Tactical mercenary manager End State breaches into early access soon
We may even forgive its lack of Ivan Dolvich
Like a well-trained operator, End State has somehow escaped my attention until just before it's ready to strike. Inspired heavily by squad strategy classic Jagged Alliance 2, it's a tactical squad combat game with realistic ballistics, a complex stealth system an a morally blurry modern-day black ops setting for its campaign. Oh, and groin-targeting. It's somehow been lurking around for years, but today developers Iron Sight put out a fancy new features trailer in preparation for an early access release in the near future. Sneak a stealthy peek at the game in the video below.
Interestingly, characters and jungle environments aside, End State somehow looks more like a Jagged Alliance game than the upcoming Jagged Alliance: Rage. While its UI looks similar to Firaxis's XCOM, Iron Sight boast of a more granular, simulation-oriented rule-set under the surface. End State uses an action point system for movement and combat, automatic weapons fire in physically tracked bursts and body parts can be individually targeted. It's a similar feature-set to the upcoming Phoenix Point right down to the generous reaction-fire system. Fewer crabs though.
On top of today's new trailer, End State should be entering early access soon, with plans for around another year of development after that. Considering that full-time development began back in 2014 (according to this developer interview with FullSync) and that it sailed through Greenlight in a matter of days back in 2015, it feels safe to say Iron Sight aren't rushing it. Considering how many Jagged Alliance imitators have come and gone over the years (many using the official brand) it's nice to see something so clearly inspired by those classics getting enough time in the oven.
While they've not announced a date yet, Iron Sight say End State should be entering early access soon, and you can find it on Steam here. You can read a little more on its official page here.