Check out the upgraded demo for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is an upcoming squad tactics heist RPG, from Trese Brothers who created Star Traders: Frontiers and Templar Battleforce.

The developer previously put up a demo for the last Steam Next Fest, but now with the Steam Stealth Fest live they decided to not only keep the demo up but they've expanded and fixed up the demo based on a lot of feedback they directly received from the previous event.

I spent a bit of time in the demo and came away quite impressed. It feels really slick, with a nice mixture of abilities across the different types of characters. Everything about it feels a lot smoother compared with the likes of XCOM too and their Native Linux build of the demo has been running great on max settings too.

All the changes since the last demo:

• Security AI's thoughts and actions are visible between turns
• Roster is now unlocked to view characters (customization still locked)
• Check out recruits in the roster before hiring on to team
• Heist Advantages now available
• New UI for Victory/Defeat use the mission map from mission planning
• Improved SFX around moving
• Fixed bug where Sec Tally did not immediately respond to camera spotting
• Improved Rooftop level objective area
• Fixed issues that could cause hunting AI to skip turns at times
• Rebuilt mission victory and defeat screens
• Medkits and other healing effects show their effect in the target's HP bar
• Improved sensitivity of mouse rotation (right click, rotate)
• Damage from grenades is immediately visible as the mouse is moved to target them
• Improved colors in HP bars to make the damage done always visible every single frame
• Improved performance of mission map hovers - will never lag behind or skip off target when panning or rotating
• Cleaned up very small "skip" at the end of most character's movements
• Active Buffs and Debuffs have correct icons and duration shown in character and enemy hovers
• Improved visual clarity of potential damage in target's Health Bar, no frames where the value can't be seen
• Improved Cameras and Radar Array to be more accurate in their detection
• Improved logic as to which enemy agents can be called off their current duty by security events
• Combat logs for Cameras and Radar Arrays include the character name that was spotted specifically
• Fixed bug where enemy could take 3+ Overwatch shots in some situations
• Fixed bug with Vanguard's Overdrive Talent, guard who spots her might not stop moving immediately
• Fixed bug where engaging movement Talents like Cybersword "Lightfoot" did not update warnings about heard in movement path
• Fixed control issue where Talents like Cybersword "Lightfoot" would not allow you to toggle Sprint/Sneak
• Fixed bug causing aggro enemies to move to the far side of players when repositioning for attack
• Fixed bug causing aggro enemies capable of attacking a player to freeze and not move for the turn
• Fixed bug causing enemy agents to freeze in some security situations
• Fixed bug causing enemy agents to teleport in some security situations
• Fixed bug when reloading save, an enemy agent might start acting while cut-scene is running
• Fixed bug causing target circle to be hidden with Charged Attack / Conduit Edge melee attacks
• Fixed bug causing inconsitent "out of range" results when clicking an enemy vs. clicking Talent
• Fixed bug causing Hunker buff to automatically activate if player starts Overwatch or if player dies from enemy Overwatch
• Fixed bug where characters and enemies might start to float slightly off the ground after moving a few times
• Fixed bug allowing you to run through the doorframe of small doors
• Fixed bug allowing you to stand in the railing of elevators
• Fixed incorrect keybinding shown on ESC menu, fixed Enter is really "Delay or End Action"

Not just that, they've also announced some more release info. While their estimate may change, they're now saying the release is likely to happen around the start of Q4 instead of near the end of Q3. So it's most likely to arrive towards the start of October 2023. So a little bit longer to wait but clearly it will be worth it with how they're reacting and improving based on the feedback from the demo.

As a big fan of squad-based tactical games (hello XCOM), I'm very keen to see the finished product here.

Give it a try on Steam.