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Save the rhinos! No to poachers!: the strategy game | We Are The Caretakers - First Impressions

1K View2023-01-07

We Are The Caretakers is a mix of Grand Strategy, 4X, JRPG, and Squad Management all packed and blended into what they call an afrofuturist art style. It has recently left Early Access on PC and also released for Xbox Series systems. It will be hard to compare this to a single title entirely as many of its aspects are such a fresh crossover of elements from many different games and genres.

For example, We Are The Caretakers has semblances of 4X games that we all know and love, like Civilization, Endless Legend, and Age of Wonders, but it's not turn-based and not locked on a tile-based map. It also feels like a Grand Strategy game like the popular Paradox Interactive Games in a sense that it's real-time pausable, but it's not really grand, as you only control a small faction and highly specialized units.

The squad management aspects are clearly inspired by Ogre Battle, Darkest Dungeon, and XCOM, and the surprising turn-based combat is deep and expanded, highly reminiscent of a JRPG style of combat. All of these put together forms into an exciting new type of strategy game, wrapped in an afrofuturist – basically African-American inspired, Black Panther-esque — sci-fi art style. Narratively-driven by an substantial eco-conscious campaign with a clear message on animal preservation and conservation.

It’s not often that we see a PC strategy game with controller support, but when we get one, it’s usually something that is well thought-out and properly implemented, especially when it is also released on consoles. We Are The Caretakers is such a recent example of that, even if the UI is definitely PC-like even for the Xbox version.

You control the leader of a secret faction of “protectors”, exploring the map set in the fictional African-like nation of Shadra, interacting with various points of interests, doing missions and quests, and earning experience. There is a day / night cycle and it is real-time pausable.

The main enemies you fight in the game are these poachers, human and alien alike, in which you are trying to protect the Rhino-like creature Raun from. Each of them with their own set of motivations and reasoning behind their hunts. Instead of killing enemies, you can also arrest them and even recruit them, which is a feature I’ve rarely seen if I’ve ever even seen one.

The main premise is that these Rauns are normally protected by Domes, but an alien ship has mysteriously disabled these protective barriers, requiring your extra effort to protect them from Poachers. Aside from the initial squad, you can assemble more squads from a pool of 100+ recruitable asymmetrical characters with diverse traits, abilities, and personalities.

These squads become individual units in the map and can do something different on the map at the same time, resulting in an interesting multifaceted gameplay experience.

You can train and upgrade these “caretakers” and change their classes from a selection of 30+ unique jobs. As well as improve your faction in general by upgrading your HQ via a technology tree.

Bonuses such as increased stats, recruitment capacity, population, or additional effects are researchable. You also have a reputation to take care of that changes depending on your playstyle, be it a ruthless protector or a friendly caretaker.

Despite the amazing afrofuturist aesthetic and heavy african accents in the voice acting, the graphics are quite the opposite; bit lackluster, with very bland textures and an unimpressive lighting system that could have greatly enhanced the colorful palette design.

We Are The Caretakers is an interesting mixture of different genres that work together to form an exciting new type of narrative strategy game. The graphics are a bit dated, sure, but the whole premise is something you don’t see everyday especially with its novel art style and eco-conscious focus with its animal preservation premise.