WARSAW – PAX East Preview
WARSAW is a new tactical role playing game from developer Pixelated Milk. Alongside Regali: Of Men & Monarchs this is the team’s second turn-based RPG, but replaces the fictional medieval setting with war torn Poland during Nazi occupation. It was live on the show floor at PAX East 2019, and we had a chance to play a short demo of the game.
The newest entry from the Polish based developer immediately catches your attention with its beautiful hand drawn animation and flowing vocal soundtrack. It seeks to play on emotional and solemn tones by telling the story of The Home Army and Polish Underground Freedom Fighters. This was a resistance movement in a city trying to break free from a fascist occupation in 1944 and coincided with the Soviet advance and eventual German retreat.
WARSAW has you playing as a squad of civilian soldiers completing various operations throughout Poland’s capital. Traversing through the shambled and ruined city is done via an overhead map. You will move your icon through alleyways and navigate blockades and crumbled buildings. Enemies can be seen from a distance and can be either avoided or directly confronted.
When in battle, you will control a number of different characters. In the demo we started with three and eventually recruited a fourth. In typical turn based RPG form players will choose from various attacks, team buffs, healing abilities, or enemy debuffs. Each character possesses different weapons and expertise in combat categories. One character held a heavier rifle and was able to use a Mow Down attack to fire a volley into multiple Nazis. A medic carried a pistol that did lighter damage, but was also able to heal allies on any given turn. A stamina gauge needs to be balanced and managed as each attack depletes this meter.
Positioning is also very important in battle. Different attacks and moves will be less effective or altogether unavailable if your character is too close or too far from the front-line. A turn can be used to move your character to the appropriate spot, whether that be closer to the action, behind cover, or further away. As an example, the previously mentioned Mow Down attack from the heavy gunner can only be used when a bipod is deployed – and this can only happen when the character is placed behind a piece of cover.
When not moving through the city or in battle, you take refuge in a central hidden base of operations. You can use this downtime to plan operations, upgrade abilities, or recruit new allies. The barracks features other non-playable characters with whom you can have conversations with about the war effort, or use to exchange supplies and resources.
Featuring a striking art style, deep historical subject matter, and well thought out tactical game play, WARSAW is one to look forward to. Given that the team is based in the city of Warsaw, it’s clear there is a lot of passion behind this project. WARSAW releases on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Playstation 4 later this year.
