Trion's Atlas Reactor Out With Simulturn-Based Action
Frozen Synapse meets MOBA?
Atlas Reactor [official site], the simultaneous-turn-based multiplayer action game from Trove and Rift developers Trion Worlds, is now out. It's a 4v4 murdersport with MOBA-ish freelancers an- wait, no, come back. Contrary to what the odd and incoherent style might suggest, it's not Another Half-Arsed MOBA. No, Atlas Reactor is turn-based action where all players' moves play out at once, in that Frozen Synapse sort of way. Anyway, you can see for yourself, as it does have an extended demo-ish 'Free Mode'.
So! You know how Frozen Synapse has all players queue their orders up then watch them play out at the same time? Atlas Reactor does that, and with a range of Heroes Champions wizards Freelancers with different stats and abilities and whatnot. And you've only got 20 seconds to make your move.
Atlas Reactor's turns are also split into several phases for different abilities, which play out in order. First up is the Prep phase, when characters cast buffs, summon shields, and lay traps. Then comes the Dash phase, when they use dodge and charge moves. Third is the Blast Phase, with attacks and knockback attacks. Lastly, the Move phase lets people... move. Each character can use one ability each time, as well as move - or move twice if they don't use any ability. All these turns playing out one-by-one means that you might try to use an attack only to find the enemy has used a dodge to shift elsewhere. Here, this video demonstrates it:
I've not had a crack myself yet, though the idea is nice enough that I have kept meaning to. Er. What can I say - Devil Daggers and Deadly Premonition are hard to escape.
After a couple of months in early access and an open beta test, Atlas Reactor is now properly out.
If you fancy a go, you can get the Free Mode on Steam or through Trion. It's unhelpfully presented as a free-to-play game but no, it's a demo. It'll let you play with a limited, rotating lineup of the game's wizards - but doesn't, as you might think, let you pay to unlock more. Just an extended demo, is all.
If you want to actually buy the game, you'll want the confusingly-named Atlas Reactor - All Freelancers Edition. That's £20.69 right now, including a small launch discount. Hit Steam or Trion for it. Don't mind the All Freelancers Pro Edition and Ultimate Reactor Edition - they just have extra skins and XP boosters and guff.
Everything's so complicated nowadays.