Recent reviews by Coup

Like others have said, there's an abundance of reviews with fewer than 10 hours in the game complaining about difficulty, the mechanics, the "tedium". There's a little truth to some of that, but most of it feels to me like they expected a Frostpunk-like game, but with the difficulty of "Easy" or "Normal" in that game.

IXION is tough, no doubt. It doesn't hold your hand, and challenges you to figure out the best way to solve your problems. My first completion took 30 hours, and not because that's how long the campaign is but because I would get to a certain point and say to myself, "I've learned a lot, I am going to start again and re-work my strategy". After that, I coasted through the remaining 2/3 of the game after pausing to re-evaluate how I interacted with it.

If you like a challenge, a game that requires creativity in base-design and really tests your ability to manage resources, and that will throw the kitchen sink at you mercilessly all the while, then this is for you. People who like Frostpunk on Hard difficulty or higher, people who love beautiful space city builders, and intriguing sci-fi stories.

There are a couple of things I think could be improved here - a "relocate building" button, a more intuitive resource-sharing system between sectors, more statistical data for events that happen on the map screen, a more streamlined system of accidents and how they relate to staffing issues, and some others. However, these are minor hiccups that didn't stop me from enjoying the game overall.

Looking forward to what this team continues to put out in the future!

It's pretty good!

I don't often write reviews, but I hope the developers read the constructive criticism here and can adjust their development. This game has a *lot* of potential, and I am tepidly recommending it.

If you like management sims you'll enjoy this game, despite its flaws. Let's list the positives.

1. Great concept and design.
2. Interesting story with good voice work.
3. Balanced tech progression system.
4. Great graphical execution.
5. Decent replayability.

Here's the cons.

1. RNG can screw you - either a well-placed meteor wiping out major production centers, or not enough necessary resources spawning in your area.
2. Very little in the way of help or hints on what things do - I've completed special projects and seen no notable difference.
3. Gameplay mechanics need alternatives. Food shouldn't *just* be made from the same 2 resources, give techs that provide renewable alternatives (for example), or end-game techs that can provide limitless (albeit expensive) crucial resources.
4. Worker AI is abysmal and resources will stack up in places they aren't needed.

I think there's a lot to improve in this game, and I am excited to see where the developers take it. In its current state, though, it needs more polish and work. Still, I had fun, and will continue playing it.

This game has been on my radar for some time, since survival city-building is my jam, and it did not fail me.

I know some people struggled with technical issues their first plays, but I did not experience any. I've had one crash during my play, and I believe it was influenced somewhat by my streaming software since I experienced some corruption of my video file after stopping. Otherwise, buttery-smooth gameplay and no crashing.

This game is challenging, but not impossible. It rewards quick thinking and attentiveness, and the most efficient playthrough will be one where you sacrifice people in exchange for results. It merits several playthroughs, especially if you are someone who enjoys achievement-hunting and different outcomes. If you like city builders, you like challenging survival games with moralistic choices, and you like trying new things every time you boot up a fresh game, this is the game for you. It's beautiful, its polished, and it's only in its infancy.

If you don't find yourself enjoying replaying scenarios more than once, enjoy tweaking your performance each playthrough, or enjoy giving yourself unique challenges (no deaths, no harsh laws, barbaric society only, etc.) then you probably won't enjoy this game. The main scenario can be accomplished anywhere between 3 - 8 hours (I finished a normal run in 3.5 hours), and subsequent scenarios are not as lengthy (Ark in 2 hours, Refugees in just a little less time than the main campaign). Overall there is about 10-15 hours of "first-time" content here, but it suits me perfectly.

Hours upon hours of mindless, shooty fun - this game doesn't break any new ground when it comes to innovation, but who needs that anyway? You shoot monsters until you kill the boss. It's an age-old adage that the game doesn't shy away from, and in fact enhances the gameplay since you just focus on one thing: killing monsters.

You get to pick from a variety of classes to help accomplish this playground of pew pew and chop chop, adding a sense of progress as you level up your class' skillset to better accommodate your playstyle. If the game feels too simple, bump up the difficulty and try and survive with more experienced teammates - the experience changes dramatically.

If you're looking for some quick fun and mindless violence, feel free to pick up Killing Floor and run through the rounds with up to five other players. It's absolutely worth it!

I think it goes without saying - I've really enjoyed this game. For anyone who likes a great empire builder that focuses on the nuances of creating a sustainable military, economy, and diplomatic relations, this is for you. Opening the entire world up to conquest and play is what makes this a real hidden gem in my book. I was so used to games like Empire: Total War that only gave you a small portion of the world stage to play on, but here you can literally go anywhere you like.

Some of the game feels very simplified to avoid confusion, as there is a ton of overhead. So much is happening at once that it's easy for players to get lost when first diving in, but a slew of YouTube video tutorials have been helpful is getting me up to speed. In-all this has been a rewarding experience for me from start to finish!