NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics, a turn-based tactical shoot 'em up released for Linux recently, some thoughts

The developer of NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics [Itch.io, Steam] sent in a key for us to take a look, so look I did. It's interesting, as it's a mix of a shoot 'em up with turn-based tactical battles.


On first impression, the intro video is really long, slow and dull. If you're going to go with an intro story video, you really need to make sure it captures my attention, but it was too slow and frustrating. If they sped it up a little, it would probably work a lot better.

Essentially, a bunch of "dragons" came along and stole all your Elixir (booze, essentially) and you need to stop them. You have to chase down their Mothership, while upgrading your ship on your journey to find them.

The basic idea is a lot like FTL, with you jumping between sectors and dealing with anything that arises, although it's all turn-based giving you proper time to think. They say they are actually inspired by games like FTL, so it's not at all surprising. Although it also takes inspiration from turn-based titles too, since each sector is like a battle board. It's an odd mix, but it works surprisingly well.

You're only dealing with your single ship, not any crew, so there's less to worry about. Destroying enemy ships can give you SCRAP to repair and upgrade, which you can spend in shops if you happen to come across one. You can upgrade your ship components like engine, batteries, weapons and so on.

The ships are inspired by classic weapons too, with four ship classes to choose from. The Ballista, Dagger, Hammer and Staff. Each has a different play style, so there is some nice variety to it, although two are locked when you start. My favourite so far has to be the Hammer, as I found it easier and it just feels more powerful, since you only need to be near enemies and it damages in front and to the sides of your position.

While the battles seem simple, they are pretty clever with the design and do require some tactical thinking to get the most out of them. However, it can be a little confusing at the start, mainly due to how they explain the turn system. You pick a sector and begin your jump, but each jump consists of multiple battles.

Inside these battles: You take an action, then the enemy takes an action, but your actual "turn" doesn't end until you run out of Energy. Each jump point gives you limited "turns" until you jump again. If you manage to keep collecting Energy, your actual turn will last longer so you can get the most out of that particular jump. You don't even need to destroy every enemy in each jump point, you only need to survive each jump until you reach the next sector to repair, upgrade and so on.

It's actually a very good and pretty cleverly designed game, certainly has the same addictive charm that I found with FTL, but fully stands on its own with the fun combat. I can recommend this if you like games that don't take forever and with a little bit of your attention it can be a really rewarding experience. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.