Anybody who knows me knows I am a sucker for Sci-Fi, and two of my favourite space-based series are Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. While this is a late review of the game, it's one that was sitting in my inbox and one that I felt that I should do for a few reasons: I'm a fan of the series, I enjoyed Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown when I reviewed it four months ago, and I am a fan of FTL-like games. Not picking up Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes and covering it, whatever it turned out like, would clearly point to me being a toaster, and I would have to be treated as such.
From the above paragraph, you can probably guess what type of game Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes is. It's a roguelite set in the BSG universe, similar to FTL. Set after the Cylon invasion of Caprica, you control a Gunstar and its crew, alongside a few civilian ships, as you flee the constant threat of the Cylons and make your way to the Galactica itself. Like the series and FTL, you are constantly being pursued, and time is not on your side, whether you're in the fleet management or the combat phase of the game.
Before I talk about the two gameplay areas, let's talk aesthetics. Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes isn't trying to be a fully-realised 3D version of the show. This has a pixel art style that really works, and looks good for what it is. The limited rooms you can visit on your ship are well detailed and set the scene for whatever story has taken you there - or maybe you're just popping in to set some skills or upgrades - and the same applies to the space battles and their real-time-with-pause affair.
The same can be said for the subdued audio. There is no voice acting in this game, so a possible issue for some that I raised in the Star Trek Voyager review could also be one here, so be ready for another text-heavy game. Where it stands out is the music. While the game doesn't use any of the show's music, nor does it outright copy Bear McCreary's style, it really feels like it could be part of the BSG universe, just with a more techno vibe. It suits the game and universe exceptionally well and is worth a listen on its own.
I've already mentioned that there are two separate elements to gameplay: fleet management and combat. Fleet management is where you spend most of your time, spending ten turns in a system visiting points of interest, dealing with incidents, and levelling up your crew and ships before the Cylons catch up and you need to jump. The resource gathering and management isn't massively different to other similar titles, where you'll send a character (or use other resources) to head to a point of interest and get what's there. More often than not, it's different resources, but there are times when you'll be able to get new crew, weapons or fighters, or other times you may be able to pick up another vessel for your mini-fleet.
Other aspects you'll be balancing in the fleet management part of the game are also the morale of your fleet, as well as how happy the three factions are. If you lower a faction's favourability to you, you'll end up with a crisis (negative event); if you can rank a faction up and keep them happy, you'll get a positive event, and they will help you in some way during the final battle. Characters can also come with positive events if you are able to boost their morale enough, so as with the type of game - and as expected from the universe it's set in - everything is a balancing act.
Each new system you enter will also have a random crisis unless you are able to get one of the perks that can stop a crisis (can be gained through levelling up a specific type of character - characters also come in types and rarity). I can't say the events are exactly exciting or even that interesting, and even the more interesting one, where one of your crew is a Cylon, is just a case of filtering through the 'clues' to find them out. Your decision whether to attempt to redeem them or just kill them is arguably the most interesting aspect of that event.
It all makes for something that is more than enjoyable, even if it doesn't really stand out. Events are clearly borrowing, to an extent, from issues the fleet encounters in the show, but of course, have to be distinct enough not to require Starbuck or Tigh, as this is not their fleet. The atmosphere and pressure, despite it being text-based and essentially just a lot of reading, are what make the fleet management work as well as it does.
Adding to the pressure of resource, character and faction management is the combat. This is a more tactical affair, and not the fast-paced affair you will see in the show, and it's all the better for it. Given your art style and number limitations, and the sheer numbers the Cylons have, and the fact that missiles and nukes are being launched at you, it would become almost unmanageable. Instead it's not exactly chess, but you are still mostly looking at positioning and selecting the up to four fighters (if you upgrade your slots through R&D in fleet management) you take into combat.
You're essentially choosing between close-range fighters (like Vipers), ranged defenders, or support units. Vipers will chase an enemy in their range and duke it out. The ranged defenders cannot move and fire, so you want to position them well. Support units were functionally useless to me and were never used. Maybe I'm missing a trick, but I preferred to get to using four units, with two long-ranged defenders and two short-ranged fighters.
As you level your fighters up, they can also pick up both active and passive abilities, so you may find yourself using these alongside the weapons on your gunstar, so there is an active element to the combat. All of this is in a real-time-with-pause system, and the pause is absolutely essential as the Cylons aren't shy with their numbers, and the main enemy will be launching missiles and nukes at you.
Pausing will be even more important towards the end of a fight because the Cylons come on thick and fast, and trying to swarm you, and you're going to be watching the countdown until you can jump. Remember to make sure you get your planes back in the gunstar to save them from any damage, and as you can expect, you will want to limit the amount of damage your fleet and ships take. Too much damage, and you'll hit a crisis, and leave a pilot behind - or if they get destroyed in battle, they may have their own personal crisis or possibly even die.
Each run will take around two hours, which are quite long for this style of game. It didn't bother me much, but I can see it being an issue for others who are used to the quicker nature of roguelite runs. This time does, however, give you a chance to level up and prepare yourself for the final battle and a possible reunification with the Battlestar Galactica, and an in-game story explanation of why you don't appear in the show. The end of a run also gives you the chance to start with more resources, an increased chance of top-quality items, and more, making later runs that bit easier.
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes is, all around, an enjoyable FTL-like game in the BSG universe, and it does genuinely feel like it could be part of that universe. It's tense and engaging despite some repetitiveness, looks decent and sounds great, and is an all-around strong roguelite that I would recommend to fans of the sub-genre and fans of the universe it's set in, though the latter is not essential.
Copy provided by the publisher.
About the author: Chris Wray has been writing at Wccftech gaming section since 2015 and is an opinionated bloke from the north of the UK (think Ned Stark). He enjoys video games, films, books, beer, whisky and other alcohol. He also supports Manchester Utd and for some reason he writes profile pages in the third person. His expertise is in gaming and the games industry, primarily on the PC. In addition to this, he works with and contributes to the finance and tech sections.
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