In the event you’ve been feeling responsible about making animal-skin wallets within the Far Cry collection, then you definately may wish to redeem your self with We Are the Caretakers. As a substitute of carving up creatures you’re defending them, in what may be Xbox’s first anti-poaching sport. Purchase it, and also you’re even contributing 10% of the quantity to Save the Rhinos.
We Are the Caretakers has extra to supply than a noble message. It’s a two-hander: on one hand it’s an exploration sim, not too far distant from Curious Expedition 2, or the opening moments in Civilisation, the place you’re scouting the realm for sources and villages. Alternatively, it’s a turn-based RPG. Whereas the Steam web page references X-Com, We Are the Caretakers takes its lead from the battle sequences of a JRPG. The positioning of your troops is much less essential than deciding whether or not to assault, heal or buff.
What first attracted us to We Are the Caretakers was the visible design, coupled with that weirdo title. The Xbox Retailer card and screenshots confirmed off its characters, who appear to be Mass Impact’s Tali cosplaying because the forged of Stargate, and so they instantly grabbed the eye. However that was juxtaposed with a thuddingly boring title. What did Caretakers should do with something?
Because it seems, all of it makes full sense. Once you first begin taking part in We Are the Caretakers, you be a part of the Caretakers faction: a bunch devoted to defending the Raun – a type of space-rhino. The Raun are problematic within the sense that they trample over crops and sometimes sit on folks, however their significance to the ecosystem can’t be underestimated. They’re the lifeblood of the world.
It’s a neat balancing act. The Raun are undoubtedly essential, which makes defending them of significant significance too, however the locals are much less satisfied. Some perceive the plight of the Raun and even worship them, however others take into account them a pest. Others nonetheless see them as a useful resource to poach, and that’s the place the Caretakers step up. The rhino comparisons are intentionally unsubtle.
It’s utterly refreshing to play a sport that shoos away blood and dying, and as a substitute opts for preservation and conservation. Whereas there’s nonetheless violence – the turn-based battles have their justifiable share of kicks, punches and magic wands – the top result’s detaining the enemies indirectly, and in the end letting the Raun wander free.
Higher nonetheless is the visible design, which is completely marvellous. We’ve already invoked Stargate and Mass Impact, however there’s some Wakanda Ceaselessly in there too, as Afrofuturist stylings are the order of the day. It’s a science-fiction imaginative and prescient that’s removed from the scientific Star Treks or the dusty Star Wars, carving out an id that could be very a lot its personal. We might have fortunately toiled in its sandbox for a lot of hours.
We Are the Caretakers doesn’t cease there, because the world is given further dimension via the story. Must you care to get misplaced in it, you’ll be able to: earlier than every mission, there’s a prolonged framing of why you might be right here, what has occurred, and the missions themselves have loads of villagers and cities via which you may get extra info. You start to grasp the function of the Caretakers, what makes them a shades-of-grey pressure, and why the duty isn’t so simple as shepherding some Raun round a rustic park. And that’s all earlier than some ‘foreigners’ arrive, and We Are the Caretakers performs its narrative trump playing cards. Earlier than you realize it, you’ll be hurtling via epochs.
However the meat of the gameplay comes from the exploring and the fight. Exploring is a straightforward affair, actually: you might be proven a zoomed out, chicken’s eye view of the realm, which corresponds to a Threat-like map within the bottom-right-hand nook which exhibits the areas you will have explored, and the place the mild Raun are at. You progress your squad (or many squads, as the sport develops) into areas of the world that you simply seemingly haven’t explored; the troops cease for a second to scout the realm; and the fog of battle is lifted, displaying what’s there.
The area might need some sources that may make it easier to alongside the best way (foreign money for a mess of purchases, analysis for advancing via a ability tree, and gadgets that may assist in the situation) , however there’s a great likelihood there’s mission vital stuff there too. A village may supply some info, or tech must be dismantled. After which there are the enemies in fact, who wait so that you can trespass into their area, or patrol the map searching for Raun.
The exploration is relatively pleasurable, if a little bit challenge-free. Little or no throttles the quantity you’ll be able to discover – some ranges have a turn-limit, however they’re the exception – and the primary aims and sub-objectives encourage you to discover every part anyway. There are not any actual traps to journey you up, so all you’re doing is sweeping the setting systematically to be sure you catch every part. There’s a pleasure of discovery that comes from blowing again the fog of battle, however it’s in any other case a tad benign.
The fight, although, is the place issues get extra intricate. In the event you’ve performed a JRPG, you’ll be at residence right here: your troops line up on the left, the enemies’ on the correct. A regular turn-order is displayed, and you are taking it in turns to carry out one motion per troop per flip. The actions are comparatively commonplace too: you’ll be able to assault, defend, heal, buff and debuff to your coronary heart’s content material.
However whereas the primary physique of fight is acquainted, it’s obtained some alien organs. There are two well being bars, within the type of Stamina and Will. Consider them because the bodily and psychological wellbeing of the character. Get both of them to zero, and the opponent will kneel to the ground, however received’t be faraway from the board. Ought to an enemy get to this place, then your subsequent Caretaker has the choice to tug off a character-specific ending transfer. You may get the choice to Detain, Bribe, Shakedown or carry out another deliverance of justice, which has delicate variations to how the enemy is handled within the hub space.
It’s a neat sidestep away from ‘killing’ characters, and fits We Are the Caretakers to a tee. However it’s additionally smoke and mirrors, as a result of these nuances – each the dual well being bars and the detaining – are actually solely reskins of conventional mechanics. In the end, you might be nonetheless selecting the transfer that will get you to a win quickest, choosing it, after which watching it execute. There’s nothing that notably spices up the gameplay, and we discovered ourselves eager to automate battles greater than take part in them. They largely simply devolve into attacking the bottom well being bar with the corresponding transfer.
On the constructive facet, the sheer variety of characters, strikes and ending strikes are colossal. You may recruit each single baddie you combat (there’s a thick vein of forgiveness operating via We Are the Caretakers), and so they every have their very own ruleset. Higher nonetheless, you’ll be able to stage them up independently, and pursue profession tracks for them. The depth of optimisation is a trademark of your complete sport. There’s a lot to tinker with, together with a dense ability tree, and there are 5 worlds of ranges to finish.
Give or take the fight depth, We Are the Caretakers has all of the components for a lot of misplaced afternoons. However we hate to be harbingers of doom, as there’s a important drawback on the coronary heart of We Are the Caretakers.
Bugs. We Are the Caretakers crashes. So much. End a stage and there’s roughly a one-in-three likelihood that it’ll crash earlier than you attain your hub. For the reason that sport saves on the hub, that is simply in regards to the worst time for a crash to occur. You may end a stage, crash, and restart, solely to seek out that you must discover the extent once more. Whereas that is the dominant bug, there are others: ‘useless’ characters will stay in battles; squads will get caught on the setting; and places will merely not set off as you method them.
You may be replaying the identical ranges due to numerous bugs, and that eats away at We Are the Caretakers second monolithic subject. Since fight falls right into a sample, the degrees wrestle to seek out methods to distinguish themselves. Once you’re replaying ranges due to crashes, then that repetition gnaws additional into the bone. We discovered ourselves taking part in We Are Caretakers at a take away – not likely listening to what’s happening. Which is a deep disgrace, as there’s a lot love and care on this planet and dialogue, simply ready to be uncovered.
We Are the Caretakers deserves heaps of reward. You may level to the world design, story, depth of gameplay and themes of conservation and discover one thing to fall in love with. However it wanted longer in Early Entry. The bugs and crashes preserve stampeding via the sport, trampling on what was painstakingly constructed. Ought to the bugs be eliminated, we’d add at the very least a half-mark to the rating.
The builders have gone on report to say that We Are the Caretakers was deliberate for Recreation Move, however Microsoft withdrew the deal on the final second. You may see why Microsoft have been within the first place, however, equally, the bugs make you realise why they could have stepped away on the finish.
You should buy We Are the Caretakers from the Xbox Retailer
In the event you’ve been feeling responsible about making animal-skin wallets within the Far Cry collection, then you definately may wish to redeem your self with We Are the Caretakers. As a substitute of carving up creatures you’re defending them, in what may be Xbox’s first anti-poaching sport. Purchase it, and also you’re even contributing 10% of the quantity to Save the Rhinos. We Are the Caretakers has extra to supply than a noble message. It’s a two-hander: on one hand it’s an exploration sim, not too far distant from Curious Expedition 2, or the opening moments in Civilisation, the place you’re scouting the realm for sources and…
We Are the Caretakers Assessment
We Are the Caretakers Assessment
2023-01-14
Dave Ozzy
Professionals:
- Lovely and distinctive visible design
- Conservation themes and cash to charity!
- Depth of story and development
Cons:
- Fight turns into one-note rapidly
- Exploration is enjoyable however challenge-less
- Overwrought with crashes and bugs
Information:
- Large thanks for the free copy of the sport go to – Coronary heart Formed Video games
- Codecs – Xbox Collection X|S
- Model reviewed – Xbox Collection X
- Launch date – 6 January 2023
- Launch worth from – £14.99
TXH Rating
3/5
Professionals:
- Lovely and distinctive visible design
- Conservation themes and cash to charity!
- Depth of story and development
Cons:
- Fight turns into one-note rapidly
- Exploration is enjoyable however challenge-less
- Overwrought with crashes and bugs
Information:
- Large thanks for the free copy of the sport go to – Coronary heart Formed Video games
- Codecs – Xbox Collection X|S
- Model reviewed – Xbox Collection X
- Launch date – 6 January 2023
- Launch worth from – £14.99