Launching in May, Showgunners Looks Promising for XCOM Fans

In a little over a month, Showgunners will be released. The strategy game set in a dystopian future is being developed by a team of people of significant merit in the genre.

Adam Celarek

April 3, 2023 22:46

Launching in May, Showgunners Looks Promising for XCOM Fans.

Artificer, studio made up largely of the co-creators of such games as Phantom Doctrine, is working on an interesting game. Futuristic turn-based strategy Showgunners will launch on May 2. Because of the creative approach to gameplay, we decided to bring the title closer to a larger audience of players. Perhaps it will encourage some XCOM fans to play.

Bloody entertainment from a dystopian future

In a dystopian future, the world is held in the iron grip of megacorporations. One of the primary forms of entertainment in this unpleasant reality are brutal reality shows, in which daring daredevils compete against each other in hopes of gaining fortune and publicity. Participants face arenas riddled with deadly traps, while throngs of mercenaries armed to the teeth have certains designs on the participants' lives.

The main character of the game, Scarlett Martillo, under the pretext of participation in the bloody games, will seek an opportunity for personal vendetta.

Although the motif of deadly games played to the delight of the crowds is nothing new in popular culture (some popular series of novels come to mind, for example The Hunger Gamesor the iconic Escape from New York by John Carpenter), so the dirty, cyberpunk aesthetic of a city bathed in darkness seems to fit well with the promo materials presented by the studio.

One can only hope that the devs will make good use of the narrative potential of their chosen story concept.

Gameplay in Showgunners

The experience of the developers, brought back from the days of CreativeForge Games, is very evident in the gameplay context itself. Showgunners is in fact a classic isometric turn-based strategy game.

Based on the game's demo and pre-release promotional materials, we can guess at the gameplay elements present in the game:

Artificer's game will feature the ability to hide behind cover and other terrain elements, which is somewhat standard in the genre;
the chance of hitting an adversary will be represented by a percentage indicator, which will be influenced by, among other things, the distance from the target, potential obstacles along the way, or, finally, the weapon and special skill used by the character;
in addition to the main character, the player's party will also include other characters. These are to differ from each other in the available range of skills or preferred fighting style;
Among the minor noteworthy elements are the traps with which the arenas are to be riddled, the presence of projectile and explosive weapons, and finally the map design itself - full of obstacles, rooms and environmental hazards.