Czech-Slovak “Into the Rift” with a train and maps.
Due to my busy lecture schedule, I haven’t had much time in Game Access to try out the indie games featured here. There have been a ton of them this year, but I finally got to try one of them: the train roguelike Fogpiercer, based on the mechanics of the famous Into the Breach from the creators of FTL: Faster Than Light.
The unique title was created by the three-person Czech-Slovak team Mad Cookies Studio. Last August, it released the sci-fi event Cardbob, and has now been working on Fogpiercer for about 8 months. The comparison with Into the Breach is no coincidence, even game designer Kryštof Klestil called this game a big inspiration. But our task here is not to protect people from an alien invasion with the help of mosses. Instead, you are worried about a train passing through a snowy landscape.
Based on the demo I played on Game Access, the game feels almost like a pure roguelike rather than a roguelike. You start each run by selecting your wagons, and then you hit the road. Like the aforementioned FTL, it consists of an interlaced map where you have to decide which path to take. Sometimes you’ll have combat, and other times you can rest at a station where you can upgrade your wagons.
The wagons are the key ones, as they give you cards. So building your deck is extremely important and determines what options you have in the battles themselves. They are turn-based and take place on a relatively small grid. In addition to the cards, which can be offensive, defensive, etc., here you will be able to move your train. Its position determines where you can shoot and whether the enemy will hit you. So, this is very important for success.
The tactical possibilities are quite large if you unlock more options during your run. For example, from the basic attack you can get a better card that not only deals damage but also moves the enemy vehicle. As with Into the Breach, it is very useful to try to move enemies so that they hurt themselves instead of you.
However, sometimes you have no choice but to simply smash them with the locomotive. Although it costs you a life, it prevents further damage, and such an attack is very powerful. There are other interesting mechanics associated with the train, such as the fact that if one of the cars is completely destroyed, all the others behind it will be disabled, causing you to lose valuable cards.
Even though I only got through one area, which ends with a fairly demanding final battle, the game quickly hooked me. Into the Breach is one of my favorite roguelikes, and Fogpiercer takes enough from it to offer a similar, very enjoyable experience (if you’re good at it, that is), but also does enough new things that you don’t feel like you’re replaying the same game.
Considering how short the title’s creation was, I was quite surprised by the possibilities that Fogpiercer already offers. In addition to PC, according to Klestil, it also works on Steam Deck, which is what this style of game is made for. Interestingly, by the way, it is built on the open-source Godot engine, which is steadily gaining popularity among developers, especially after last year’s controversies around Unity.
In any case, the development will take some time, according to Klestil, about a year. By then, a public demo version should also be released, probably as part of Steam Next Fest. In the meantime, the creators are looking for a publisher and have already established contact with several companies.
The game doesn’t have a Steam page yet, but you can follow development updates on Twitter.
Source :Indian TV
