King City has fallen. 20 years ago, a band of supervillains emerged from their hiding holes, overpowered the heroes, and took over the metropolis. Now, it’s up to you as the commander of a squad of young superheroes to wrest it from their grip again. Inspired by legendary turn-based tactics game XCOM, as well as other classics, Capes adds a comic-book twist to this venerable PC genre.
If this premise sounds familiar to gamers of a certain vintage, then it’s because Capes is written by Morgan Jaffit, the same creative mind that brought us Freedom Force, the cult-classic superhero tactics game from way back in 2002. In many ways, Capes is dusting off the superhero costume that Freedom Force left behind, and updating it with the gadgetry, gloss, and depth that modern games demand.
In the dystopian city run by villainous despots Crashdamage, Wildstar, Primax and Alpha, superpowers have been outlawed (apart from their own ones, of course), meaning you have to assemble your team from the underground, taking on side-missions to build up your powers while working your way through an epic cinematic campaign. With over 50 Missions and 150 heroic challenges to take on, there’s a lot of work to do to retake King City, but hey, someone’s gotta do it!
So let’s meet some of the Heroes. First up, there’s Rebound, a punky-haired rogue who can dart around the battlefield disarming enemies, charging up her Ultimate by backstabbing enemies, which lets her unleash Shadow Blitz, damaging several random targets in range. Next up is Facet, a defensive tank covered in dense green crystals that can defend him as much as they can immobilise enemies. Each time he takes a hit, he builds up towards his Ultimate attack. Mindfire, meanwhile, uses telekinesis to deliver high damage to distant enemies; while Weathervane is capable of commanding the elements, using wind to push enemies off builds or into explosives, and devastating them with Chain Lightning.
(there will be plenty more superheroes to choose from too, but let’s show a bit of restraint with the spoilers, shall we?)
Individually these heroes are impressive, all with their unique play styles and upgrade paths, but deeper into the 40-hour campaign you’ll need to start synergising them if you’re to stand a chance. Each hero has ‘Team-Ups’ with their fellow heroes, executing unique Team-Up abilities depending on the combination. Rebound, for instance, can grant her teammates the ability to teleport around the battlefield, while Mindfire’s specific team-up with Rebound allows him to turn enemies around so that Rebound can execute her trademark backstab.
Unlike a lot of turn-based tactics games, Capes tries to move combat away from the vagaries of RNG (random number generation) and doesn’t want you just ducking behind full- and half-cover all the time (because what superheroes do that?). This game is all about the action, and getting in the faces of enemy thugs to slam them around the battlefield. You’ll need to be aggressive, but you’ll still need to be tactical, combining you squad’s powers and using the environment to keep the upper hand on the battlefield
Even superheroes need a bit of R&R, and between missions you’ll get the opportunity to explore each character’s individual skill tree back at the home base, endowing them with the abilities to suit your tactical style. Do you want the crystalline Facet to disarm and attack enemies, or taunt them and absorb damage using his defensive crystals (which builds him up towards his Ultimate, remember)? These are the kinds of cool little quandaries you’ll have when levelling your characters.
Want to try on the cape, squeeze into the spandex, and give it a go? Join the fight for liberation from May 29, when Capes is coming to PC as well as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation ⅘, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. You can wishlist Capes on Steam now, or head over to the Spitfire Interactive Discord to join its growing community of heroes.
The next generation of Superheroes has arrived. It’s up to you to lead them.
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