A Strategy Game for Aging Millennials

As I age into my mid-thirties, I find video games harder and harder to get into. I don't always have time for single player story-driven games with 40+ hours of content. After a long stress-filled day, I'd rather catch up on the myriad of shows I have in my backlog than sit down for a video game where the story isn't compelling enough for the first 5 hours. Competitive multiplayer games lack the same luster they used to as I start to slow down in my hand-eye coordination. I'm used to being crushed in most RTS games, but I never thought I'd start to suck at the MOBA and FPS genres as well. This is a large reason why my competitive outlet became Magic and 40k. Occasionally, board games serve as an outlet, but all of this is to say: I have switched to slower-paced strategy games.

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Well recently, I discovered a new strategy video games that has peaked my fancy as a big fan of StarCraft. This amazing little game is currently in early access, yet feels more polished than most AAA releases!

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Mechabellum

‍I missed out on the auto-battler craze of Team Fight Tactics and the like, but this one has giant mechs fighting each other! I played all of the MechWarrior games growing up and Mechabellum scratches that robo itch for sure. For those that don't know what an auto-battler is: imagine setting up a chess board and then watching as your pieces fight every round based on how you positioned them and upgraded them. A good RTS game has these same elements. The caveat is, a player must master mechanics before they unlock the finer points of the game such as positioning and large macro strategy. For a majority of RTS players, simply getting better with mechanics (APM) will help them rank up. Only when a player has reach the higher ranks, can mechanics take a back seat to other parts of the game. An auto-battler bypasses all of that and gets right into army compositions, larger overall game plans and unit counters. As someone who is no longer in his early 20's, my APM is abysmal after an hour-long gaming session. If I ever wanted to get back into StarCraft, or the upcoming StormGate, I'd have to be okay with my very average APM and therefore, my average raking. The auto-battler is much more of a thinking man's game with more focus on out-witting your opponent rather than simply out-playing them.

This game consists of multiple rounds in which you gain currency that a player may spend on more units, researching new units, upgrades to units, upgrades to overall strategy (such as making larger units cheaper or fast) or battlefield affects (a nuke). Mechabellum gameplay is not only making units, positioning units and watching them fight, its also the long term strategy of building a proper army for the later rounds which counters the tactics of your opponent. When a unit is placed down and the round begins, the unit can not longer be moved and thanks to the fog of war, your unit placements are hidden to the opponent. In this way, even in round 1, players are already trying to visualize how to place subsequent units. Each unit placed needs to continue working in harmony with previous rounds despite the rigid placements. Each player has a set life total depending on the specialist they chose at the beginning of the match. These range from speed specialist (extra movement on all units) to cost specialist (cheaper units, but weaker units) and health totals are anywhere from 3000 to 5000. When a player wins the round, the leftover units deal damage to the loser, lowering their health a certain amount. Barely won the round? Minimal life loss. Absolutely dominated? Major life loss. The interesting part comes into play when a player planned for the later game, subsequently losing every single round leading up to the late game. Slowly their life total falls to the low hundreds by round 6. Then all of sudden the late game army kicks in and in one round they deal 4000 damage to win the match. This is where Mechabellum shines. Just like the board game GO, it is less about the little victories and more about seeing the bigger picture of how to completely "solve" your opponent's strategy while progressing your own.

This auto-battler is more than just the robot aesthetics however, as the depth of gameplay is immense. Even when you think you've finally figured out what unit you like best and how to place them on the battlefield, a stronger opponent will show you how even the most rehearsed strategies can be dismantled with clever tactics. I have never played a game like this, where it feels like a player with 10 hours vs 20 hours is truly a huge gap in skill. The only way to bridge that skill discrepancy is with hours of trial and error. This is the first game in a long time where I can really feel the skill "plateaus" of different players. This isn't a linear progression system and instead a series of lessons that teach you new perspectives on how to play the game. Each time I reach a new "Oh, I finally get it moment" I am immediately put in my place by someone who has had several more of these moments already. The best part? Losing doesn't matter too much. There is an MMR system, but getting better at the game is the more rewarding experience since reaching a new skill plateau is more important than a number.

To expand further on the game: There are three main unit types, chaff (light units that swarm), mediums (specialists that come in amounts of 1-4) and titans (large chunky units that are singles). Each of these types have their pros and cons, counters and strengths. Swarm units can easily overwhelm an opponent who does not have area of affect damage to clear them out fast. It took me 10 hours before I learned that you can position swarm units in a long line versus a flat formation to ensure that AOE only affects the first row, rather than the whole squad. I only learned this after someone did it to me and absolutely crushed my strategy. Now this new way of approaching swarm units is part of my arsenal of strategies. There are also small things I haven't mentioned that increase the replay-ability of this game. There are flanks where sneaky units can be positioned to catch your opponent out of position. Each round allows the players to choose power-up for their their units or economy. Players can use single round devastating affects such as an ion blast, nuke or orbital bombardment. All of this culminates in this perfect gameplay loop that I cannot get enough of.

Once you've played hours of Mechabellum, you then can enter the unit editor screen and customize what abilities your units come equipped with. Want your snipers to have more range? Give them an upgrade for it. Want your titanic Vulcans melt all the small units of your opponent more easily? Give them prolonged burn damage. The customization is endless. Be warned: Mechabellum is $15 dollars and in just 2 weeks I have lost 48 hours to this game! Two whole days of my life... gone.

Ok, now I have to stop writing this article so I can literally go play more it.