I like close combat tactics, directing troop actions on a timeline, and breaching and clearing, but a recent revisit to Door Kickers revealed I no longer had the patience for its fiddly UI and grim scenarios.
No Plan B looks intriguing, then, for featuring all of the things mentioned above that I like, an unknown quantity of the things I don’t, and for having released on Steam this week.
No Plan B somehow passed me by during its early access period, but it hit 1.0 on April 3rd. At its core, it tasks you with putting together a squad, outfitting them with equipment, and then synchronising their move-and-shoot commands so that they play out perfectly in real-time. There are standalone skirmish missions or roguelike campaigns to play through, weapons and equipment to unlock over time, and a map editor and mod support.
The roguelike element is presumably the “no plan B” of it all. That sounds like pretty high stakes over the course of a campaign, but I was always fine with repeating missions in Door Kickers or Frozen Synapse. No Plan B also offers up a cinematic replay to enjoy and share if you do manage to nail a particular mission.
Plus, its 3D character design looks blandly cartoony enough that maybe I won’t feel ick about the whole thing.
No Plan B is out now on Steam and with the launch discount costs £11.51/$13.49/€13.31.
