MENACE PC-STEAM

Lead a force of marines, mercenaries, and criminals in a distant system, on the fringe of the Primordial Worlds. In the far frontier, the Antaño system is under the yoke of pirates, corporations of dubious morality, and broken planetary governments fighting for a new order. You begin in command of a marine detachment aboard the Impetus RCT attack cruiser, though you'll soon find yourself needing to unite the locals under your leadership to defeat an unknown threat. Deploy tanks, walkers, mechs, and infantry platoons with a wide array of available tools. Ensure your troops are well-trained, plan operations, and engage in absolutely deadly tactical battles.

The developers of Battle Brothers take us to the distant future in MENACE, a turn-based tactical RPG set in an isolated system where there are signs of a new, unknown threat.

The Republic Marine Corps detachment has come to bring the frontier back into the fold, but what should be a mere pacification mission will soon turn into a system-wide threat...

• You choose how to handle the situation. You will begin to receive distress calls from multiple planets, and you will have to decide who to respond to, what resources to use, and when to act based on the readiness level. Your choices will determine how local factions perceive you and will directly impact relationships and the favors they might be willing to do for you. Will you prioritize the criminal specialists in intelligence gathering, enemy equipment hacking, and getting the best prices from local dealers? Or will you cast them aside to focus on repair and recovery teams to keep operational vehicles and advanced technology at your disposal?

• Communications are down, so you're at the top of the chain of command, and marines, mercenaries, and criminals look to you for answers. An operation is not limited to a single battlefield but branches into various missions where you will have to fight across entire planets. Weigh your options as you progress through an operation and choose from the available missions: you could take out enemy air defenses preventing you from deploying tanks, or you could go directly for your objective and rescue the hostages you need to gain local support. Progress through missions until you complete the operation and advance the grand campaign, but remember that every decision you make will have far-reaching consequences, not just for the operation itself, but for the fate of the entire system.

• The Impetus RCT attack cruiser has become your base of operations, not only serving to transport you from mission to mission, but also providing orbital support and a place for troops to get some well-deserved rest. Invest in upgrades and customize your mobile headquarters to suit your playstyle. Seek opportunities among local allies to get a head start on the task at hand.

• Without access to the standard naval arsenal you're so familiar with, you'll have to rely on the local black market and what you scavenge in combat to equip your platoons. Each engagement will serve not only to bring the fractured system under control, but also to obtain new equipment to fulfill your mission, such as the improvised war machinery of pirate factions or the high-quality weaponry of local mercenaries.

When your enemy outnumbers you and sometimes outmatches you in technology, death lurks around every corner. Furthermore, weather conditions and a variety of biomes will make human enemies the least of your problems during engagements across multiple battlefields. As if that weren't enough, somewhere hidden on the planet is something alien that uses unpredictable and relentless methods.

• Battles in MENACE are no walk in the park: you'll face ruthless and well-prepared enemies who won't hesitate to rain down lead, plasma, and fire on you, so be prepared to lose entire platoons left and right and adapt to a constantly changing battlefield. Pacifying an entire system is not a risk-free endeavor, and you'll need to demonstrate skill if you want to achieve victory.

• Flank the enemy to neutralize their cover, or blast them out with artillery. Use cover to set up pincer attacks that keep the enemy pinned down and without defensive options. Don't let your guard down; even if you use all the information gathered in reports to devise a careful strategy, plans never survive the first contact with the enemy.

• Monitor the effective range of your weapons, their damage based on distance, and their utility against light or armored enemies. Even beyond the ideal range, all shots slightly affect the nearest platoon, whether or not it's your intended target, regardless of whether it's an ally or enemy. Heavy weaponry is more likely to intimidate the enemy than small arms, so you can adapt to your desired approach by drawing from the available arsenal. Study the enemy to decide whether to use them as targets for your snipers or to use suppressing fire and close the distance with your troops.

• Enter battle aboard a range of vehicles with different strengths, weaknesses, and armament to choose from; troop transports, MLRS systems, adapted trucks, and much more. The firepower of heavy tanks is immense, but the freedom and speed of Walkers to turn are crucial when responding to faster threats. You'll need select pilots to deploy your vehicles, and it won't be cheap. Will you bring the self-propelled artillery requisitioned from mercenaries at the expense of depriving your infantry of better equipment? This decision could cost you an entire platoon, but the extra firepower might be what you're looking for to secure victory.

• Use limited resources before missions to get your platoons ready for the task. Infantry platoons can change their armor to balance protection and additional accessories, such as drones, grenades, or target markers. There's a wide variety of weapons to equip your platoons with, including powerful specialist weapons (flamethrowers, sniper rifles, or EMP cannons, among others). Each of them will have advantages, but also disadvantages.

Pike is the quintessential marine: loyal to the Republic and a professional soldier who doesn't shy away from adversity. Rewa can't stop reliving past traumas and feeling latent fury. Lim owes Pike one for saving her colony, and she doesn't trust anyone who isn't a marine: she'll have to learn to collaborate with them little by little. In MENACE, platoon leaders have their own stories and personalities, so as their commander, your job also involves mediating any conflicts that may arise.

• Each leader has their own expectations and aspirations, whether they belong to your loyal marines or are locals you've recruited. Their achievements and failures on the battlefield will shape their leadership: if there are multiple confirmed enemy eliminations in a mission, morale might be strengthened in subsequent engagements; but if, on the other hand, the entire team perishes, the leader's performance will be affected until they regain their composure. Will you decide to put them in charge of a substandard platoon just because you need numerous ranks? Or will you agree to dismiss its members to give them time to recover, even if that might jeopardize the operation?

• Leaders improve over time and gain rank, allowing you to customize them and improve the performance of the platoon under their command. Keep them alive and enhance them through a promotion tree full of active and passive skills to face the enemy.

• In each game, a selection of characters is drawn from a massive pool. Discover how their backgrounds intertwine and prepare to experience the unique combinations of each campaign. Stories will unfold unexpectedly as you get to know your leaders. Watch them crumble under the pressure of an impending cataclysm and train them as best you can to fight the threat.

Thanks to the procedural generation of operations composed of multiple missions and battle maps, along with a wide selection of characters and equipment, each game of MENACE will be different from the last. Face a true challenge that reveals different facets with each new playthrough and will test your skill and ability to innovate.