Capes - This Turn-based Superhero Game Where Evil Wins and Superpowers Are Illegal is Coming on May 29th!
Fans of over-the-top comic book superheroes and tactical combat will soon be able to play something exactly for them – Capes. A production, in which the defenders of humanity were defeated and years later, every superhero is hunted down.
PC and console players should mark May 29th in their calendar, so they don't miss the debut title from Australian. Production is about superheroes, in which the good guys are in the minority and have to challenge the world order that has been in place for twenty years. The task of the players will be to guide a group of young heroes, in which each character has different skills, and cooperation opens up new possibilities and guarantees even better results when facing villains.
In the lore of Capes, evil triumphed twenty years ago, and superheroes completely disappeared as a result. Since then, all superpowers were banned, and anyone who tries to use them is arrested and examined by The Company. The story was co-created by Morgan Jaffit, whom you may recognize from acclaimed classics like Freedom Force (2002), Teen Titans (2006), or Hand of Fate (2015).
The cinematic strategy-action hybrid from Spitfire Interactive may appeal to fans of such series as Invincible or legendary comics like Watchmen or Days of Future Past. The games author Morgan Jaffit used those sources of inspiration to create an original universe that, despite its colorful presentation, is darker and grittier than it may seem. In the world of Capes, good has lost and it's unclear whether it will be able to return and drive away the evil forces controlling the city that's pivotal to the entire plot here.
Add Capes to your wish list on Steam
In Capes, there are no leagues or justice
The most important element of Capes are turn-based battles that have us face enemies and bosses in various arenas. The combat is horizontal and vertical, as there's often the possibility of gaining height advantage. Heroes also have the option of pushing enemies out of the arena or using environmental elements, such as exploding barrels, which damage everyone in the blast radius, and the fire stays on the ground for longer, burning any character passing through it.
You can choose four superheroes for the mission. It's worth paying attention to the style that a given character represents here. Skills can focus on protecting companions and taunting enemies, backstabs (which can result in increased damage), crowd and environment control, or hitting multiple targets at once.
Each person also has their own unique skill, the activation of which requires meeting different conditions depending on the character and may influence, among others, receiving or dealing damage. You need to perform a given action the appropriate number of times for the mentioned ability to become available. Its use can turn the tide of battle if we only take full advantage of it. Each of the characters can also knock out the opponent's weapon to reduce the damage they can inflict. However, a different enemy always has a chance to approach and pick up the bat or gun lying on the ground.
The appropriate selection of characters helps to complete the main and side missions. During battles, optional objectives are available as well, the completion of which allows you to gain additional XP, thus achieving faster development of heroes. We will come across these types of extra actions to tick off during side and main missions.
Another important element of gameplay in Spitfire Interactive's game is team management. Everything is done from the appropriate options from the menu. You can get to know the current skills of each of the superheroes and their further development. Each skill can be transformed into a stronger version at a certain stage, and in the case of several of them, a new branch with alternative powers appears.
In the database, we can also check what synergy abilities are available when cooperating with another hero, opening up new tactics. Heroes can combine their powers to create even more explosive results. Having these synergies on the battlefield adds another layer of strategy and choosing the right crew for each mission is essential. In addition, the characters have their own list of challenges, the completion of which unlocks additional XP.
When creating their game, the creators were inspired by the XCOM series, but the production also resembles last year's Marvel's Midnight Suns, which also focused on superheroes. In that case, however, skills were hidden behind cards and a lot of emphasis was placed on building relationships with the characters. Capes focuses on combat and abandons all aspects related to base building. After missions, the player will not expand further buildings, which will be an advantage for players who do not like this aspect of XCOM or Marvel's Midnight Suns. We can fully focus on the upcoming battles that await superheroes willing to face The Company.
The graphics in Capes harken back to comics
Capes maintains the comic book character of the created universe. When the characters speak, appropriate clouds appear, containing the sentences being spoken. The conversations in the base are presented in a way that resembles a graphic novel, showing drawn portraits of the characters that carry talk to each other. This and the outstanding voice-acting for each hero creates a captivating immersion between missions
During the mission, players will witness cutscenes created on the game engine, during which the 3D models of characters talk and push the plot forward. The character models are caricatured and reflect the previously mentioned portraits. However, the graphics are not cell-shaded and resemble more classic isometric games.
Capes is expected to release on May 29th 2024. The production will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S, and Nintendo Switch. Add game to your wishlist on Steam, or pre-purchase on consoles now.
Material was created in collaboration with Daedalic Entertainment.
