Oh goody, time to review a game that couldn’t possibly offend anyone or be interpreted as any kind of commentary on the current geopolitical situation at the time of writing. Let’s see what we have here: Re-Legion is a cyberpunk RTS where you play as a guy calling himself “the Prophet” who starts a cult with the intention to violently overthrow the evil megacorporations controlling every aspect of people’s lives. Your decrees can require your followers to install cybernetic augmentations in their bodies and minds, and you fund your revolution by stealing cryptocurrency. Well, so much for that opening sentence…

You play as a man with the (very unfortunate) name Elion. I’ll just call him “your character” from now on to avoid any potential awkward circumstances. Your character decides that society has lived under the thumb of oppressive megacorporations for far too long. Re-Legion’s exposition explains that “humanity needs a leader who will turn it back from the dark path it has wandered onto. Someone who will convince the civilians to join the rebellion against the Ones.” Your character decides that he is destined to be that someone, so he begins to formulate a plan of action.

Your character determines that society cannot be truly freed unless the most potent invention of “the Ones” is destroyed. The device in question is called the “Thought Injection System” (or “T.I.S.”). I don’t think I need to explain why the existence of such technology is a problem. Re-Legion explains that “[u]nder the Thought Injection System, those who weren’t born into corporate families were trapped in nihilism, hedonism[,] and decadence. People have no choice but to live meaningless existences, looking only for cheap satisfaction of their basic needs.” It seems Re-Legion’s plot just gets progressively bleaker by the minute.

Your character knows that the Thought Injection System’s Emitter is housed in a major city. He intends to destroy it, but the prevalence of the robotic Corporate Police means he can’t do so alone. You happen to run into your old friend Falin, who, in turn, introduces you to Shereen. Falin describes Shereen as “kinda crazy,” which might help explain the fact that she dresses like a member of a legally distinct knockoff of the Knights Templar. Shereen has been looking for a “Prophet” who will carry out the in-game God’s divine will and overthrow “the Ones.”

Shereen believes you’re the Prophet whom she has long sought, thus reinforcing your belief that you alone have the power to successfully carry out your planned rebellion. You didn’t need much external convincing before you started calling yourself “the Prophet” and dressing like a rejected extra from one of the Hellraiser movies. Of course, a Prophet is nothing without followers, which (finally) brings me to Re-Legion’s core gameplay loop. During each mission of Re-Legion’s campaign, you’ll frequently encounter groups of gray-suited civilians who haven’t been fully influenced by the T.I.S.

Having the Prophet approach these civilians and perform a Sermon is your primary way of recruiting basic units. I do really mean “basic:” Any new units you recruit won’t be able to do anything but slowly shamble along behind you until you Anoint them into a more advanced type of unit. You’ll want to Anoint your newest units as soon as possible, since their slow movement speed and inability to fight make them useless to you otherwise. You’ll soon gain the ability to Anoint units into Fanatics and Purifiers. Despite their fancy names, these units are standard RTS fare.

Fanatics are Re-Legion’s most basic melee combat units, while Purifiers are equally rudimentary ranged units. You’ll also gain the ability to turn units into Hackers early on. Hackers are your first utility unit: They can’t directly fight, but if you station them at buildings you control, they can use their skills to give you access to turrets and surveillance cameras that will help in combat. Hackers can also steal extra cryptocurrency for you, which can in turn be spent to upgrade allied units and buildings you control. The more you upgrade your buildings, the more Hackers can be active at once.

Re-Legion’s story campaign is divided into individual missions. Each mission has its own objectives that serve to further the story once completed. Your number one priority is always the same, though: Do whatever you can to make sure that neither the Prophet, Shereen, nor Falin dies in combat and that enemies don’t destroy your Sanctuary. I’m sure that concept will sound straightforward and familiar to all you real-time strategy veterans out there. Assuming you complete each mission’s objectives without encountering either of the main failure states, you’ll get a screen that displays statistics about how well you did.

Likewise, if you fail a mission, you’ll be presented with a screen that shows exactly what caused you to fail. These screens are the only interruptions between missions within Re-Legion, though. I’m pleased to see there are no loading screens between missions, or anything else that hinders the story from progressing smoothly. I’m also glad that all of Re-Legion’s core gameplay mechanics and things like upgrade menus provide just the right amount of information so as to be easy enough to get the hang of without the potential for “information overload.” I’m a relative newcomer to the RTS genre as a whole, so Re-Legion makes for a positive introduction.

Overall, I’d say Re-Legion is definitely worth a look, whether you’re a seasoned real-time strategy player or you’re looking for a way to “dip your toe” into the genre, so to speak. That is, unless you’re put off by the story’s major focuses on religion and/or the prevalence of Deus Ex-style human augmentation. If you fall into either of those categories, you’re likely better off skipping Re-Legion. Personally, the well-implemented RTS mechanics, the story and setting, and the fact that Re-Legion’s title is a groan-worthy pun were enough to sell me on it. The same might well be true for you.

A PC review copy for Re-Legion was provided by Fulqrum Publishing for the purpose of this review.

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Re-Legion

$9.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Immersive story and setting.
• Quite well-implemented RTS mechanics.
• Straightforward core gameplay loop.
• Minimal interruptions to the story campaign.

Cons

• Major aspects of the story might be disturbing.