INCOGNITA HANDS ON

“A lot of tactics games [are] about positioning … Incognita is 80% information gathering and 20% positioning. [The] objective is not to remove all the enemies from the level.” –Jason Dreger, Designer for Incognita

This weekend at PAX Prime I was able to get my hands on Klei Entertainment’s upcoming Incognita and talk with Jason Dreger, one of the designers, about the game.

Incognita is best described as what would happen if XCOM and Mark of the Ninja had a baby and that baby grew up watching old 60s spy movies. The game features the familiar turn-based style and character upgrades of XCOM and incorporates the stealth and freedom of choice found in Mark of the Ninja.

You are the owner of a spy agency who is sending agents in to collect sensitive information. Motives for sending in agents are completely up to the player though. You could be sending in agents to collect money or to simply “stick it to the man.”

When the game begins, players have access to only two agents: a stealth agent and an engineer (who also happens to be a robot). The stealth agent moves silently and has a dart gun to knockout guards. However, the stealth agent has very low health and one shot can kill him.

The Engineer is very tough and has a wireless communication device which allows him to scan an area and find electronic devices, like video cameras and other computers. Both the engineer and the stealth agent can hack computers but the Engineer can to it at range and through walls.

In addition to the two agents, there are plans to include four or five other agent types in the game. I only used the two types during my brief play through but the player in line ahead of me had found a sharpshooter they enlisted to their team.

Players gain additional agents by finding and freeing them on levels or being approached by a mole within an organization that can be persuaded (i.e. bribed) to join your team.

Finding additional agents is made more difficult because each level (building) is procedurally generated so it’s always different. If you die and try to go back to a specific area, that area and the agents/objects found there, may not be there.

Each building will also have their own theme for level generation based on the corporation who owns it. One could be tight corridors, while another could be wide open areas. 

Incognita is truly a game about improvising on the fly and changing your tactics to your situation. Your every action has immediate consequences/benefits. Some of these, like choosing which enemy to take out first, are obvious right away.

In Eric’s play through he had the stealth agent take out an enemy when he should have had the engineer engage. This resulted in his team being eliminated within a few turns.

Other actions, like hacking a video camera, can provide benefits that aren’t as obvious at first. During my game I hacked a video camera that showed me all the enemies within a room. When an enemy came through the closed door into the room (thus opening the door), the video camera could see into the next room which revealed, you guessed it, another video camera that I could hack before being spotted.

I only had 15 minutes with Incognita but when I went to bed that evening I was running through scenarios in my head of alternate ways I could have engaged the enemy. I haven’t done that since playing XCOM!

The full version of Incognita will release sometime in 2014 but once the game enters Alpha it will be available via Steam Early Access. And once that happens, you know where to find me!