Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander Preview

I’ve never been that good at 4X games. I get far too distracted by trying to explore every star and mine every planet that I often forget to actually do anything productive. The usual outcome is that the enemy swarms me while I’m busy colonising planets and digging for minerals on every flat surface in sight. But nonetheless, I do love them. I was quite pleased to preview Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander as it is a classic 4X game but with a combat system that draws its influences from JRPGs, another genre I’m fond of. Essentially, it’s Master of Orion meets Final Fantasy IV.

You play as a commander of the Starbase Halcyon 6. You’ve only recently been promoted to this post as a result of a massive thinning of the ranks. This is largely due to aliens called the Chruul suddenly appearing in your sector through portals and killing everyone. You must construct a fleet, research technology and train crew to deal with this invading force. The fate of humanity, as is always the case in videogames, rests with you.

One of the many races you will meet.

The story is particularly emergent, with each playthrough starting your story the same, but developing it very differently. There are a lot of races that will visit your base and you have a tonne of diplomacy options available to you through the conversations that you have with them. Some will offer you side quests and helping them out will often improve your standing with that race. Turning them down can make them angry though, so be careful. I really liked the way these conversations were done. They reminded me a lot of the old games Starflight and Star Control, both of which the developers have cited as influences, and both games that I loved back in the ‘90s.

That influence of classic ‘90s games is evident throughout Halcyon 6, from the quirky chiptune music, through the easy to learn but hard to master gameplay, to the 16-bit influenced art style. It wouldn’t look out of place being sold on a 5¼” floppy in a big box. It’s also about as hard as one of those games, with quite a steep difficulty curve unless you play in a particular way.

Difficulty was an area where I’d quite like to see the game improve as time goes on. I won’t go into too much detail so as to avoid spoilers but there’s a particular way of playing that will make the game easier. If your play style doesn’t match this, then you will have a harder time, but the game doesn’t make it obvious what the best tactic is. It would be better if the game either gave you more of a nudge in the right direction, or made other methods more fruitful. Remember that this is a game in development though and it’s something that has been mentioned by a number of other people in the game’s Steam Community, with the developers stating that it is something they are looking at.

Combat is turn based, as you expect from this type of game, but rather than a strategy affair, it works in the same way that the turn-based battles in a JRPG do. Your ships line up alongside your foes, who are also in a neat line, then you take it in turns to blast each other using a series of special abilities. Different ships have different abilities, with some being able to fill the “healer” type role by repairing themselves and other ships. Many attacks deal what are essentially status effects, including Hull Breach and Sensors Down, which can be exploited by your other attacks. If you’ve played any JRPGs in the ‘80s or ‘90s then you’ll be right at home with the combat in Halcyon 6.

An example of the RPG-esque combat system

There’s already a good deal of content in the game and so far, I’m really enjoying it. It can only get better as time goes on and I’m pleased to note that there have been three updates in the short period of time that I’ve been playing the game for this preview. With its “best of both worlds” approach, it’s a game that should appeal to fans of both 4X Strategy games and JRPGs alike; doubly so if, like me, you’re a fan of both!