We Are the Caretakers Review

Should you’ve been feeling responsible about making animal-skin wallets within the Far Cry sequence, you then would possibly wish to redeem your self with We Are the Caretakers. As a substitute of carving up creatures you’re defending them, in what is perhaps Xbox’s first anti-poaching recreation. Purchase it, and also you’re even contributing 10% of the quantity to Save the Rhinos. 

We Are the Caretakers has extra to supply than a noble message. It’s a two-hander: on one hand it’s an exploration sim, not too far distant from Curious Expedition 2, or the opening moments in Civilisation, the place you’re scouting the world for sources and villages. However, it’s a turn-based RPG. Whereas the Steam web page references X-Com, We Are the Caretakers takes its lead from the battle sequences of a JRPG. The positioning of your troops is much less essential than deciding whether or not to assault, heal or buff.

What first attracted us to We Are the Caretakers was the visible design, coupled with that weirdo title. The Xbox Retailer card and screenshots confirmed off its characters, who appear like Mass Impact’s Tali cosplaying because the solid of Stargate, and so they instantly grabbed the eye. However that was juxtaposed with a thuddingly uninteresting title. What did Caretakers must do with something?

Because it seems, all of it makes full sense. If you first begin enjoying We Are the Caretakers, you be a part of the Caretakers faction: a gaggle devoted to defending the Raun – a sort of space-rhino. The Raun are problematic within the sense that they trample over crops and infrequently sit on folks, however their significance to the ecosystem can’t be underestimated. They’re the lifeblood of the world. 

It’s a neat balancing act. The Raun are undoubtedly essential, which makes defending them of significant significance too, however the locals are much less satisfied. Some perceive the plight of the Raun and even worship them, however others take into account them a pest. Others nonetheless see them as a useful resource to poach, and that’s the place the Caretakers step up. The rhino comparisons are intentionally unsubtle. 

It’s utterly refreshing to play a recreation that shoos away blood and loss of life, and as an alternative opts for preservation and conservation. Whereas there’s nonetheless violence – the turn-based battles have their justifiable share of kicks, punches and magic wands – the top result’s detaining the enemies not directly, and finally letting the Raun wander free. 

Higher nonetheless is the visible design, which is totally marvellous. We’ve already invoked Stargate and Mass Impact, however there’s some Wakanda Eternally in there too, as Afrofuturist stylings are the order of the day. It’s a science-fiction imaginative and prescient that’s removed from the scientific Star Treks or the dusty Star Wars, carving out an id that could be very a lot its personal. We might have fortunately toiled in its sandbox for a lot of hours. 

We Are the Caretakers doesn’t cease there, because the world is given further dimension by means of the story. Must you care to get misplaced in it, you’ll be able to: earlier than every mission, there’s a prolonged framing of why you might be right here, what has occurred, and the missions themselves have loads of villagers and cities by means of which you may get extra info. You start to grasp the function of the Caretakers, what makes them a shades-of-grey pressure, and why the duty will not be so simple as shepherding some Raun round a rustic park. And that’s all earlier than some ‘foreigners’ arrive, and We Are the Caretakers performs its narrative trump playing cards. Earlier than it, you’ll be hurtling by means of epochs.

However the meat of the gameplay comes from the exploring and the fight. Exploring is a straightforward affair, actually: you might be proven a zoomed out, chook’s eye view of the world, which corresponds to a Threat-like map within the bottom-right-hand nook which exhibits the areas you might have explored, and the place the mild Raun are at. You progress your squad (or many squads, as the sport develops) into areas of the world that you just seemingly haven’t explored; the troops cease for a second to scout the world; and the fog of struggle is lifted, displaying what’s there. 

The area might need some sources that may enable you alongside the way in which (foreign money for a mess of purchases, analysis for advancing by means of a talent tree, and objects which may assist in the situation) , however there’s probability there may be mission important stuff there too. A village would possibly supply some info, or tech must be dismantled. After which there are the enemies in fact, who wait so that you can trespass into their area, or patrol the map on the lookout for Raun. 

The exploration is fairly pleasant, if a little bit challenge-free. Little or no throttles the quantity you’ll be able to discover – some ranges have a turn-limit, however they’re the exception – and the principle aims and sub-objectives encourage you to discover all the things anyway. There aren’t any actual traps to journey you up, so all you’re doing is sweeping the atmosphere systematically to ensure you catch all the things. There’s a pleasure of discovery that comes from blowing again the fog of struggle, nevertheless it’s in any other case a tad benign. 

The fight, although, is the place issues get extra intricate. Should you’ve performed a JRPG, you’ll be at dwelling right here: your troops line up on the left, the enemies’ on the suitable. A typical turn-order is displayed, and you are taking it in turns to carry out one motion per troop per flip. The actions are comparatively customary too: you’ll be able to assault, defend, heal, buff and debuff to your coronary heart’s content material. 

However whereas the principle physique of fight is acquainted, it’s acquired some alien organs. There are two well being bars, within the type of Stamina and Will. Consider them because the bodily and psychological wellbeing of the character. Get both of them to zero, and the opponent will kneel to the ground, however gained’t be faraway from the board. Ought to an enemy get to this place, then your subsequent Caretaker has the choice to tug off a character-specific ending transfer. You would possibly get the choice to Detain, Bribe, Shakedown or carry out another deliverance of justice, which has delicate variations to how the enemy is handled within the hub space. 

It’s a neat sidestep away from ‘killing’ characters, and fits We Are the Caretakers to a tee. Nevertheless it’s additionally smoke and mirrors, as a result of these nuances – each the dual well being bars and the detaining – are actually solely reskins of conventional mechanics. In the end, you might be nonetheless selecting the transfer that will get you to a win quickest, choosing it, after which watching it execute. There’s nothing that significantly spices up the gameplay, and we discovered ourselves desirous to automate battles greater than take part in them. They principally simply devolve into attacking the bottom well being bar with the corresponding transfer. 

On the constructive facet, the sheer variety of characters, strikes and ending strikes are colossal. You may recruit each single baddie you battle (there’s a thick vein of forgiveness operating by means of We Are the Caretakers), and so they every have their very own ruleset. Higher nonetheless, you’ll be able to stage them up independently, and pursue profession tracks for them. The depth of optimisation is a trademark of your entire recreation. There’s a lot to tinker with, together with a dense talent tree, and there are 5 worlds of ranges to finish. 

Give or take the fight depth, We Are the Caretakers has all of the components for a lot of misplaced afternoons. However we hate to be harbingers of doom, as there’s a vital drawback on the coronary heart of We Are the Caretakers. 

Bugs. We Are the Caretakers crashes. Lots. End a stage and there’s roughly a one-in-three probability that it’ll crash earlier than you attain your hub. For the reason that recreation saves on the hub, that is simply in regards to the worst time for a crash to occur. You may end a stage, crash, and restart, solely to search out that you need to discover the extent once more. Whereas that is the dominant bug, there are others: ‘useless’ characters will stay in battles; squads will get caught on the atmosphere; and places will merely not set off as you strategy them. 

You may be replaying the identical ranges due to numerous bugs, and that eats away at We Are the Caretakers second monolithic subject. Since fight falls right into a sample, the degrees battle to search out methods to distinguish themselves. If you’re replaying ranges due to crashes, then that repetition gnaws additional into the bone. We discovered ourselves enjoying We Are Caretakers at a take away – not likely taking note of what’s occurring. Which is a deep disgrace, as there may be a lot love and care on this planet and dialogue, simply ready to be uncovered. 

We Are the Caretakers deserves heaps of reward. You may level to the world design, story, depth of gameplay and themes of conservation and discover one thing to fall in love with. Nevertheless it wanted longer in Early Entry. The bugs and crashes maintain stampeding by means of the sport, trampling on what was painstakingly constructed. Ought to the bugs be eliminated, we’d add a minimum of a half-mark to the rating.

The builders have gone on document to say that We Are the Caretakers was deliberate for Sport Go, however Microsoft withdrew the deal on the final second. You may see why Microsoft have been within the first place, however, equally, the bugs make you realise why they may have stepped away on the finish. 

You should buy We Are the Caretakers from the Xbox Retailer