Aftercharge Impressions

Aftercharge is a competitive 3v3 game that features a team of invisible robots going against a squad of invincible security guards. The robots are attempting to destroy capsules of energy whereas the guards are trying to protect them. Essentially the robots have gone rogue after being reanimated and are now trying to stop the humans from exploiting a planet's core. They're not out to hurt their creators, but simply want to halt their plans. Going onwards to the actual game I wasn't really sure about any aspects of it prior to jumping in. I got invited to check it out during one of their pre-launch tests and thought why not. I played for a couple hours and got a good idea of how things run.

At first I was straight up confused since the match went by so quick, but once you understand the simple core mechanics you can create some very long and well balanced battles. It's a desperate skirmish of conflict as the robots attempt to find the best ways to break the various canisters. There was one map we played on which was small in size, yet it worked well for the type of conflict. From a robot perspective it's all about stealth and confusion. There aren't too many of you so team work is absolutely essential. You'll have to constantly be reviving one another and be careful to not be seen by the guards. It's almost like guerilla warfare as you take jabs at a canister and then run before getting gunned down.

On the security side of things you're working together to cover more positions than you have numbers. It's all about spreading out and using your abilities to your advantage. You can place mines, shields and so forth depending on your class. You also have general shooting options and these are all charged by the very canisters you're aiming to protect. The enemy is invisible so it's best to keep an eye for when some bright colors appear or when you happen to run by one of the robots. Going back to classes both sides have some slightly different options for playing the game. These characters can be customized with unique designs and color schemes for personalization.

Generally I found Aftercharge to be rather interesting, at first it seemed odd though once you get those key mechanics after just a couple games it can be tense. Matches have a decent pace to them, yet I've seen some deadlocked ones really go the distance. Those ones were however the best as you'd never know where the robots might come from as guards or as the robots feel a real pressure being the only one up and having to revive your squad. I felt it was distinct in design looking great while also being a blast to play. It's got seriously competitive gameplay to it and has potential for being a rather addicting title. It should be interesting to see how Aftercharge shapes up when it arrives on Steam PC and Xbox One in the future.

Read our Aftercharge Xbox One X Enhanced/Play Anywhere Details
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