Galaxy Squad

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Galaxy Squad, released on PC in 2019 and then ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2021, is an XCOM-style Strategy-RPG with Roguelike elements where players control a band of mercenaries on the run from… well, it’s not really clear, but you’re hopping from planet to planet to escape them, and on the way discovering things to both help and hinder you on your journey.

Galaxy Squad uses somewhat primitive-looking mostly untextured low-poly 3D visuals that would almost be endearing if the game’s menus didn’t look so poorly-made – you could almost fool yourself into thinking the game’s visuals are deliberately low-quality in a retro sorta’ way if the rest of the presentation wasn’t also low-quality. This is joined by okay but forgettable cinematic-style music and a few brief voice clips for each character.

Galaxy Squad has some potential to be an interesting mix of genres, and I can see that potential play out in the way you have to keep track of different resources as you progress, balance the need to upgrade your ship’s loadout with the upgrading of your crew, and weigh the desire to explore against the costs of doing so.

The problem is that everything about this game is so poorly put together that doing anything feels like an ordeal. Navigating menus, moving your characters, figuring out what button to press to do a simple function, all of it is needlessly clunky to the point of extreme frustration here. And that’s when it actually works! At one point early on I found myself trapped in a shop menu, unable to leave or do anything, and I was forced to reset the game.

I think that if Galaxy Squad received some extra time playtesting and polishing what it has, this could have been a decent blend of Strategy-RPG and Roguelike. However, in this state it is only just barely playable, and I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone.

tl;dr – Galaxy Squad is a game that combines XCOM-style Strategy-RPG gameplay with Roguelike elements as players guide their spacefaring party through the galaxy while balancing the needs of their ship and crew. There are some interesting ideas here, but the game is absolutely ruined by a wealth of clunky interface problems and a horrible lack of polish. Skip this one.

Grade: D+

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