Developed and published by Sidereal Studio, Quinterra is a new turn-based tactics game that combines roguelite mechanics in the mix as well to deliver a unique gameplay experience. Your goal is to build, expand and customize your army and take down enemies in over five unique domains set in space. The game delivers a unique experience every time thanks to the roguelite mechanics however it also means that you have to start over if you fail in your quest. Quinterra is now out in Early Access on Steam and this is our review of the early access build of Quinterra.
Gameplaywise, Quinterra is essentially a combination of turn-based tactical combat and roguelites. Your main ‘life’ in the game is your morale which begins at 50 and if it trickles down to zero, you lose the game and you have to start your Expedition from the start. To ensure that you survive in the game, you have to complete most combat scenarios as quickly as possible as that includes the boss battles that actually allow you to progress in the main story of the game. To start your expedition, you have four factions Lycans, Imps, Crystalians, and Ethereals each with their own unique abilities, powers, and weaknesses. Crystalians and Ethereals are locked initially however you can easily unlock them by completing expeditions with the first two factions.
Choosing a faction dictates which area you start your expedition in and every time you start an expedition with a faction, it will be a randomly generated map so you cannot expect to have the same battles with the same enemies again. This keeps combat and the runs fresh however the main formula of the game remains the same. With each faction, you have around five domains to win with a linear, choice-based progression on the map. Each map offers multiple paths however you can decide which path you want to take and as you go along, avail different facilities along the way or take part in different battles.
The battles range from Clashes where you must gain unit advantages to Vanquish where you have to eliminate all of the enemies in the scenario quickly. Some of the tougher battles include Champion battles and Boss battles where you have one main target and they are really tough to beat. Your morale also matters the most in these modes because if you take too long to complete battles here, you will start to lose morale and eventually lose the entire game if you are unable to beat them. It is this specific mechanic that puts Quinterra in its own league when you compare it with other turn-based tactical games.
Each combat scenario in Quinterra is fought on sky-high plates where after drafting an elite, the plates fall and return back to the map in a different place after a turn. Depending on your starting hero, you have a wide variety of elites, monsters, abilities, and skills to use in the battles. T manage your armies; you have two main resources in the game. One is Mana while the other is Command Points. Mana is used for creating Elites and using some of the hero’s abilities. You can earn mana every turn and increase your mana regeneration by creating structures that generate mana every turn.
The second resource in the game is Command Points. You use these command points to create monsters and structures on the map. Depending on the plate, you can create monsters and elites on their specific tiles and structures on their specific tiles. For elites, you can also choose to have which elements they use for their powers. You can either go for an elite that uses one of these elements or choose an elite that combines more than one of these elements. You can also use crystals to increase the power of your elites and if an elite has more than one type of element, you can infuse more crystals to make them even more powerful as well.
After your first elite, all of your future elites will share one common element with each other. You cannot create an elite that does not share a common element stored in your reserve pile. Monsters do not need this sort of elemental matching however they are also weak and die easily in combat, so your elites are basically carrying you in combat. As you win combat scenarios, you will earn XP and in turn, earn skill points which can be used to purchase various abilities for your hero making it more effective in combat. Apart from XP, at the end of every win, you also win crystals, new monsters, elites, gold and more depending on your preference of rewards. While you are on the map, you can purchase new upgrades and items from various shops and vendors as well if they come in your path.
During a combat scenario, you have two phases to manage. First, you have the Draft Mode where you can purchase new elites and monsters on tiles, manage your party and do any other task that you might need to before fighting your enemy. Once you are satisfied, you will enter the Combat Mode where each unit on both only gets one move per turn. During this move, you can decide if you want to attack, move or use an ability. There are no move points here, so you only get one move per turn for each of your units. Once all the units have made their turn, you will re-enter the Draft mode to prepare for the next turn. The combat goes on until a decisive move happens and a winner is declared.
For starting players, the learning curve is a little high at the start because the game has plenty of new and unique mechanics that you have to look out for and understand. The real fun of Quinterra however begins after you have mastered the basics and the advanced mechanics and start experimenting with the game on your own. Since the Expeditions are randomly generated so losing them does not really matter much. You can start various Expeditions for practicing and without any real progress loss factor in the game easily. There is not much of a story in the game however there is a linear, choice-based progression in every expedition, and losing a game right before the final battle is something that will really make you upset. Winning also feels quite satisfying in the game.
Coming to the visual and sound design of the game, Quinterra is not really a stunner but I really liked the art style of the game. The visuals could do with some improvements overall and the soundtrack is decent however animations and the map need more work to make it more attractive and feel like a proper PC game. Technically, the game is really sound, and I do not remember a single error or glitch during my playthrough of Quinterra. Since the game is currently in Early Access, we can expect additional content with tons of fixes and changes in the full game, so we are actually looking forward to the full release of Quinterra.
Final Verdict:
For an early access release, Quinterra is perfect in literally every way. There are no glitches or bugs of any sort in the game. It has a healthy amount of content in the game and we can expect even more to arrive as the game nears its full release. There are a few things that I would like to be worked on however such as the UI and the world map could be a little improved with a little more animations added to it. The map feels like a mobile game at this point and a little bit more work could make it look much better. The gameplay feels pretty good however little tweaks here and there with some balancing overall could result in an even better game as well. For people who enjoy turn-based tactical games, Quinterra brings a new unique experience and one that I am sure everyone will greatly like. Highly recommended for players who love turn-based strategy games and roguelites.
