As September rolls in, embargos are starting to lift on some of the games I’ve been playing. This week I can talk about a trick sim in space and a real-time squad tactics type thing that lets you kill Nazis. So let’s get to it.
Sumerian Six
What a game Sumerian Six is, what a bloody fine game! From the developers behind the under-appreciated Showgunners, Artificer, this takes the formula and takes it to new heights.
A lot of the structure behind Sumerian Six could easily have worked for a turn-based game, but instead what you have here is a real-time approach to the tactics gameplay. Enemies have their positions and their paths they will walk and you need to essentially find a way to meet your goal.
This could involve sneaking through undetected or even going on a murder spree, it all depends on the situation. Where Sumerian Six excels is in the tools it gives you for each scenario. For example:
Early in the game it was a case of distracting an enemy so that they weren’t looking in a direction and then making a kill, then when the solider turns back, make that next kill. Yet that then evolves a couple of missions later, where that same tactic just won’t work. So Issy, one of you character has the ability to swap position with an enemy.
I discovered I could position Issy and Sid next to each other out of sight, then get Issy to swap places with the soldier (remaining crouched and hidden to the other) and as soon as the swap happens use Sid to make the kill. All without being detected. Then taking out the remaining room in a similar way, using the techniques learned.
Sumerian Six does a great job of introducing new characters and abilities at the right time and balancing those with new enemies to tackle. So you might have officers who aren’t affected by certain mind tricks, or other enemies who can’t be taken down with melee attacks, others which are immune unless you disable a device that buffs them.
Eventually you are using all kinds of different tactics to take down each new scenario, trying and failing, learning and failing, learning some more and succeeding. The sense of achievement you get when you beat a scenario that looked impossible is fantastic.
I adore everything about this game and I can report it plays really well on the Steam Deck on lower graphic settings and does have the (rare) odd moment where it kind of just comes to a standstill but because of the nature of the game, it has never once dampened the experience.
A small word of warning though, you do need to set Steam Deck compatibility to Proton 8.0-5 at the time of writing, which the developers are aware of and hopefully a patch will sort this out.
But yeah, what a wonderful game this is and honestly if you enjoy it, go back and grab the excellent Showrunners too.
Star Trucker
Tired of driving from Manchester to Milan? Fed up of hauling from Michigan to Missouri? Are those journeys just a bit too short for your liking? Then why not try trucking through the entire universe!
As someone who pretty much enjoyed Elite Dangerous as a trader and avoided conflict where possible just so I could have a relaxing experience, the idea of Euro Truck Simulator in space is very, very appealing. Thankfully, on the whole developers Monster & Monster have nailed the experience.
You are dumped into a battered up old rig with barely any supplies and told you need to start your carrer as a hauler. From there you need to do a space walk to fix your rig, learn the controls and get to driving (flying?) across each area to pick up and drop off precious cargo.
What I love about Star Trcuker is that despite being in space and having the freedom to go anywhere in theory, we kind of see what happens when capitilism takes over in space. You need to follow speed rules, avoid colisions and even try to stick to the highways that have been created.
Portals that allow you to jump between different sectors are treating like toll booths where you could end up queuing before positioning your rig to make the jump. Of course there are costs involved and whilst you do earn from jobs, you also need to worry about what is being paid out.
Fuel is a regular cost of course, but you also need to have a healthy supply of batteries to maintain oxygen, gravity, etc within the rig. Also for any fines you may get and repairs that need paying for. The jobs can go from very easy and take a few minutes, to much much longer that feel like a proper journey.
Despite being set in the vastness of space, the scenery is excellent, with the highway markings, portals, space stations weighbridges, fuel stations and more. Also the different sectors all feel pretty unique. There was one I visited early on that felt like it may have been a once thriving area that was left to rot by whomever was controlling it. Still functional, but not comfortable.
Or another sector that felt vibrant and full of life, with neon lighting and big open spaces to enjoy. It really feels like being in a world (is that the right word?) that has history and a story to tell. Speaking of which…
The CB Radio chatter in this does a great job of adding life to your experience, you can interact with the radio, which can unearth some interesting things, lead to new jobs and more that I won’t spoil. Early on I was taking part in a quiz with other truckers which I lost, before we all got reprimanded for misusing the radio.
There is so much to discover in Star Trucker and it is another one that I played fully on Steam Deck and it works really well. Whilst not a fully feature rich as Euro Truck or American Truck Simulator, I found this to be a much more gamified and fun experience compared to those and love that they all exist and give us the options.
