Salvaged is a game developed by Opposable Games, who have only worked on cartoonish mobile and PC games up until now. Salvaged puts you in control of a squad who are sent into several Alien ships to receive the salvage from within and is described by the developers as a Real Time, Dual Screen, Tactical Action game. Can this new Indie game set itself apart from the plethora of the new additions to the market, or will it be left in the bargain bin?
Story
In the current build of salvaged there is little story to be had, besides the one main objective. The goal is to infiltrate an alien ship and obtain salvage from a specific part of the ship, which feels randomly generated and requires you to explore the hull whilst dealing with any hostile aliens you come across to retrieve the salvage.
The mission itself can be completed between 10 – 30 minutes depending on which entry you choose and if you find the salvage within the first rooms or later rooms. Though there is some replayability to be had as you can choose different entry locations, try for a higher score, a kill-everything or sneaky playthrough.
Gameplay
This is one of the few games I have played that used two devices at once, which is becoming a more popular mechanic with current gen consoles. Your computer screen shows the soldier’s visor feeds and their health and your handheld device shows the map and squad menu. Using your handheld device you press the squad member you want to move and select where on the map to make them move too, following them on both devices to keep an eye out for enemies. The build I played allowed me to do both on my computer as I wasn’t able to use the app on my device.
The use of two screens for this tactical shooter is rather unique and takes some getting use to, with my first few tries ending in short failure and low scores. There isn’t much of a tutorial right now so it’s a case of trial and error to find the best way to complete a mission; I didn’t know that there were item pickups that only showed up on the visors till my 4th try.
The gameplay itself feels rather similar to Xcom, following a more real time approach but with the same difficulty and squad management you would find in a squad based game. There are 4 classes of squad member in the default group, the commander who wields an assault rifle, the rocket specialist who has a rocket launcher, the sniper and the close quarter man who uses a shotgun. Making use of the teams different weapons can become quite difficult with the two devices as well as the lag that was present on the build of the game I had which made the team selection and movement slow and clunky to control.
The map shows the squad members placement, along with roaming enemies but doesn’t show where the salvage is or where item pickups are, but it outlines boxes and walls which can help you navigate the ship. The visor shows anything your squad members can see in front of them, which is invaluable for searching for the salvage and items as well as a better range of view on enemy locations. One main use of the Visor is to see the pin number for the salvage container then type it in your keyboard on the handheld device.
Overall Thoughts and Feelings
Currently the game is quite buggy, laggy and unpolished, with enemies getting stuck on rails, squad members dealing no damage to said stuck enemies and the weapons being very underbalanced, with the rocket launcher taking the longest to reload and taking 3-4 shots to kill one alien. These problems can be expected from such an ambitious and early in development game. I would like to see some customisation of the squad, both in their look and equipment, possibly upgrades with the money they obtain from each mission.
The AI feels very undeveloped right now as Aliens seem rather sporadic and don’t have the bloodlust that they show off sometimes, with them literally running around in circles before running at you. The squad members aren’t the most intelligent either, with my commander constantly running away from the enemy when I try to position him closer to the battle so that he can actually shoot; I found him 2 rooms away at one point because he liked the décor of that room better I think.
Besides the problems I found, mainly lag and bugs, I had quite a lot of fun with Salvaged, the difficulty makes it all the more rewarding when you complete the mission. I am eager to see the game progress further and the improvements that’s I am sure they will make to it.
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