Classified: France ’44 

• DEVELOPER: Absolutely Games
• PUBLISHER: Team17
• PLATFORMS: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
• GENRE: Turn-based strategy
• RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
• STARTING PRICE: 34,99€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Classified: France '44 is an X-COM-like turn-based tactical strategy game set during World War II. You will command an elite team of Allied special operators, more precisely the French Resistance or as the French say Résistance, and the goal is to weaken and disrupt the Germans before D-Day. You have 60 days to occupy certain provinces, recruit various characters, train them and embark on fifty different missions, each bringing special challenges. 

The campaign is well designed, but leaves room for improvement 

Perhaps the majority of players will be attracted by this historical aspect, and the basic idea of the game is to authentically represent what the firearms, equipment and clothing of the Americans, French, British and Germans looked like in that historical era. Also, you have the option to independently shape these characters through RPG elements, except for the Germans you fight against. You will control male and female characters, and it is impressive that almost all characters have their own voices and specific accents characteristic of each nation. The action of the whole game will focus on the map of France, where you choose different missions. Sometimes you will be faced with a choice between two missions, and each one has its own story and puts you in a different environment. It's up to you to choose what to focus on first, and it's important to note that certain missions simply disappear when you choose another. 

Time in the game progresses through days, with each turn taking two or through special events and more. Although the game continuously offers specific events that can affect the development of the "story" and your resources, their number is limited and the content itself lacks depth, because it does not have any critical influence on your decisions. Whether you spend a few boxes or resources to help the population, or maybe choose one faction and thus lose the influence points of the other, it doesn't matter because you can get it all back. 

Clips of various true events, for example, the kind of preparations that take place before D-Day, enrich the game and add interest to the dry aspects of the events. Instead of classic cut-scenes, the game uses comic book format or drawings to explain the significance of each mission or to introduce the characters you play with. It's all done very nicely and I have nothing against this approach to evoke certain parts. 

While playing the campaign, you will face enemy units such as the Gestapo or various generals on the map, who will try to prevent you from conquering provinces; they will move from one province to another. Specifically, each province brings a certain number of points, some are critical for success, some less, but each brings special bonuses. These bonuses include gaining additional resources while completing missions or may affect the execution of D-Day. The game allows you to compensate for failures by completing various side missions with your characters. For example, you can recruit special agents to stop the activities of enemy units, improve relations with factions, or simply train your characters. All these missions require resources, which you get by successfully completing tasks. Missions have grades and main and side objectives, and the more successful you are, the more rewards you will receive. 

The mechanics of the game are good, but the same mistakes are noticed that are repeated in similar games 

I understand that creating a perfect game is challenging, especially when it comes to an targeting system that would work for everyone. Before we get into that, it's important to point out that you can build your army of any four troops according to your preferences, tailoring it to the needs of each mission. Whether you choose to lead a general, a medic or a sniper, each of them has key roles and has special skills that you can use during gameplay. Each available character is equipped with a primary weapon, sidearm, grenades and knives, adding to the stealth elements.  

The missions in the game take place on the turns of the player and the enemy. You can move each character within a certain radius, but in the beginning you have to be careful not to be noticed by enemies, which we will cover in more detail later. Protection is key in this game, because without it you can take a lot of damage, which you definitely don't want. The game clearly marks safe places, such as walls or doors. Also, each shot carries a certain percentage of success depending on the range and line of sight of the player. Despite the game's detailed explanations of percentages, one could argue about the reality of these situations, where there is often a chance to miss, even when the enemy is close or you're looking directly at them, and this is further affected by flanking.  

For example, it is possible to miss even when there is a 100% chance to hit, since the accuracy of aiming depends on the skills possessed by characters or enemies. On the other hand, snipers are almost always accurate. The game explains in detail the factors that affect accuracy, including cover, distance, and weapon type, but not weather conditions. In general, the game lacks weather conditions that would affect the actual gameplay. Enemies vary from strong generals that you need to kill twice to those that use grenades and other skills. All of this affects your approach during the mission. You have to pay attention to the tasks, but also play smart. 

After eliminating the first wave of enemies, reinforcements will always arrive from precisely specified locations. You can use the Overwatch tool that allows you to shoot the first target that comes into your sights, or simply throw grenades to engage more enemies. In addition, you can shoot exploding barrels and cars, which, when destroyed, deal some damage. The reinforcements that appear do not attack immediately, but only after the second move. Each move, attack, weapon load, and skill use consumes a certain number of action points, which highlights certain limitations that require careful planning ahead.

The game introduces a very innovative approach through the morality system. This could rather be called a fear system, where your soldiers, as well as the enemy's, can lose an entire turn if they are "scared" enough. When morale drops to 50% or below, the affected character will be suppressed, resulting in a decrease in their effectiveness and also affecting accuracy. If morale drops to zero, the soldier must skip the next round, but you can avoid this situation by using special skills. Morale is most affected by bullets, i.e. if your soldier is hit by a bullet, if they pass by him or if an enemy stabs them. This feature significantly affects the flow of the game itself, and the way it is implemented provides an extremely interesting experience. 

Speaking of which, it's important to point out that some other elements of the game often feel weird. For example, sometimes a grenade will not automatically eliminate enemies due to the precise numbers that determine the weapon's damage through the in-game RPG elements. It also won't completely lower their morale. Also, if you're very close to an enemy, there's a chance you won't be able to kill them, and knife attacks are only useful if you want to demoralize the enemy, otherwise they serve no practical purpose besides stealth elements. Secondary weapons like pistols are used in very limited situations and are often inaccurate. You are usually limited to one shot per turn, unless you have certain skills. Sometimes you can get the impression that covers have no real benefit, and the same is true for certain positions. You can get behind the thickest wall, but you'll still take damage as if you weren't hiding behind anything. In fact, bullets go through walls, but the game fails to faithfully portray that dynamic. 

Stealth elements could have been better 

Much of your gameplay will focus on tricking enemies, sneaking up behind them, and quietly eliminating them. This approach was actually fun, but there are certain elements that cause frustration. At the start of each mission, you have a limited number of times you can eliminate enemies from stealth before the game decides to force you into an ambush, where all your spent action points are reset and you start your turn again. Although some missions required 100% stealth elimination, most did not. Personally, I didn't mind this approach, but it is extremely frustrating that it is not possible to eliminate all enemies from stealth, including generals and heavy infantry.  

Killing creates sounds that can alarm enemies and prompt them to check the situation. The same applies to breaking windows and cutting wires, but not to opening doors. What can be the strangest thing is that when you eliminate the enemies, they simply disappear, the body is no longer present, and the artificial intelligence is not interested in the disappearance of its comrade. In short, the stealth elements work, but they are superficial. Situations where you will alarm enemies are very rare, because there is a certain field of vision that indicates precisely where they can see or hear. This, on the one hand, facilitates access and planning, but is unusual because of the way the field of view is displayed. Some corners seem to remain invisible to enemies, even when they're practically looking in that direction. 

The animations in this game are rather questionable. Sometimes it looks like your character is shooting at a wall instead of enemies, even when leaning or not moving to get a better position. Sometimes the bullets will inexplicably fly into the sky, while other moments show precise targeting without any dynamics. While it's nice to see characters duck when they're behind cover, it's weird to follow the path of bullets towards them and the way they hit them.  

Also, it is important to note that the game lacks greater interaction with the environment. Besides being able to pick up a medical kit or a mission key, it would be more interesting if players had the option to use tanks or participate in airstrikes. Enemies have this ability, but tanks are only static and cannot move, and you will very rarely encounter them.  

RPG elements affect the gameplay, but also the skills of the characters 

Finally we come to skills, where you can think of the characters within the game as classes. When inspecting the characters in detail, you can customize everything from weapons to clothing. There are four skill trees, with a maximum attainable level of 25. Each tree brings specific bonuses, such as improved aiming, more action points or morale, and unlocks special skills. For example, the doctor can heal any character on the map or revive fallen comrades. There are also extremely powerful skills, such as one that allows the general to grant his soldier an additional 6 action points, with that advantage then being taken away from the general, allowing him to shoot again in the same turn. In addition, the general can also shoot in the same turn.  

Skills are also available to enemies, as I mentioned before through their classes. Generally, generals increase morale, heavy infantry decrease morale, grenade launchers use grenades and have high health, and so on. As the game goes by, enemies also get stronger. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the impact of factions on all of this. The better the relations with the factions, the more powerful weapons you will have access to. Weapons and clothing are bought with resources, and each is marked with different colors, from plain gray to epic purple. Each nation has its own specific types of weapons and clothing that it can use, so not everything is universal for everyone, which also applies to female characters. 

Skills have an exceptional impact on the course of the game, are extremely important and subject to a certain cooldown after use. They can significantly affect the outcome of the entire mission, so it's always wise to use them first before other options. Here's an example: if three of your characters are below 50% health, the healer can gather the characters around him and apply a skill that will heal all characters within a certain radius. The commander is a key figure in the game because he is the only one capable of restoring morale, which makes him indispensable for maintaining the team's success. 

Ending thoughts  

Classified: France '44 is really a quality title with plenty of content. Once you've completed the campaign, which provides between 20 and 30 hours of enjoyment, there are also special missions to explore. Additionally, the game offers the ability to create your own levels with mission creator, so you will always be able to come back to this game now and then. Although some elements could be improved, such as stealth elements or additional depth to the campaign, the game itself provides fun gameplay and an impressive morality system. Compared to other titles in a similar genre, we rarely encounter the theme of the Second World War, which further enriches the game along with quality RPG elements. 

I believe that this title will especially appeal to enthusiasts of turn-based games. It brings freshness to the genre, isn't too demanding or boring, requires a certain level of foresight, and trying out different play difficulties will give you a decent challenge and enjoyment. Despite encountering some technical difficulties and bugs that might impact the gameplay, and acknowledging that the graphics, character design, and environmental details are not top-notch, the overall experience was surprisingly enjoyable. 

Review copy provided by the publisher