Developed By: Destructive Creations
Published By: Destructive Creations
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, XBOX X|S, PC
Reviewed On: PS5
Review Code Provided By: Destructive Creations
63 Days is a real-time strategy game set during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. The game reminds me of the Commandos series which I loved and not many games are developed for this genre. Surprisingly this game is also available for consoles so this will also be the first time I will be playing an RTS on a console. Fingers cross.
Darker Times
The game takes place during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 which happened for 63 days from 1 August until 2 October, hence the game’s title. You play as fictional characters who are part of the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation.
It is undoubtedly an interesting story as it is based on a real-time historical event and the game does a great job of telling the story from the firsthand perspective of one of the Polish underground resistant members. The voice acting also does a great job of immersing the players in the plight which came with the German occupation.
The story might be confusing at first as you are thrown into the battlefield but as I slowly completed missions, I felt a little bonded with the characters and their personalities. Seeing how each character also has a unique place in the game because of their skills, it was easier to differentiate each characteristic of each character.
The story might not be deep but because of the historical ties, I felt easily connected to it and even went on the web to read the history of the Warsaw Uprising. I know that this story hits home for the developers as they are from Poland, and I can see how much care was put into the story in this game.
Muddier Times
Being an RTS the graphics in this game are serviceable, the game has a darker hue since it is set during times of war but everything looks distinguishable even when zoomed out all the way. There are repetitive enemy models for sure but the characters you control have distinctive models that you will differentiate them easily.
Animation and sound are also great where you can see some enemies off guard either when they are taking a leak or chit-chatting among themselves. It also helps that the game comes with a highlight option which outlines enemies and environmental objects that you can interact with through walls.
Working as a Unit
The game is a real-time strategy game where you control a limited number of units to complete objectives in a mission. You start with brothers Lynx and Youngster who are part of the Polish underground resistance. Lynx is the brawn, and Youngster is the brain with each having unique skillsets that complement each other.
Let me be clear, I would classify this game as a full-on stealth game. If you get detected, you will be killed by the sheer amount of gunfire and grenades coming to get you. You can try your best to run and gun but so far, I found no way to complete a mission doing so unless the game allows you to do so.
Instead, using each character’s abilities to cause a distraction to take out enemies in silence is the best option in this game. The game seems open-ended but with how the maps linearly push you from point to point, there is usually only one way to handle the situation since most of them require stealth.
Soulslike RTS
The game has a tutorial section that goes through the basics but there are a lot of things you will have to learn by yourself using trial and error. For example, if you knife a person on a building ledge, they will fall into the bush below so you or even enemies suddenly spawn in to surprise you. So, like a Soulslike, be prepared to retry over and over again.
Even with the Very Easy difficulty, the game will provide a challenging experience for most people and increasing the difficulty will increase the number of enemies on the map and also make your units easier to detect. Take note even with only 6 missions in total, the game will take hours to complete with each mission easily taking 1 to 2 hours to finish not counting the amount of reloading checkpoints you have to do.
Luckily, the game knows this and provides quite an excellent auto-save system, which saves most of the time once you take down an enemy or reach a certain area on the map. I tried to use this checkpoint system to explore alternative ways to complete the mission
Playing on a Controller
I played and tested this on the PlayStation 5 and I am okay with using a controller, but it does get some getting used to. I found out that the game does not inform you on every key like how tapping R2 or L2 will cycle through your characters and skill which I think was not mentioned because this is not an issue on the computer since you can just press a key on the keyboard to select stuff.
Luckily the game does come with a planning mode which allows you to stop time and give orders anytime in the game. You can then trigger planning mode and issue the orders to your unit immediately and executing a plan with multiple units simultaneously did give me a sense of gratification.
The game does have some pathing problems with the game always selecting the shortest path around which includes walking into the enemy line of sight. This also extends to the game not allowing you to put waypoints that your units can follow. Having a unit suddenly walk out to the line of sight is frustrating especially since I am using a controller which, to be honest, is not that good with quick changes.
Another disadvantage of the console version is if the game updates, you are unable to use any of your saved games anymore. You do save your chapter progression but all your saves during in the missions will be corrupted after the update. I was just about to complete a mission and I slept thinking of completing it tomorrow. Little did I know there was an update, and I had to replay the mission all over again. Do note that this was warned by the developers that this can happen on consoles but not for PC versions.
Multiplayer?
I tried to wait as long as I could before releasing this review to give the multiplayer side a try but the game multiplayer seems broken. Even when I managed to join a game, I was stuck in spectator mode which had no control whatsoever.
The only thing I found out is the game allows another player to join you in your campaign but other than that, I am unable to experience how the game will work in multiplayer. On top of that with the limited amount of people playing, finding an online game is hard.
What I Liked About 63 Days
- The gameplay is excellent especially if you like real-time strategy and figuring out how to solve a situation
- The story is based on a true historical event which even if fictional has piqued my interest in the event
- Each character feels different and plays a role in the game and figuring out how to combine their skills is a worthwhile challenge
- Each difficulty adds a layer of new ways to tackle a situation by adding more patrol, lower time of detection and more.
What I Didn’t
- There seems to be an almost linear path in each mission which limits certain freedom on how to handle a situation
- There are a few missing details in the tutorial which they could have added
- Lack of waypoints to issue multiple commands
- Multiplayer seems broken
- The console UI is a little frustrating to use
An Interesting Outlook
63 Days is a niche game which I like I must say. It brings back fond memories of playing the Commandos series on PC. The game has the potential to be an excellent foothold for this genre and hopefully with proper marketing future games by developer Destructive Creations will get more attention.
With that said, the unplayable multiplayer and how many issues with the console edition of the game need to be worked on. The corrupted save game and lack of waypoint do make playing with a controller a little difficult. If you are planning to try this game I would highly recommend getting it for the PC as it is surely a better experience. With the console issues not counting to the score, 63 Days gets a:
