N E ED TO K N OW
Systems-driven real-time tactics game set in the Russian backwoods during WWII
DEVELOPER Alter Games
PUBLISHER Daedalic Entertainment
REVIEWED ON Nvidia GeForce 2080 Super, AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 32 GB Ram
MULTIPLAYER No
LINK partisans-game.com guard patrols and encampments with stealth before engaging them head on. It’s equally possible to defend yourself when things go awry, shifting your partisans into cover, using abilities like suppressing fire to keep the Nazis at bay, and using grenades to flush them out so your riflemen can pick them off. The fuzzier edge to Partisans’ tactical play is mainly a good thing, but it does have downsides. Judging the effects of more aggressive tactics is difficult. It’s hard to know whether a gunshot will simply alert the troops in the immediate area, or bring half the Wehrmacht down on your position.
After each mission, your partisans return to their forest camp, where a resource management minigame awaits. You need to find food and resources to keep the camp running, while also sending your partisans on autonomous side-missions for varying rewards. I like this element thematically, and the way equipment carries over from mission to mission is a neat touch, encouraging you to weigh your options and ensure that every bullet counts.
The more I played of Partisans, the more I enjoyed it. I like the slow build-up of your forces, the careful drip-feed of new characters and equipment. I like how each new mission is incrementally more ambitious than the last, starting with convoy assaults and rescuing civilians from Nazi death squads, then evolving into blowing up bridges and assassinating local comptrollers. I particularly like how earnest the whole experience is. The game clearly has great respect for its subject matter. It may be a bit shabby to look at, but with a redoubt spirit and a little ingenuity, Partisans certainly gets the job done.
Partisans combines a classic real-time tactics structure with more flexible systems for a winning formula.
VERDICT 80