Incline MENACE - sci-fi turn-based tactical RPG from Battle Brothers devs - coming to Early Access in Q3 2025

[Reinhardt]

moving from low fantasy medieval to spehs is my main problem. i don't really care about sci fi tacticools.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

If they make a nice Aliens like BB tacticool in space il buy it. If it doesnt end up globohomo preachy stronk wombynz pozz garbage that is

 

[Tyranicon]

I'm about equally interested in fantasy medieval and scifi, but I wish they chose to make the models more unique rather than stardard space trooper.

The brothers in BB had a lot of character. The space marines in Menance look generic.

They should've spent their money from motion capture (why?) on sprucing up the models.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Dunno tbh, at this point it seems a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over very little info.

 

[Takamori]

I'm about equally interested in fantasy medieval and scifi, but I wish they chose to make the models more unique rather than stardard space trooper.

The brothers in BB had a lot of character. The space marines in Menance look generic.

They should've spent their money from motion capture (why?) on sprucing up the models.

Yeah its gonna be hard to be attached to your troops, compared to BB. Where you could name, customize the face etc. Hope they try to address this but I can't see this working with at least the platoon size they showed. Would require the game to go through something of a really small elite squad where you actually have to care for each soldier.
If not well gonna send my faceless troops to the mower so I can make the cash without a single once of guilt.

 

[Zanzoken]

^^^ Was just about to post something similar.

If this was Battle Bros except in 3D with guns and legs then I'd be excited. I would gladly play an X-Com like made these guys.

Instead it looks like they've switched genres to some kind of wargame with infantry squads, vehicles, armor, etc. If it's just generic mooks blasting each other then it loses most of the Battle Brothers appeal.

 

[Fargus]

Yep, aside from hysterical girlbosses this is the legit deal breaker for me. Game looks like one of those generic warhammer turn-based games i never buy on sales.

 

[Zombra]

While I agree the bland art style does MENACE no favors, this was never, ever going to be Battle Brothers 2.

 

[Harthwain]

While I agree the bland art style does MENACE no favors, this was never, ever going to be Battle Brothers 2.

It could've been the next Jagged Alliance though.

Edit:

Zombra What? They showed this:

We have a very good idea of the game we want to create next, and we’re enthusiastic to get started. It won’t be Battle Brothers 2, but if you enjoyed playing Battle Brothers, chances are good you’ll really enjoy our next game, too. We look forward to tell you all about it in the future. It’ll even have legs!

Spoiler

Source: https://battlebrothersgame.com/conclusion-update-1-1-released/

Creating a spiritual successor to Jagged Alliance wasn't that far fetched idea - it's about managing a mercenary company, it is set in a modern era (or could even go slightly futuristic), it has turn-based combat, etc. For people who made Battle Brothers it would have been a perfect fit.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2432860/view/515196772511907866

Dev Diary #2 - Strategic Part Overview
Welcome to our first real dev diary for MENACE.

This week we want to give you a first impression of the strategic part of the game.

So far we have shown only in-game footage of the tactical combat, which is still the core of the game, but nothing from the strategic part. One of the reasons is the UI, which is still very heavily work in progress for the whole game.

The tactical combat can easily be shown without any UI elements. As the strategic part mostly consists of menus, buttons, and lists, it is almost impossible to show anything without leaving a bad impression without proper UI elements.

Keep in mind that all images shown below are snapshots from active development or even mockups of how it is planned to look down the road. All functionalities and mechanics are, however, already in place and are currently tested and balanced by us.

This is just a first overview; we will dive deeper into each of these areas in a dedicated post.

The Starmap​

While the tactical combat is the meat of the game, the strategic part adds context to each battle, gives the player medium - and long-term goals, and also features various permanent progression mechanics.

The Starmap is the central hub and visualization of the Wayback, the distant star system where MENACE takes place. Here, you can see the planetary bodies, which factions own them, and who is calling for the aid of the TCRN Impetus to help with their local squabbles like an out-of-control pirate raid or alien infestation.

Players can look at available “operations” and plan out their next move. Local factions will be grateful for the player helping them out but will also be disgruntled if left hanging for too long.

Additionally, the player can track the main resources that are available to them here: Promotion points, which are used to promote and “level up” squads. OCI components are used to upgrade the player's ship and acquire more squad leaders; finally, authority points are crucial for managing the morale and mood of the crew of the Impetus.

Maintaining authority on a ship filled with a motley crew of characters can be difficult. There might be a fight between crew members, an accident in the hangar, or a discovered hidden moonshine distillery on board. All of these events will challenge you as a commander and, depending on your decisions, will have an impact on the mood of the crew, your authority, or the resources available to you.

OCIs​

The TCRN Impetus, the strike cruiser serving as your base of operations, is not well suited for the challenges ahead. Luckily, local factions do have the necessary space wharfs and the technical knowledge to improve the ship with what we call Operational Capability Improvements, or OCIs for short.

These OCIs are active and passive upgrades to the ship and have a wide variety of effects. Some give the ability to call in a dropship for a gun run in combat or to shoot a devastating rocket onto a particularly resilient bunker. Others allow squads to heal between missions or increase the “intelligence” rating, which grants better information on enemy units and positions during the mission preparation.

Armory​

The armory is where players inspect, manage, equip, and promote their squad leaders and pilots. There are tons of weapons, armor, accessories, and vehicles to acquire through the game, all with their individual pros and cons.

We go to great lengths to make equipment choices as meaningful and varied as possible in MENACE. Players should have maximum freedom in equipping their units and will be encouraged to experiment and enable their very own playstyle.

Promotions​

Each squad leader has their own unique perk tree that gets unlocked through so-called promotions. Promotion points are earned for each mission and can be spent on any character, while higher promotions cost more points.

Many of these perks will be shared between certain characters, but the combination of perks available will always be unique. On top of that, each squad leader starts with a trademark personal trait that is instantly unlocked.

But wait, there is more!​

In order to keep the diariess to a reasonable length, we have to cut them here. There are plenty more elements to the strategic part of the game that we will talk about later.

There is a black market where players can barter for equipment to bolster their armory, new squad leaders and pilots can be hired and most importantly we will introduce “operations”, which are a series of connected missions.

Stay tuned and join us next Friday for the new Dev Diary!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

XP or promotion points being universal resource instead of something that unit earns feels questionable approach to me.

Do we have any idea what those stat symbols mean?
Looks like (starting from top from right row) armor, accuracy, sight range, health, morale, no idea about magnifying glass and stealth.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

This looks p. rad tbh fam.

XP or promotion points being universal resource instead of something that unit earns feels questionable approach to me.

This will at least prevent a squad being left behind if you dont play it all the time - this approach certainly has its merits.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

At least it looks good. If they can get rid of the female soldier voices and make it sound good it will be fine.

 

[Ibn Sina]

Looks pozzed as well.

 

[Kruyurk]

I don't understand the criticism over the visuals. It is very consistent with how BB looks. Both look generic at first glance, yet tasteful. Both have realistic and detailed graphics but are not drowned in too many details, and are highly "readable" (you always know what you are looking at). They have similar colour palettes, not trying to look grimdark with only muted colours, but not saturated with bright colours everywhere.

A lot of the visual charm of BB came from the close-up on people faces. Maybe at the origin it was a trick to save on sprites and animations, but this really gave personality to the characters. The above screenshot shared by Taka-Haradin puolipeikko shows that the devs want to keep that aspect for MENACE. They cannot do it in the main combat screen like in BB, but the character portrait takes a huge place in the screenshot. And although the new game is 3D, the nice 2D art is still present in the UI and character portrait.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Nevertheless, Kruyurk, too many womyn.

 

[Tyranicon]

It is very consistent with how BB looks. Both look generic at first glance, yet tasteful.

Wut? I would never describe BB as generic.

Wartales is generic. BB graphics are made by a mad artist without legs.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

BB always gave me a very distinctly Warhammer Fantasy vibe artwise. Dunno how accurate that comparison is, but I loved BB's artstyle regardless.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

This will at least prevent a squad being left behind if you dont play it all the time - this approach certainly has its merits.

This is assuming that player just wouldn't dump all points for the A-team.

Oh, well.
We'll see if the campaign forces or encourages unit rotation.

 

[Kruyurk]

It is very consistent with how BB looks. Both look generic at first glance, yet tasteful.

Wut? I would never describe BB as generic.

Wartales is generic. BB graphics are made by a mad artist without legs.

Generic at first glance. It is yet another grim medieval fantasy game set somewhere is not-Europe. Except that this time it is tastefully done. I really like BB visuals and ambiance. After a short while the game does not look generic anymore and the visuals compliment greatly the gameplay. Wartales is also yet another grim medieval fantasy game set somewhere is not-Europe, except that it remains generic uninspired shit after a while because it is. The artist of Wartales are capable of making something look as nice as BB, but they are not capable of making it look interesting. Saying that BB looks generic at first glance is actually a compliment because it is much harder to make something that is really familiar to people have it's own personality. The game makes you care about skeletons and orcs and goblins, that is quite the achievement.

Ironically, many games try too hard to create a distinct world with new races, concepts, whatever, to distinguish themselves from the rest, but they end up being another uninspired world in a multiverse of blandness.

It is the same in other art forms. On a first approach every metal band of a given sub-genre sounds the same, but to the connoisseur some will sound uninspired and boring while others will have a distinct and interesting personality.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

For something with a similar artsyle to BB done relatively well, there's


Last time I played the game it was still quite barebones, so dunno how much it has improved since.

 

[Stavrophore]

MENACE looks very similar to Terminator Dark Tide Defiance in its "tone", which is imho a great plus. The pozz might be an issue though.

 

[Reinhardt]

generic guns = no equip porn. decline.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Not sure why you guys are all so butthurt. BB was full of women and trannies, you just didn't know because everyone hid below their shoulders so you couldn't tell.

I can't believe you've all been assuming so many genders for so long and now you're crying about it.

 

[Stavrophore]

As long as it can be thorooughly modded to remove the danger hair it can be a good game.