Completed the game earlier today, mid difficulty normal mode. And would like to share my thoughts on the characters and their mutations.
My playstyle was mostly stealth and alpha striking and thus my view of the characters will be colored by how I play. My core team for pretty much all of the game was Bormin, Dux and Farrow.
Lets start with the two “main” characters who also where the most well designed of them all.
Bormin the close combat tank.
All but one mutation fits him very well and helps him full fill his role. A very strong character in all situations.
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Joker.
The skill fits him very well, however. I tried to use the skill once and aggroed every enemy in a enormous radius, which makes the skill unusable. In my opinion it should only aggro currently engaged enemies. -
Spore Cloud.
I don’t see why anyone would want to use this on Bormin. His role is to get targeted and when he gets hit it’s not a big deal due to his HP pool. So why would I want him to be untargetable? -
His stats are a bit boring with only HP boosts especially since armors help boost the HP pool. I see little reason to take more then two cheap points, would be nice to see something more and compelling to spend points in stats.
Idea: Boar speed 25% to evade Overwatch, Thick Hide, one permanent armor.
Dux the sniper.
All his mutations fit him very well and they are all useful for his role. Nothing to really comment on.
- His stats points however I’m a bit torn about. I can understand the thought behind movement, he should with ease be able to move to another vantage point.
However in reality you don’t move him that much, combat is overall very stationary after the first turn especially for a long range character and snipers require reload each turn. However I have no sugestion right at this moment what to replace movement with.
Selma questionmark.
I really don’t know what her intended role is, she got a bit tank, a bit damage and a bit control. Mutations are all over the place and she is a jack of all trades, useless in all.
- Her stats are the worst of everyone, grenades already have a base range of 10, and there is not a single fight where you need more.
Maybe the intention was to have her really far back and combine Joker with her root skill and grenade passives. I can see that maybe working but that to me feels like a boring playstyle. But then every character doesn’t have to fit me.
Personally I would like to see her reworked into some kind of medium range controller, with her nature theme.
Keep her small frame passive and her root, rework basically everything else.
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Gunslinger as a weapons skill matches her better then Twitch Shot, she got AoE root why not match that with an AoE damage skill.
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Cocoon as 2nd major. Veins and roots sprout out of the ground and completely disables a single target for one turn. However being completely covered they also protect the target from any kind of damage.
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Summon low cover could be another skill, combines well with her small frame. Cover is up for a couple of turns, either for free or movement included into the skill.
Farrow the alpha striker.
She is quite key to make sure you can take out mid/late game patrols silently, since you need guaranteed critical hits to make sure you have enough damage.
Most of her mutations have great synergy and fit her role very well. Her last 3 mutations overlap a bit much.
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Super Tendons is quite weak to get that late game, especially since on the other side you have Frog Legs which is God Tier and doesn’t mean she misses out on Silent Assassin.
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Moth Wings I can see being used to offset the -25% of Gunslinger but it still pales compared to Frog Legs.
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Her stat tree is the best one of all characters.
Magnus, psychic or just one trick pony?
The only thing Magnus got for him is Puppeter which is very good in a few fights but other then that I don’t see it. His skills and stats suggest he is intended to be a flanker.
* Chain Lightning, I tested it once and never again. It did 3 damage per target. Why would I use that when the enemy got an hp pool of 30ish and standard weapons do around 10 damage and a grenade does 8 damage. Completly useless, I wouldn’t even use it if it was his only major mutation.
* Silent Assassin and Skull splitter are skills more suited to deal with alone enemies you want to kill on the first turn, Pupeteer and Chain Lightning suggest that he is a character to use on larger fights. Give him a better weapon skill and change his passive. Suggestion: “Psychic Mind” Immune to mind control.
* Would also like to see more of his psychic theme, maybe change Stealth to something else, a buff skills for team mates or a terror skill to debuff enemies.
Mod edit: Adding spoiler tags for unrevealed character
