Concealed Intent

I'm editing this review based on the updates to the game and my interactions with the dev. No review copies, etc., are involved. Initially, I basically said this is a very good game, especially for short sessions but needed more features to be worth the price. To keep things short and sweet - it is an excellent (coffee-break) game and is well worth the price. But it's also a very solid and innovative strategy title in terms of game design, but still simple, clear, and fun, with considerable depth. Also, the dev is really nice and very committed...it's clear that this is a labor of love. + great skirmish mode, with ability to choose loadout of yours + enemy's ship(s) + new skirmish options, some gameplay types added + AI has been improved and is really solid as far as I have been able to see. Initially I would win "even" matches hands-down...now usually really tight matches + you can now have matchups with more than 1 ship per side + other cool options like minefields, etc. + matche...

Too simple and not very much strategy/counterplay. Plays more or less like XCOM without levelling or cover. Also reliant on a stealth mechanism, but does not show whether your ships are detected or not, which can get frustrating. The story/campaign is also pretty bad, something about "My uncle was killed by pirates and then I saw a hacker at first he wouldn't help me but then I shot him and he helped me yay." I recommend Battle for Wesnoth, XCOM, or Magic the Gathering (using XMage) instead if you want a 1v1 turn based strategy game.

Type of game: Stealth based tactics game done right. By this I mean take a tactical rpg add in stealth game elements and remove the rpg elements. I know some other games have tried this by bringing over detection cones used in real time stealth games and it didn't work so well. The developer of this game gets around that and introduces stealth mechanics to a turn based tactical game in a way that is appropriate to the genre. Paragraph version of review: Just started playing but I'm already impressed. If you look on the forums the dev gives a nice detailed answer about what type of game the game is, but in short think of a tactical rpg, minus the rpg (i.e. no leveling, farming currency etc) - so just a tactics game, although unused supplies are carried over from one mission to the next. The detection side of it is a nice new idea for a genre that's needed something like that for a long time and adds another layer of depth. Right now my only real concern is that there might not be a lo...

It seemed like such a good plan, at first. A beam-equipped Heavy Drone to act as a sniper, a Probe to keep track of enemy movements, and a Laser Drone to keep the enemy occupied with its pulse laser. But now? All that's left is my Corvette and the Heavy Drone... and that isn't even mine any more. The enemy ship's Usurper system hijacked my sniper, and turned it against me. I got lucky pulling in close to the enemy Corvette, and landing a powerful volley of pulse laser fire, forcing them to retreat for repairs. By falling back, they allowed me the opportunity to collect the data core we had both come to retrieve. Now I just have to hold out for long enough to jump out. Unlike the enemy ship, my Corvette isn't equipped with a repair system. It WAS loaded with countermeasures, but those have all been spent keeping me alive for this long. The enemy Corvette, much like the drone he stole, is equipped to fight at longer range than me. My only chance is careful positioning in the nearby ast...

Played about 12 hours off-line. A solid coffee break/lunchtime turn-based space combat fleet action game with an interesting mechanic. The basic idea is that what you do this turn determines how much of a target you're going to be next turn. Doing stuff (moving, using weapons and sensors, launching drones etc) raises your signature, making you easier to identify and engage. Not doing stuff, using active countermeasures or dodging behind planets and asteroids reduces your signature making it harder. There is a 17 mission single-player campaign which is OK but limited by the one-man dev team. Homeworld is one of the game's inspirations and the ship art IS reminiscent of Homeworld One but don't expect the campaign to have HW-like production qualities. The thrust of the game is its Skirmish mode which can be either single-player or multi-player and provides the player with virtually unlimited fleet selection options. The overall look and feel of the game is good for a one-man effor...

This is the kind of game that I like to see upon release...clean interface, polikshed, and with zero noticeable bugs. It runs in HD even using my 2 year old laptop powering a 48 inch screen without lag and a high framerate. This speaks to a developer who knows how to program with tightly integrated code. Thank you so much. As for the gameplay, I have found it to be highly entertaining. The missions ramp up progressively. The story itself could use a little meat, but it is alright. Graphics, by the way, are top notch. Overall, I would highly recommend this game.

It's a fascinating idea - CJ Cherryh and Traveller 2300 both have worked with the idea of space-battles-through-stealth before - but the gameplay here just doesn't grab me. Perhaps because I don't feel like I have much agency. Enemies spend a lot of time flying around at high speed, but that boosts their signal sky-high - would it be a good tradeoff anyway if it's getting me out of maximum-damage range of their weapons? Feels impossible to tell.

I tried to love this game. Slick and easy to use interface, nice load out options, turn based combat. But it quickly fell flat for me. The campaign story is non-existent, you only ever seem to command one main ship and then drones around it. There just wasn't much depth or progression in the game and I aborted.

So far so fun. I just stared playing. Completed the tutorial and a mission and a skirmish.

I'm only a few mission into the campaign but I can already tell that this game is super low quality. The interface could use a lot of polish, "ships" just turn on a dime 180 degrees no problems, story seem to be written a... Well to be fair in a recent review of another game I said 12 years old but in comparison to that game, we might as well just say that Concealed intent has no story whatsoever. I could just write a superior storyline in 5 minutes like I used to do in my D&D campaigns back in the day... So no story, the gameplay is piss poor and super trivial... This is like a bad phone game ported to PC. I got it for two bucks in a sale and I still think I paid too much. One big pro tho: no bugs or instability encountered so far. I guess I can at least say that about this game.