I was given access to a Press Preview Build of Partisans 1941 and played through the first few missions, so any opinions I give on the game please keep in mind it is from a preview build and not the finished game.
You take control of a group of Partisans (a military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power) to fight against the occupying German forces during World War II.
You start off alone but soon meet up with other resistance members. Each mission involves you planning a strategy to reach a certain location, usually by overcoming the enemy, but remember you are massively outgunned by the Germans, so instead of going in guns blazing, the main game involves stealth, patience and trying to set up an ambush.
The first thing you will notice are the graphics, they are incredibly detailed, you also get a choice of language for the enemy, so they can speak in German or English depending on your preference, or if you want subtitles. This all adds to the realism of the game. Once you get past the looks you have to deal with the controls. I hated the control system. I admit I am a console gamer at heart, but I have also been playing computer games since the 1980s, so I do not fear a mouse and keyboard. I would hope in the finished game they at the very least offer a simplified control system that is more user friendly. I also hope they have in place a better hints system and a better tutorial. The onscreen hints and suggestions just seem to blend into everything else on the screen and I found that it just didn't really help.
Now once I got past the terrible control system, I then had to deal with the camera view, now maybe I didn't figure out how to make it automatically follow your main character, but as far as I can see you have to manually control the view as well, so while trying to plan out your next step you are forever trying to get the screen centred or facing the direction you want, and then instead of having a solid isometric view, the camera also can swing around, which in theory is a good thing as it allows you to see things better, but I found it just makes life harder. When playing a game I hate having to keep looking down at the controls. So I just found it frustrating and time wasting, when a much simpler camera view would just make life easier and the game more enjoyable.
Once you get past these issues, the game itself is actually quite good, the stealth aspect is fun, whether it is sneaking up behind someone and putting them in a choke hold, or throwing a knife or shooting someone with a rifle, get it right and it all feels very good, get it wrong and luckily you can revert to a quick save and try again.
I think if you are already a fan of these types of games on a PC then you will very much enjoy this, however if you are a console gamer like me, you will probably find the whole control system a bit of a nightmare.
The Good
Everything looks great, and the game itself is a fun, if a bit overdone in the gaming market.
The Bad
The controls, the camera.
Summary
As a preview, the game has a lot of potential, I expect that despite an October release, the game will get constant improvements and hopefully if the game makers listen to the players, they can fix the issues I mentioned. If they ignore the complaints and just push the game to the niche market who already plays these types of games, then that would be a mistake.
RELEASE DATE: 14 Oct, 2020
Preview By Jon Donnis
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