Atlas Reactor: Sheer Brilliance

If there's one game you need to be looking at right now, it's Atlas Reactor.

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Have you ever played any turn based strategy game and wondered “What if it were multiplayer?” Your time, good friend, has come. Atlas Reactor is what you would get if everybody moved at the same time in Fire Emblem, what you would get from a 4v4 Advance Wars. I've even heard it described as insane 4v4 chess. It's the most unique, special, and innovative game released in 2016 so far, and it backs up that uniqueness with quality. You don't get games like this often, folks.

So, what exactly is Atlas Reactor? It's a multiplayer team game that fuses elements of real time strategy and turn based strategy. Each team makes their choices at the same time, each having only 20 seconds to chose what to do, and afterwards they all resolve simultaneously. So, for example, you and an enemy could choose to shoot each other, and each would deal the damage during the resolution.

It's a lot more complicated than that, however. Atlas Reactor has one last genius trick up its sleeve: the 3 phase resolution. The game has 3 distinct phases you can chose to take actions in. Phase 1 is the prep phase, where players heal others, throw shields up, and set traps. Phase 2 is dash, where players use mobility abilities to move before attacks. Phase 3 is blast, where most damaging attacks reside.

Are you seeing how brilliant this is yet? I'll spell out a scenario. Say you're playing Lockwood against an Elle, and you're both facing each other. You could just shoot her, but you risk taking damage back. You could shoot her, but she could dash away and she would shoot you back. However, her dash is short, so you may want to use Lockwood's arc fire to predict where she'll move. Alternatively, if you think she'll dash, you could set a trap beforehand to ensure she'll dash through it.

She could also be just trying to shoot you, and you could use Lockwood's dash to run away before she takes damage. If you think she'll use her dash attack, you could dash away yourself, making her waste an attack and forcing it on cooldown. And this isn't even accounting for ultimate abilities, which charge up over the course of the match. If she has her ult, you definitely want to dash out of the way if you think she'll use it. However, you could also use Lockwood's ult if you have it, dashing behind her, doing damage, and making her miss her ult.

And finally, you need to account for your enemy predicting what you'll do. Elle could predict you dashing, say, and use her prep ability to increase her next attack's damage. She could shoot where she thinks you'll dash. She could psyche you out, making you think she'll ult, making you dash, and next turn you're vulnerable.

By the way, the last 3 paragraphs were all describing one scenario. One single turn. Against a single opponent, when usually you have 4 enemies and 3 allies. Oh, and may I remind you you only have 20 seconds to make your choice.

This is the sheer brilliance of Atlas Reactor, the incredible brilliance of the possibility space for each individual turn. Every move begets the possibility of a counter. Every time you move, you have to wonder if an enemy is going to set a trap. Every time you use an ultimate, you need to ensure the enemy can't dash away. Every time you shield, you need to be absolutely sure the enemy will attack you.

The game makes this complex presence easy to digest and understand as well. The game has clear indicators about what is going to happen, you can hit a single button to check the cooldowns on enemy attacks, and you can see what allies will do as you make your choice. It sounds like a lot of confusing information, but the game lays it all out in front of you, and simply asks you to use your own discretion about what to do next.

So Atlas Reactor sure brings the thunder in gameplay, but does it satisfy in other areas? I think you know what I'm gonna say. It has a robust cast of unique characters, from a sentient fish with legs to a robotic dog. They're all very fun to listen to, and even better, the game lets you use them to taunt your enemies as well. You're able to choose to taunt before an attack if you feel it's going to be particularly impressive. It's a lot of fun to rub it in your opponent's face how awesome you are as you take them down.

As for the visuals, it's got a nice style, but more importantly it's clean and easy to understand. Lines are distinct, characters are different enough at a glance, and the visual design of what your attack will do is clear. It's not earth shaking, but it's very well done.

Meanwhile, the soundtrack is just... mmmmmmm.

So Atlas Reactor is a unique, innovative game that rides on it's excellent character design, personality, and tight game design. It's got an active Discord server where the devs are constantly communicating, satisfying progression systems that reward you for playing a freelancer a lot, and to top it all off, it's not free to play, a refreshing move in this current market. If any of this sounds interesting to you, they've even got a free mode where you can try before you buy, a consumer friendly practice that few games chose to try now.

While this is a close to a review as I think I'll ever get, nor do I ever want to be a reviewer, I feel the need to get the word out on this game. I only heard about it through a single friend, and it's sorely underrepresented outside of it's very dedicated community. This is a game that deserves to be shouted about, a game that deserves to be considered as one of the best of 2016, a game that deserves to be shared. So happy launch, Atlas Reactor. Here's to you, one of the best games I've played in quite a while.