The world of Othercide is as dark and imposing as its difficulty. This game, full of disturbing creatures and dark imagery, challenges you on a mental and tactical level that dares you to overcome the seemingly impossible obstacles it throws your way. As with other rogue-lite games, failure is expected of you, but that only makes the thrill of finally overcoming more intoxicating.
On the surface, Othercide seems simple enough. It is a tactical, turn-based strategy game where you pit your team of daughters against enemy monstrosities in a place between dimensions known as the Dark Corner. You will take on various missions through the game's five chapters, known as eras, each containing seven days. At least one mission must be completed to progress a day, with a boss becoming available starting on the fourth day of each era. Your goal is, of course, to make it through all five eras and bosses.
Combat System Basics
Battles are turn-based, but also uses a dynamic timeline system to show what units will act in what order. If you played the recent XCOM: Chimera Squad, you'll be immediately familiar with how it works. Your units all have Action Points that determine everything from movement, attacking, and using skills, but also influences their "initiative" which is how close to the front on the timeline that unit will act.
Unit Basics
You will be going through a lot of daughters in Othercide. Death comes fast and hard, but that's all part of the game. Each daughter can level up, learn new skills, and be equipped with "memories." You'll get plenty of these memories as you slay enemies, which can be thought of as different types of buffs for your daughters. They all cost vitae, the gold equivalent in Othercide, to equip, but grant bonuses such as increased damage or causing any unit they attack to move down on the timeline.
You should be cautious about spending too much on improving units because vitae is also needed for recruiting more daughters. If we haven't made it clear enough at this point, Othercide is a very punishing game and you will be needing to recruit more daughters quite often.
Rogue-Lite Basics
Thanks to the rogue-lite elements, failure is always just another excuse to learn and try again. Whether you lose all your daughters to a tough boss, or just decided to start a new run by taking on another "Recollection," you won't be starting again from scratch. Carryover between runs are called "Remembrances." These give buffs to your next run, such as resurrecting a fallen daughter from death, increase your daughter's base level, or increase memory drop rates.
Don't let the oppressive atmosphere or steep difficulty turn you away. Othercide is one of the best tactical strategy games released this year you could easily sink dozens, if not hundreds, of hours into.