
One day many days later, where you, the player, takes over, Martin is on the run after a botched mission. It turns out that a group he was supposed to meet was ambushed and murdered. Eventually, he makes a daring escape after shanking a couple of Germans. Martin returns to base to report what happened, and as it is, this camp is now compromised and must be dismantled. But the fight against the Germans is far from over for him. While the American leadership must relocate, Martin is being promoted to commander, ordered to build a new camp, with fighters from all over the world to continue the harassment of the German army.
From here on, Forgotten but Unbroken starts for real, with you being handed command to establish a base of operations. You will be hiring people to fight, build important buildings to meet your needs, and feed the men under your command. The story is not much more than you getting random radio-calls with missions to accomplish, and to survive until the end of the war. There is the revenge tale too, of course. But to be honest, it was totally forgotten about until the very end when you finally meet the German officer behind the incident in the beginning that changed Martin’s life.
Getting the band together
It’s a mess
Story wise, I found it to be total flub. The historical aspect is kinda cool – how the game makes notes of important events during the war. Yet the story about Martin, and his so-called brothers in arms comes off as extremely awkward. Which is not helped by the overly dramatic and cheesy cutscenes. There is also the problem that all these characters are extremely undercooked, making it hard to care for any of them. This part is a total waste, and should probably not have been made, considering the nature of the game.
You see, these characters are important for the narration, so they can’t die. Let me remind you: in an X-com inspired tactical game… So, instead of losing a guy or two in a mission and continuing, you are met with a game over screen when one of these dudes die. You want them in your squad too, since they are pretty good, and some of them come leveled already. At least, the initial ones. To make it worse, you also get special missions where you are only allowed to use these characters, in which you might or might not have leveled up. I had one such guy. Total crap stats, since I decided not to use him in normal missions, but now suddenly, he must tag along. Talk about a hot mess.
Everything regarding the narration feels meandering, and frankly weird. What are we even doing out there in the forest? I’m I really of any importance for the war? In my playthrough, I mostly captured small depots, and raided a camp or two. I did the harder missions at first, but then I realized it’s actually a choice. After that realization, I constantly had to ask myself: for what reason? You are never told that you have to do anything. The only thing you miss out on are reputation points with either the soviets or the western allies. And you get plenty of points already by doing easy missions. There is a minimum of loot to find too, and in the end, you just have to survive until 1945. Overall, the structure of the game is an oddity. While it gives you freedom, which is nice, there is nothing to compel you to do anything beyond the necessary resource gathering. There is no doom clock, the only required missions you need to finish is Martin’s revenge tale. I sort of felt abandoned out there in the forest, left to my devices, with no connection to the war except for the occasional mission. And then it was all over. Talk about a strange experience.
Yes, look away. This is going to hurt a lot
Turn-based shooting
One thing, Forgotten but Unbroken does better than the story, is the tactical gameplay. However, that is not to say it’s particularly good. There are a couple of reasons for that. The big pink elephant in the room is the use of the modern abstracted NuXcom rules and mechanics. I don’t hate these rules, since I really like Xcom 2 myself, but I’m not entirely sure if it works for a setting that is supposed to be realistic. It just feels very gamey, and at times, it’s even hard to determine how the rules are supposed to work. Occasionally, when standing behind cover that is supposed to give you full line-of-sight immunity, and protect you from bullets, you still get hit – while you can’t target the enemy standing in the same kind of cover.
This system also has the effect of making recruits absolutely worthless, since they don’t have any perks. Their aim will be terrible, and so will the damage. Giving a newbie a good weapon in the original X-com or Xenonauts still made him deadly. Since much of his capacity comes in the form of weapon damage. Because the damage is so low here, a recruit without perks has nothing going for him, even if he manages to score a lucky hit.
What it also does is turn the game into a pure numbers thing, with you immediately being able to tell when you are screwed. If the enemy ever comes at you with superior numbers, you are most likely dead. The reason for this is the once again abstracted rules for cover and bullets, instead of providing a good simulation, like Silent Storm. Having a big machine-gun is just a larger submachine-gun that does more damage to a single target in close combat, instead of a tool of suppression. There are no heads-shot, or crippling shots, depending on where you hit your victim. It’s only dependent on perks and the RNG damage range for the weapon in use. And you can forget about grenades, because these are as rare as finding diamonds on the battlefield. It makes the combat become very boring, and start to feel awfully inauthentic after a few skirmishes. Sure, it’s snappy, yet it never immersed me, or offered any cool true dynamic situations out of the combat.
Going for the French resistance look – for the ladies, of course
Stealth & morale
One way Forgotten but Unbroken tries to alleviate this game-design conundrum is having a morale system. This means that every shot thrown on either side, lowers the morale of the guy being targeted. When a soldier comes under enough fire, he will break and run from cover. This goes for both you and the enemy, and while this has some effect on wounding shots and misses, it does not matter much in the end. Many soldiers you face are elite soldiers that are immune to this effect, which nullifies this mechanic. However, I’m still glad it’s in, as it makes the battles somewhat unpredictable and fluid when you battle regular Wehrmacht troopers.
The second way the game goes about to lessen the risk of “death-by-overwhelming-force” is by having every mission start in stealth. In this mode, you can sneak around to try to take out guards silently, if you are equipped with a knife. It works fairly well, but it comes with two major issues. You can’t stab diagonally for some reason. It’s actually surprising how often a guard ends up standing in such a way, where you can’t stab him – just for him to turn around the next round and spot you. The second problem is that there is no way to move the dead bodies. Having such a big focus on stealth, but not being able to move corpses is incredibly baffling to me. When a body is spotted, the alarm is promptly called, with no way of entering stealth again.
Reload quicker, we have Germans crossing in the open!
The base
Your base starts very small, with resources being very scarce. At first, I had no idea how to get any vital supplies, as the payout from missions was almost nil – in both resources and loot like weapons and ammo. The morale was dropping fast, but then it dawned on me that the secret for success is to spam radio-requests and ask for supplies from your allies. It has a cooldown, but no other penalty, so you can ask whenever you get the chance. And you should do so, as it’s the best way to get food, medicine, weapons, and ammo for your men.
As it works, though, you don’t get any building supplies from your allies. This you will have to raid for. As soon as you have raided your first supply station, you are more or less set. Forgotten but Unbroken gave me the impression that it was going to be a brutal ordeal to survive, but after the first couple of missions you are basically done, especially in combination with you being able to pick missions. You have no reason to go on the more difficult missions that will only act as a drain on your resources, unless you really enjoy the gameplay, of course. The depot raid missions I got and did were all ranked easy to medium. So it was the tasks I took on, and that was enough to survive and maintain a good reputation with my allies. This whole aspect tried to make surviving the harsh winters as a partisan group deeply involved, but looking back on it now, it felt unfinished, with it mostly ending up as a time-waster. A game that does this kind of gameplay better is Last Train Home.
*Super stealth engaged*
The battlefield look
When it comes to the visuals, I find that the game looks pretty good and runs well too. Even the cutscenes have a certain flair, if you don’t count the awkward acting and story. Forgotten but Unbroken actually have some features that are missing from other similar games, like having the secondary weapon show up on the back of the soldier. It’s a very nice touch that is much appreciated from an immersion viewpoint. The game is not a super-looker in any way, but the graphics are clear & crisp, and it’s easy to tell what everything is, and where you can go on the battlefield. The combat animations are also adequate, and it even got ragdolls for death! So, absolutely nothing to complain about here.
However, I got to say, having every character showing up in their nation’s uniform looks a tad goofy when in combat. Thankfully, you can buy or steal other uniforms, to eventually form some kind of cohesive look for your men.
The voice acting is unfortunately as awkward as the acting in the cutscenes. It just comes off as clumsy and odd, not exactly great for a serious drama. This can be overlooked if you really enjoy the gameplay, since these story segments are a minor thing among all the missions you will be running.
Now, you can’t miss from here… I hope!
Conclusion
Forgotten but Unbroken could have been great, but I think the abstracted Xcom-like rules for gameplay, instead of going for a simulated approach really sabotaged it. Like I said, I enjoy the modern Xcom games, so I’m not entirely biased against this type of mechanics, but I felt in this title it just didn’t work. I was demoralized when I realized that the sniper alone was the best class above everyone else, since he had plenty of action-points, good perks, and above all could hit his targets. He did the same damage, as the soldier, or sapper, but the fact he could actually nail his marks from far out, made him automatically the best guy.
Now, this is not unusual in any tactics game, having the sniper taking accurate long-shots. But in combination with the shoddy line-of-sight, and the abstracted cover system – it made it incredibly hard to close-in on any targets with a submachine-gun dude and survive the trouble. Why even bother with anything else when one guy with a rifle is so above all other tactics? Trust me, I don’t want to be too harsh on the game, as I can tell a lot of passion went into it. Yet, in the end, I was just not having fun after the first few missions. I gave it my best, and while I found some enjoyment in the stealth system, the firefights didn’t do it for me. The same goes for the base-building – seeing as it is pretty bare bones, and does not add much to the general experience. The whole package just came across as wasted potential to me. Well, see you in the next WW2 game!
Thanks for reading.
Forgotten Buttbroken?
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