If you’ve set up a second advent calendar for the release of Frozen Synapse 2, knowing that the turn-based tactical squad shooter’s release window of “2017” means we can only be days away from its launch, ah, I’m sorry to bring bad news. While a delay has seemed clear as the year ticked down, developers Mode 7 have now made that official. Frozen Synapse 2 is now due some time in 2018. Perhaps you’ll use the Christmas hols to create a new 365-day calendar counting this new window of possibility. For now, here, see some pretty simulated cities and top-down action in this new dev video: (more…)

Frozen Synapse 2 [official site] continues to be one of the more exciting games on the horizon, which is a relief given that I’m quoted saying almost exactly that in the latest trailer. It’s the AI factions and simulated city that acts as a backdrop to the tactical action that I’m most excited about, but the good ol’ tactical combat of the original game is the foundation on which the rest is built. Here you can see how new weaponry will change that, and marvel at how smoke grenades and flamethrowers look so lovely in the game’s visual style. … [visit site to read more]

Frozen Synapse 2 [official site] is the game I’m most looking forward to this year. Yes, there’s the not insignificant matter of Civ VI out there on the horizon, but there’s something about the combination of Laser Squad and X-COM Apocalypse that really gets me hot and bothered. In case the Apocalypse connection weren’t already explicit enough – the simulated faction-filled city as backdrop to strategic combat game being the clue – the first devblog for the game namechecks the least-imitated X-COM game almost immediately. You can enjoy the blog, which covers the central incursion mechanic, in either text or video format. The latter is below.

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I’m surprised it took the world this long to do a smash’n’grab on Frozen Synapse‘s extremely clever ‘turn preview’ approach to turn-based strategy. Mode 7 themselves are working on an open-world, slightly more singleplayer-focused follow-up to their ‘simultaneous turn-based tactics’ squad shooter, but in the meantime we get the rather more colourful, appallingly-named TASTEE. For once, I’m not going to hurl XCOM compari-bombs around the place, and look instead to another old dear of TBS: Jagged Alliance.

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Frozen Synapse 2 [official site] is, without a doubt, one of the most exciting games I’ve ever seen. I’ve spent a long time considering how best to put my thoughts about it into words, having met with Paul Kilduff-Taylor, composer of lovely electronica and co-founder of Mode 7 Games, to see how development was progressing. The simple fact is, it ticks so many boxes in the ‘dream game’ column that extreme enthusiasm is entirely appropriate. Here’s why.

… [visit site to read more]

We learned that Frozen Synapse 2 [official site] was in development last month and now we know what it is. Yes, it’s a tactical combat game, featuring customised squads controlled using a simultaneous turn-based system. But what about this open-world malarkey that was promised?

It looks like the gorgeous offspring of Syndicate Wars and Introversion’s cancelled Subversion, which was set to feature procedurally generated cities with breachable buildings. That’s true here as well – a new city every time and you can infiltrate every building. The trailer, below, is as exciting as any I’ve seen this year.

… [visit site to read more]

What a time to be alive. Not a moon pie in sight but 2016 is already looking like a fantastic smorgasbord of tactical treats. It’s early February and yet we’ve already seen XCOM 2 and Darkest Dungeon. Now, to make my turn-based existence even more exciting, Mode 7 have announced a full-blown sequel to the supremely entertaining Frozen Synapse . Rather than going with Endzones or Cortexes, as with their sporty spin-off, the team have gone with the self-explanatory Frozen Synapse 2 [official site]. Details are thin on the ground but it’ll be “open world” and it’s coming this year.

… [visit site to read more]

An entirely objective ranking of the 50 best PC strategy games ever made. From intricate wargames to soothing peacegames, the broad expanse of the genre contains something for everyone, and we’ve gathered the best of the best. The vast majority are available to buy digitally, a few are free to download and play forever. They’re all brilliant.

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Frozen Cortex [official site], formerly Frozen Endzone, is a futuristic American Football analogue where surprisingly graceful robots take the place of fleshy, armour-clad men. It’s evocative of Speedball and Blood Bowl, but it’s really Frozen Synapse wrapped in the theme of competitive team sports. The result’s a purely strategic and tactical game, entirely absent RNG, with players taking their turns simultaneously. I’m quite bad at it.>

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Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

It’s bittersweet that so many games are doing the XCOM thing lately (not to mention that they’re not doing the X-COM thing). The great thing about the great turn-based, squad-based strategy comeback was it picking up a ball that had been dropped years ago, but now perhaps we’re in danger of the whole thing atrophying. There’s a whole lot more to experiment with there, rather then rest on genre laurels. For example, Frozen Synapse, which does turn-based combat as rapid-fire prediction. … [visit site to read more]