r/Highfleet • u/Sneedullah_avenged • 11d ago
[Spoilers]I "won" the game for the first time, here's some opinions Spoiler
I won the game for the first time, and in my first playthrough nonetheless(the first playthrough where I actually reached khiva, at least). Let me first commemorate the fallen:
-RIP ~560k civilians who perished in nuclear fire, your deaths were not in vain
-Rest easy, the many ships and their crews who died bravely defending their homes, who saved Gerat from certain nuclear apocalypse, may Almighty bless your souls
-And Almighty especially bless you, Kormoran, who single-handedly took on and destroyed an entire Ballistic Missile group. You saved the world brothers, sorry for accidentally nuking your fleet, Grand Duke will live with that guilt for the rest of his life
With that being said, the ending felt VERY underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, the game itself is one of the best strategy games I've ever played, and it especially shines in the last mission, and the story is surprisingly good for what it is. But in the end it felt like none of my decisions/worldview choices mattered. I expected some dialogue with tarkhans depending on my relations and worldview, maybe some celebrations as well now that we avoided nuclear war(or maybe not since hundreds of thousands died). But it's only Pyotr saying "glad that's over lol, come read this thing on a wall I found". I know they wanted to tease a sequel or a dlc, but it feels very lame after all you've been through.
What do you guys think?
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u/Electrical-Attempt18 11d ago
The game is unfinished in both gameplay and lore. Yes it does have an ending but the ending in question is very lacking to say the least. The funny thing is if you go look in the files there is an unused image of Mark and the gang looking at said wall that I assume was going to be used as the background when then game actually tells you what the writing says but like most things in this game it never made it in. KK is working on a sequel tho, communication is radio silent as always but from bits and pieces the community decoded from the unknown language known as "Russian" there might be a new campaign with quote "temperature will decrease".
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u/TangoToniy 11d ago
Yeah it feels a bit underwhelming but I also don’t know how it could’ve been much different given some of the design constraints. Namely how the story and progression systems are setup but also the fact all cities are pretty much the same, there’s no culture or strong identity. Another factor is the battle system: since you can only face off against 3 ships at most the combat doesn’t really evolve much from the mid to end game. It would be interesting to see fleet operations in battle with formations and tactics taken to another level.
Overall I agree with you that this is a great game that does a lot of things right, but it’s limitations are very noticeable towards the end of the campaign imo.
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u/Keroscee 11d ago
Another factor is the battle system: since you can only face off against 3 ships at most the combat doesn’t really evolve much from the mid to end game.
While I agree on the preface, special ammo, building your own ships and most importantly... getting a solid grasp on aircraft sorites and BVR combat fundamentally changes how the game is played.
This is something the game really dishes to you via hints. You have to piece it together, but the game does tend to change fundamentally once you hit this mark (say around 30 hours). And dealing with strike groups goes from an anxiety-inducing dance to a game of bait and whack-a-mole. I.e you don't really do much in the battle systems other than mop up survivors from your air and missile strikes.
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u/OKB-ZVEZDA 11d ago
Looks like someone had hell of a ride to save a cocoon that will carry the seed of human civilization through the planetary glaciering.
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u/Hansi_Olbrich 11d ago
The sudden ending, clear allusion to the story continuing, and the sense that you've only just discovered how all the game elements work together when it ends, does leave oneself feeling very lacklustre at the end of the game. The fact the creator of the game has been more or less dead silent on any sequel and has provided absolutely no additional story/writing/images/PR to the franchise has been doubly depressing. In fact, it's stopped me from starting a new game in HighFleet once I recollect what I have to look forward to at the end.