The game, briefly
A methodical squad shooter about clearing industrial structures with three teammates, built on genuinely good enemy behaviour and a communication system that rewards patience. When it works, it produces the best five-minute sequences in this bench.
It works less often than it should, and the reason is almost entirely physical. This is the clearest case in the archive of a design whose ideas are held back by the way it asks you to express them.
The hold problem, in one game
Seven sustained holds, none of which can be converted to a toggle. Two of them — lean and breath-hold — are routinely held for over thirty seconds during a firefight, and lean in particular is expected to be maintained through entire engagements while aiming and firing.
The squad command wheel is the worst of the set. It must be held open with a shoulder button while a direction is selected and the aim is maintained, which means three simultaneous sustained inputs during the most stressful moments of the game.
| Held action | Typical duration | Toggle offered |
|---|---|---|
| Lean | Up to whole engagement | No |
| Breath-hold | 15–40 seconds | No |
| Squad wheel | 2–6 seconds, frequent | No |
| Brace | 5–20 seconds | No |
| Crouch | Extended | No |
| Sprint | Extended | No |
| Mark target | 1–2 seconds, very frequent | No |
The rebinding audit
Sixty-two per cent. Six actions cannot be reassigned: the squad wheel, mark, brace, the two inventory shortcuts and the tactical map. The menu does not indicate that these are fixed — they simply do not respond when selected, which several testers initially read as a bug.
That presentation failure is worth naming separately. A game that says "this cannot be changed" is honest. A game that silently ignores the attempt teaches the player that the menu is broken, and there is no way to tell the two situations apart from the outside.
Seven holds and no toggles is not a difficulty decision. Holding a button for forty seconds does not test tactical judgement; it tests grip strength, which the game is not otherwise interested in.
What one afternoon of menu work would fix
- A toggle option for lean, crouch, sprint and breath-hold, as Red Pillars offers for its single hold.
- A press-to-open, press-to-close mode for the squad wheel instead of hold-to-open.
- Rebinding permitted for the six locked actions, or an explicit statement that they are fixed.
- Any acknowledgement in the menu that an adaptive device is connected.
Across four devices
On pad the holds are uncomfortable but survivable for players used to the genre. On keyboard and mouse the situation improves substantially, because holds distribute across two hands and the fixed bindings happen to land on convenient keys.
On the adaptive switch box it fails. The device is detected for movement and firing, but the three-simultaneous-hold state required by the squad wheel cannot be expressed, and since the wheel is not rebindable there is no route around it. Squad commands — the best system in the game — are simply unavailable.
| Device | Playable | Actions unavailable |
|---|---|---|
| Keyboard and mouse | Yes | None |
| Standard pad | Yes, tiring | None |
| Adaptive switch box | Partially | Squad wheel, mark, brace |
| Flight stick | Not sensible | Most of the scheme |
Verdict
Six point four, and it is the most frustrating score in the bench to write, because the tactical design underneath deserves a seven and a half. Everything separating those two numbers is a menu that was finished early and never revisited.
If you play shooters on keyboard and mouse and have no difficulty with sustained holds, add a point to the score and enjoy it. If either of those does not describe you, this game will fight your hands for forty hours and will not let you change the terms.