A DLC that’s probably going to be quite divisive among Battlestar Galactica Deadlock players.
Type: Single-player, Multi-player
Genre: Strategy
Developer: Black Lab Games
Publisher: Slitherine Ltd.
Release date: 29 Aug, 2019
Review of BSGD Base Game
The latest DLC for Battlestar Galactica Deadlock marks the start of what Slitherine and Black Lab Games call Season 2.
The Daidalos shipyard (the space-station looking thing you had in the base game) has been destroyed, the colonial fleet has been disbanded, and after a year of peace, the Cylons once again attacking. Things already look grim, but then the Cylons reveal an even more deadly weapon than anything they’ve ever used before.
Needless to say, Season 2 starts with a bit of a bang. One of my main criticisms of the base game was that the story felt like it was geared towards existing fans, and it was rather hard to really follow it if you don’t already at least have some knowledge of the setting, in no small part due to how they used in-universe terms and how groups would just appear with no real introduction. Season 2 does not have this problem. The story is far more focused, and everything new is properly introduced. I found the story surprisingly engaging during my playthrough of the campaign.
Only one thing has changed significantly with the gameplay compared to the base game, and that’s that the strategic map has been cut out almost completely. In the original you would move fleets around, intercepting Cylon fleets and try to keep the 12 colonies happy. This has been scaled back considerably, and you now have what amounts to little more than a mission select screen, where you can choose between taking some randomly generated side missions or continue with the story. Doing the main story, or just ending your turn, increases the Cylon threat level, while the side missions lower it. Let the threat level get too high and bad things happen. And resource management is hardly even a thing, as unless you just throw away your ships, resources to build new ones are so plentiful that you’ll soon have more ships than you know what to do with.
Not much has changed with the tactical battles. You get a new ship to play with, the mighty Jupiter Mk II, and a new type of fighter which is quite good at taking out capital ships but weak against other fighters. Most of the main story levels are quite well made though, and I found them better balanced, more challenging and just a bit more fun than those in the base game. Interestingly enough, they lowered the difficulty on the side missions, now they’re almost pushovers. Not once did the game make them a challenge, and it was not uncommon for the enemy fleet to only have the smallest and weakest type of Cylon slips in it.
Closing Thoughts
I think DLC is going to be a bit of a divisive one. People who enjoyed the strategic map, intercepting Cylon fleets and making sure that the 12 colonies stayed happy are likely going to be disappointed that this part was scaled back so much. People who cared about the story itself, and who mostly enjoyed playing the main story missions are on the other hand probably going to think that this is an improvement.
If you liked Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, and want more story missions, then you’ll probably love this. You do get a good amount of content for your money. But if you thought that chasing Cylon fleets on a strategic map and building a huge armada was the most entertaining part of the main game, then it’s probably worth waiting for a sale.
