Once again, this writer finds themselves traveling outside of their comfort zone a bit. Or the zone of video game genres that I actually feel skilled at, to be accurate. But hey, you don’t really go far unless you’re willing to expand your horizons. And while I’m no stranger to tactical strategy games, it’s not a genre I dabble in often. But then along come Devolver Digital and developers Artificer with a game that allows me to write the headline"Melt Nazis to Death With Science Alongside a Werebear inSumerian Six,“and with that, I was in. After all, the fact I will likely never top that headline means that I at least owed it a shot. Wouldyouso easily turn down a game with that kind of pitch? I think not, so let’s see what this early peek ofSumerian Sixhas to offer.
The general setup forSumerian Sixis that you play as the Enigma Squad, a set of six science-based heroes who have to stop former member Hans Kammler, who has now teamed up with the Nazis to harness the power of the occult and a mysterious substance known as Geiststoff in order to create a superweapon. This involves a lot of stealth gameplay and mad science, presented in a similar pulp fashion akin to other titles such asStrange Brigade,The Lamplighters Leagueor even the modernWolfensteingames. It’s always a winning aesthetic, one that evokes classic, fun adventures and over-the-top action.
A Twisted Band of Brothers
WithSumerian Six, however, what attracted me to it (aside from the whole Nazi-melting and werebears bit) is how the game manages to put a rather unique spin on those traditional pulp vibes, and that’s via the Enigma Squad themselves, and how they affect the story, style and gameplay. For one, there’s the fact that the Enigma Squad is a team of scientists, or in the case of characters Sid or Wojtek, use science-based abilities. When you imagine pulp heroes in these kinds of environments, you tend to imagine the likes of Indiana Jones, a type of two-fisted adventurer with the focus being on their skills in moments of action. While the Enigma Squad can still mostly hold their own in combat, the focus here tends to be on how they use science, trickery and deception. They perfectly evoke the feeling of pulp heroes, but their use of gadgets, tech and even psychology nicely allows them to stand out as different kinds of heroes.
Linked to that is the fact that being scientists, they aren’t exactly in a position to face hordes of Nazis head-on, again save for Wojtek the werebear. And so while this is still a tactical strategy game, it’s one where the meat of it all is on stealth. This includes a lot of the standard stealth game signatures, such as enemies with patrol routes, cones of vision for each soldier (highlighting where they’ll view any characters, as well as anywhere they won’t if you’re crouched), bushes and the like to hide or dump bodies in, noise that can be made, alarms that can be triggered, etc. It’s fun as is, but the highlight inSumerian Sixare all the various ways to get around and take care of enemies.
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Weird Science
To highlight some examples, Sid can “hitchhike” into enemy bodies, allowing him to take advantage of patrolling foes and bypass obstacles. Rosa has a dissolving strike for a melee attack that’s slower, but dissolves the bodies so they won’t be noticed. Isabella has a cloaking device, but not to be outdone, Siegfried can create a zone of invisibility for any characters, friend or foe. Again, they perfectly highlight the pulp science vibes thatSumerian Sixis dabbling in, providing a unique variation on the standard set of distractions and stealth tools, and they’re just plain fun to experiment with. They also highlight ways to create strategies when commanding two or more characters, such as swapping places with an enemy via Isabella’s teleport, then having another character immediately kill the stunned enemy.
That said, while the gameplay is indeed fun, it can’t help but feel the the preview copy had some issues. Despite controller support, my own wireless controller didn’t seem to register a whole lot, so I eventually switched to the mouse and keyboard. And while it worked better, there were also issues in selecting commands, not to mention that the setup didn’t feel wholly right for some portions like the stealth kills. In addition, setting the skill commands to ASDF by default felt awkward as well, since you typically expect those keys to be part of the camera control. Hopefully these kinks get ironed out later on (that, or it is possibly just my machine), but it didn’t take away too much, asSumerian Sixwas still brimming with potential.
In the first couple of missions, there was also an emphasis on dialogue between the characters in play, highlighting their personalities nicely as well, especially siblings Isabella and Sid. It’s another great touch that once again shows off the characters as being one of the game’s biggest possible strengths. Another strength is the breathtaking visuals and levels, with a whole lot to explore and find, including experience boosts for various skills that reward you for being thorough. Sure, you don’tneedto kill that one officer, just sneak past them, but then you wouldn’t gain the valuable skill boost that he’s guarding. Besides, there’s massive satisfaction to be had in wiping out all of his buddies ahead of him, then going back to wipe them out with a single gunshot.
In the end, there are a few parts ofSumerian Sixthat are a little rocky at the moment, but the characters and the unique science-based approach that they bring to both strategy and stealth gameplay make for something truly fun and promising. We can’t wait to see more of this game and its captivating pulp story and universe, and we’ll see how it fares when it arrives for PC soon on September 2.
Sumerian Six
Playing as the Enigma Squad, a team of the world’s best scientists, Sumerian Six sees players use stealth and all of the other skills at the team’s disposal in order to stop the Nazis from building a superweapon.
