Red Solstice 2: Survivors (2021)

Red Solstice 2 is a game that requires at least another friend to deliver a decent experience. The strategic and tactical layers work, from a purely mechanical point of view, but everything is too focused on repetitive actions to keep the game fun when playing solo. The limited immersion does not help.

Red Solstice 2: Survivors is a good game, but one that needs work. I would love to see a Red Solstice 3 someday where Ironward leans even more heavily into squad equipment with refined resource management systems. At the end of the day, yes, that kind of just sounds like XCOM-but-a-shooter, but I can’t be the only person who thinks that’d be a good thing.

The Red Solstice 2: Survivors has that B-tier charm for better and for worse.

Red Solstice 2: Survivors is, at best, a slightly above-average game. For every fun aspect, such as the genuinely fun action-packed nature of the run-and-gun gameplay, there are downsides such as incredibly repetitive missions outside of the core campaign. However, you then find an excellent range of creatures and a good amount of character customisation, really boosting the game, for it to then be let down by the base and region-building feeling tacked on, and then the game is impacted by a fair few bugs. If you liked the first Red Solstice, and other similar shooters, you'll enjoy this, though arguably in shorter sessions or with other people online.

An ambitious RTS/Twin Stick hybrid with a lot of potential and some great moments, let down by technical issues, inconsistent flow, and a lack of tutorials. One to keep an eye on if the premise appeals, but not worth diving into straight away.