Every Day We Fightis a roguelite twist on the XCOM-style turn-based strategy genre that sees players fighting off an alien invasion in a turn-of-the-century fictional European city. Ambitious in its approach,Every Day We Fightcertainly does things differently and stands out from similar titles. However, not all these genre changes felt great to this reviewer, and the Early Access title needs more time before approaching full release.
InEvery Day We Fight, you play as the Thorns, a small organization resisting an alien invasion that has frozen every other human in time. After a mission gone bad, your squad of three is caught in a time loop, traveling back before the moment of disaster each time your attempt to liberate the city fails.
The game uses this to justify a roguelite progression system. Players begin a “run” like they might in other roguelites, inevitably die against incredible odds, and then return to a neutral location where they can use resources gathered during the attempt to become stronger and try again.
That being said, the only meaningful progression I could glean in my playthrough was character level-ups, which tracked through defeats and weren’t exclusively available at the start of new runs. Weapons are discovered through exploring and are the other main enhancement, but it felt like padded progression where you had to dedicate runs to either completing the story objective or exploring to find new gear for future runs, knowing any deviation would make returning to main objectives more difficult during that run.
Besides the roguelite level design,Every Day We Fightplays similarly to other tactical turn-based games, with XCOM being the easy comparison. When not exploring, characters enter combat encounters that play out as tactical turn-based fights.
WhatEvery Day We Fightreally does differently, however, is the inclusion of a first-person aiming mechanic. Rather than the hit-chance system I often criticize the genre for,Every Day We Fighthas your shots done in first person, requiring some level of actual aiming. The game also switches up the system by allowing you and enemies to react to attacks and ally actions, increasing the variety of actions (or reactions) done during a combat encounter.
While interesting on paper, I don’t think the first-person system doesEvery Day We Fightany favors. Rather than being helpful, it creates awkwardness and reliance on positioning, forcing you into positions you wouldn’t take in similar games to ensure you can actually aim at an enemy; line of sight is more important and handled differently than in, say, XCOM because you must physically aim.
The game’s difficulty is designed around its roguelite nature; you aren’t expected to complete the story in one sitting, and attempting to will see you decimated by foes far too powerful for you. Even the more fair encounters can quickly turn when a third or fourth wave of enemies spawns in, chucking a grenade onto two of your characters who do not have the action points to move, causing them to instantly die. This difficulty probably needs to be tweaked, or more meaningful progression added to the game, as it currently just doesn’t feel all that satisfying to go out of your way for a piece of gear or extra levels, knowing you’ll be starting your run over after you get them.
The game’s characters didn’t impress me, be it their lackluster skillset or clunky, awkward dialogue and rushed-feeling interactions. While I loved the comic-book-style art in cutscenes, every character interaction felt rushed or missing context, with dynamics feeling flimsy and drama forced, which felt really out of place.
I didn’t face many bugs during my playthrough, notable for an Early Access title. The only notable one was my first-person animation breaking with one pistol, causing an awkward visual effect.
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TryHardGuides was provided aSteamcode for this PC Review of Every Day We Fight. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on ourGame Reviewspage!
