Indonesia’s Toge Productions is now the face of the Southeast Asian game development scene. Between its publishing efforts and its biggest acclaim to fame, the soothing and touching coffee making sim/visual novel Coffee Talk, the team sure are blooming. Or sprouting, in this case. They’re named after literal bean sprouts.
So what are making next? A strategy tactics mech game.
Kriegsfront Tactics have been years in development, and this Prologue gives the best glimpse of what the game is all about. It has the essence of a good tactical strategy-RPG, though the storytelling may need to be worked on a bit more.
A Story Of What-Ifs
Kriegsfront Tactics wastes no time in setting up its fictional world grounded in reality. A reality where mechs are the main instruments of war. After the Yamato Empire surrendered in the war, it left a power vacuum, and apparently a bunch of mechs, in Nusania. And now the people who are mostly known for being farmers are forming themselves into growing threat, and you control the squad that arrived in this foreign land to curb the insurrection.
Or, to not beat around the bush: What if the not-Japanese empire retreated from not-Indonesia and the locals are forming up a militia and now the great powers that is the not-USA is intervening. And you’re on the side of the not-USA.
The story premise is solid, Kriegsfront Tactics has the aspiration to tell an anti-war war story and I am invested in seeing war crimes and other atrocities being depicted as these soldiers are being played around by foolish politicians. The war speeches in English and Indonesian are chilling. The vision is there. I love to see where this story goes.
But the delivery is… crude. Dialogue between the soldiers in your squad are supposed to show how ruthless these men and women can be, but it comes off outlandish. I don’t like the vibe of the squad of Alpha, Beta, Charlie, Delta and Echelon at all. I lost Charlie early on because I didn’t realise the game has permadeath, and I was glad he did, I didn’t want to hear him yapping anymore.
Cuss words are uttered to fill the curse jar to the brim for no reason. There’s even a word being used that’s now considered a slur specifically in Malaysia. I get that it’s to portray these characters as tough, heartless, even evil, people. But the f-bombs and other curse-aries being drop on occasion feel cheap and in poor taste I feel like.
The storytelling may need a finer touch. Curse and cuss all you want, but I can’t take them seriously if that’s the defining trait I took away of these characters.
Strategy Tactics Goodness
Other than that slightly sore spot, Kriegsfront Tactics Prologue is fantastic. At least one person in the team is a big fan of Front Mission, as they should. I wish I gave Front Mission a chance way back then, those games are rad.
While I’m more of a fan of the recent XCOM games rather than Front Mission, even from this viewpoint the game’s solid.
The use of the AP system is brilliant- especially with the colour-coded grid for the XCOM strategists to grasp how far can you move using that game’s play language. But by not tying it to a rigid two-action system, it allows for more strategic options. AP won’t fill up to the maximum each turn, so there’s merit to maybe leave some AP on standby to carry over to the next turn, or ready for a counter-attack.
Shots can also splash to hit other unexpected targets. An enemy’s shot veers off one of my mechs but there’s another mech diagonally beside it that catches the stray sniper shot instead, which I find cool. Enemies might even use ranged missiles and take friendly fire just to get to you, which is also cool.
Some shots, like from a sniper rifle, are manually aimed so you can pinpoint what part of a mech you aim- and it’s crucial, as disabling arms or legs give you a big advantage that can turn the tide of battle. And it’s also cool.
There is one thing I don’t quite get the combat balance and that is the melee options. As it stands, I find them weak. Too weak. They deal damage to a random body part, and strikes don’t do as much damage. Even the tradeoff being more AP to deal successive attacks don’t seem to be enough. One of the mechs in the squad defaults with having a knuckle duster and a shotgun as their weapons. The shotgun is usually the better option, unless it’s out of ammo.
Battles in Kriegsfront Tactics feel tense, especially when you realise how it’s structured. You don’t heal up and get full ammo at the start of each battle. Outside of the battle you roam around a world map where you can find points of interest, and also stumble on enemy patrols. It gives off Phantom Brigade vibes, which is cool.
But unlike that game, you can’t customise your mechs in Kriegsfront Tactics at any time, you have to find a specific point of interest with a garage. I wish it is made more clear which point of interest is a garage. There’s only one within the Prologue, but not being able to switch out parts with low HP unless you get in a garage is not cool.
There’s plenty of cosmetic customisation available, as seen in the Kiegsfront Tactics Diorama. Speaking of, the photo mode is properly featured already for those sweet, sweet mecha action shots.
The prologue is worth around an hour of two of content, and it ends on a spectacular fight. I ended that tough encounter on a pyrrhic victory and I was glad that was the end of the prologue. I have no idea how to recover from the massive losses which this particular encounter will surely inflict on most players.
If this is how the tougher boss fights will play out, I am both excited and scared and how the mech wars will shape up. Putting the criticism of character dialogue aside, the character actions sure are powerful. And messed up.
Closing Thoughts
All in all, Kriegsfront Tactics has made it clear this is a strategy tactics/strategy-RPG with potential. The storytelling may need some time to cook so it can tell a harrowing story about war But the combat is already in good form, and the strategic layer looks to set up this game being a long game where winning a battle may not be as important to as winning the war.
And as a game that incorporates the sounds of gamelan in its soundtrack (in particular those ethereal bonang gongs), I wish nothing less than success for Kriegsfront Tactics. And based on what’s on display in the prologue, it’s an achievable task.
Kriegsfront Tactics Prologue is free and will go live on July 18 on PC (Steam). The game has no release date yet.
Played on PC. Early Access key to Prologue provided by the publisher.