We Are the Caretakers Assessment

When you’ve been feeling responsible about making animal-skin wallets within the Far Cry sequence, then you definately may wish to redeem your self with We Are the Caretakers. As an alternative of carving up creatures you’re defending them, in what is likely to be 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 seem like Mass Impact’s Tali cosplaying because the forged of Stargate, and so they instantly grabbed the eye. However that was juxtaposed with a thuddingly uninteresting title. What did Caretakers should do with something?

Because it seems, all of it makes full sense. While you first begin taking part in We Are the Caretakers, you be a part of the Caretakers faction: a bunch devoted to defending the Raun – a type 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 important 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 dying, and as a substitute 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 may be very a lot its personal. We may 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 way of the story. Do you have to 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 way of which you will get extra info. You start to grasp the position of the Caretakers, what makes them a shades-of-grey drive, and why the duty is just not 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 you recognize it, you may be hurtling by way of epochs.

However the meat of the gameplay comes from the exploring and the fight. Exploring is an easy affair, actually: you might be proven a zoomed out, chook’s eye view of the world, which corresponds to a Danger-like map within the bottom-right-hand nook which exhibits the areas you’ve gotten explored, and the place the light 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 battle is lifted, exhibiting what’s there. 

The area may need some sources that may assist you alongside the best way (foreign money for a mess of purchases, analysis for advancing by way of a ability tree, and objects which may assist in the state of affairs) , however there’s a superb likelihood there’s mission essential stuff there too. A village may supply some info, or tech must be dismantled. After which there are the enemies after all, who wait so that you can trespass into their area, or patrol the map on the lookout for Raun. 

The exploration is fairly pleasing, if slightly 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 primary aims and sub-objectives encourage you to discover every part anyway. There aren’t any actual traps to journey you up, so all you’re doing is sweeping the setting systematically to be sure to catch every part. There’s a pleasure of discovery that comes from blowing again the fog of battle, but it surely’s in any other case a tad benign. 

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

However whereas the primary 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 drag off a character-specific ending transfer. You may 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. However 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. Finally, you might be nonetheless selecting the transfer that will get you to a win quickest, deciding on it, after which watching it execute. There’s nothing that significantly spices up the gameplay, and we discovered ourselves eager 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 aspect, the sheer variety of characters, strikes and ending strikes are colossal. You possibly can recruit each single baddie you struggle (there’s a thick vein of forgiveness working by way of We Are the Caretakers), and so they every have their very own ruleset. Higher nonetheless, you’ll be able to degree them up independently, and pursue profession tracks for them. The depth of optimisation is a trademark of your complete recreation. There’s a lot to tinker with, together with a dense ability 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 important drawback on the coronary heart of We Are the Caretakers. 

Bugs. We Are the Caretakers crashes. Lots. End a degree and there’s roughly a one-in-three likelihood that it’s going to 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 possibly can end a degree, crash, and restart, solely to seek out that it’s a must 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 setting; and places will merely not set off as you method 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 seek out methods to distinguish themselves. While you’re replaying ranges due to crashes, then that repetition gnaws additional into the bone. We discovered ourselves taking part in We Are Caretakers at a take away – not likely being attentive to what’s occurring. Which is a deep disgrace, as there’s a lot love and care on this planet and dialogue, simply ready to be uncovered. 

We Are the Caretakers deserves heaps of reward. You possibly can level to the world design, story, depth of gameplay and themes of conservation and discover one thing to fall in love with. However it wanted longer in Early Entry. The bugs and crashes hold stampeding by way of the sport, trampling on what was painstakingly constructed. Ought to the bugs be eliminated, we’d add not less than 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 possibly can see why Microsoft had 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