Featuring a tough turn based tactical game with a science fiction setting is Halfway a game that is set hundreds of years into the future of humanity and challenges players to survive the harsh alien futuristic world. With human exploration taking us far into space and colonising planets along the way Halfway explores the fallout of what happens when we have pushed our exploration too far and encountered something out there.
Controlling a small team of survivors after being attacked on their ship of colonists players must fight room by room to regain control of the Goliath and ultimately survive the alien space horrors that infiltrate their ship. All told this atmospheric tactical adventure will take around a dozen hours from start to finish depending on the number of optional missions that players accept along the way. Battling against a cyborg like enemy who there is no chance of peace players will have to command their units across the ship and through strategy and luck hopefully make it out alive.
Utilising 16 bit graphics Halfway is all about simplicity from graphics down to the gameplay which follows an addicting flow of combat, plot, upgrades before moving onto the next cyborg filled floor. Along the way additional characters can be rescued to enhance your team, acquire resources and craft gear which defines how you utilise each of your characters alongside their active and passive skills. Team members also start with their own unique weapon, health, shield, agility and aiming points that make them effective in different ways.
Players start each game in the same state with 3 heroes and a small base of operations at the rear of the ship which is the foundation of your assault through the spaceship Goliath. In addition to these team members players have access to several lockers of equipment, a small med station and a vending machine to spend your acquired energy from selling unwanted gear on useful items. Your missions are accessed through the mission briefing table where you’ll plan out your assaults on various floors which define your objective and the maximum squad size allowable.
In total players will have a maximum of 8 squad members including their initial 3 which each fill their role in a squad. From the main character Morten Lannis who is a reliable fighter with his passive 10% bonus hit chance with assault rifles and his steady shot active ability that provides 100% accuracy. Your second starting character is Linda Carter who is a healing specialist that can self heal every 10 turns and a 33% boost to medikit efficiency from her medic passive which is useful to heal other team members she is adjacent. Lastly in your starting squad is Samuel Lankford who is one of your best early fighters thanks to his high aiming statistic and headshot ability on a short 3 turn cooldown and is paired with passive ability to carry more items that is useful across a wide range of missions.
With other squad members found in Halfway as you advance you’ll encounter other abilities like removing enemy shields, a radar that reveals enemies, teleportation, a stun attack and a berserk mode that fires at everything in sight. Combining these squad members and equipping them appropriately is just one half of the Halfway strategy with the tactical turn based combat equally important to your success.
This portion of Halfway features similar mechanics to other tactical role playing titles with players swapping between squad members and using their limited action points (AP) for movement, attacks and skills. Accordingly positioning and careful skill usage against the raiders and automated turrets is key as you try to defeat them without losing too much health on your own squad. In this regard Halfway offers a wide range of decisions to offer deeper strategy such as the ability to load up on AP point usage for an attack to improve accuracy chance.
Summary:
- Science fiction themed tactical shooter that has you fight deck by deck to regain control of the Goliath.
- Recruit characters with their own active and passive abilities from a total pool of 8 unique squad members.
- Complete a range of missions while you acquire loot to enhance your equipment for future dangers.
- Approximately 12 hours of pixel based atmospheric story and tactical decision making.
- Play on Windows, Mac and Linux.
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Review Platform: PC
