Alternate history: a fictional genre which often presupposes a change of a historical event that diverges from our timeline and world, creating a new alternate and parallel world. In other words, a “What If” or “Elseworld” type of story. Mostly seen in science fiction and historical fiction, alternate history can let creators’ imaginations run wild when world building. This is especially true for video games. Two of the best examples of games that use alternate history are the Fallout series and the recent reboot of the Wolfenstein franchise. Now speaking of Wolfenstein, one of the most popular time periods that is often depicted in games that use alternate history tropes is World War II. There are many scenarios that have been used, such as what if the Nazis won, what if the Russians sided with the Axis powers, what if America stayed out of WWII, what if the Americans joined the Axis powers and so on and so forth. My favorite scenario, one that seems to be very popular is Nazi research and use of the occult. This includes raising the undead aka zombies, opening gates to hell, and the very popular summoning of Eldritch creatures and the most famous of the Old Gods, Cthulhu. This brings us to the game up for review, Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics for the PC, developed by Auroch Digital and published by Ripstone Games.
Praise Cthulhu
WWII + Cthulhu + tactical game = Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics combines three things that I really enjoy: WWII, tactical/stratagey games and the Cthulhu mythos. When I was in school, history was my favorite subject, and the time period I loved learning about the most was WWII. I loved learning about the lead up to the war, the various battles, the machines and weapons that were used, the aftermath and so on and so forth. As my interested deepened, I was surprised to learn that both the Allies and the Axis (mostly Germany) had research dedicated to the occult and supernatural. This led into my interest in the Cthulhu mythos and HP Lovecraft’s other works. In addition to loving history, I was and still am an avid reader and collector of books. Most of the books I picked up consists of historical. military and science fiction, fantasy, cyber punk and horror. I was introduced to the Cthulhu mythos through various mentions in other forms of media, such as TV shows, movies tabletop and video games. Cthulhu this Old Gods that, and something about going insane. As for video games, I’ve always loved playing video games, especially ones that use historical events as a backdrop. So combine all these three together and we get a game that checks off all of my interests.
Classified mission brief- Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics’ story is a interesting retelling of the events that occurred after the D-Day operation. As previously mentioned, the game takes place after the events of D-Day and the Allies are pushing the Germans from the coast of France inwards towards Berlin and they making headway. Desperate to turn the tide, the Nazis turn to their occult divisions, the mystic Black Suns and the terrifying Nacht Wolves (more on those two later) to push back the Allies using arcane magic the likes the Allies have never seen in an operation called ‘Operation Watch on the Rhine’ near the Ardennes. Local resistance forces notice that the Nazis have begun building a secret weapons facility and send word to London. The Allies send in their own occult units, Britain’s Section M and the US’s Majestic, to investigate. However this is a trap and the unit is ambushed in the air. Only two members survive: Captain Eric “Badger” Harris of Badger’s commandos and US Sgt. Brandon Carter. They make way towards an abandoned chateau and radio for help. Section M then sends two more of its finest operators: French resistance leader Ariane Dubois and Corporal Akhee “The Eye” Singh. Together they investigate what is going on and put a stop to the Nazi’s plans before they summon something else much more evil.
Plays like XCOM but with a twist- I’ve played a lot of tactical games before, ranging from titles like Advanced Wars to Final Fantasy Tactics. Out of all of them, the one that stands out to me the most of all is the rebooted XCOM series. The game is a grid based tactical game where you can place different squad members in tactical places in order to outflank the enemy and lift the fog of war. Each squad member has a special skill they can use and at times there is permadeath. Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics plays almost exactly like XCOM: its a grid based, tactical strategy game here you can place different squad members in tactical places in order to outflank the enemy and lift the fog of war. However there are many things that Achtung! does to make itself stand out and different from XCOM. The most obvious thing is that the game takes place in an alternate version of WWII. The game’s fog of war is called The Shroud. As players guide the squad further on the battlefield, the fog will clear up and they will be able to see enemy troops and monsters. However after time passes The Shroud will return, and at times start to increase in size, which decreases the squad’s field of view. Each of the characters that make up the squad has skills/powers to help combat the Nazis and the horrors that they have unreleased. For example Captain Harris uses experimental weapons, Ariane Dubois is able to summon a demon to attack, Corporal Akhee is a close combat mystic, and Sgt. Carter uses a Thompson sub machine gun embuned with mytho rounds that are able to mow down Eldritch creatures. They are not alone in their fight as the Native American tribe Keijin, a spec ops unit within Badger’s Commandos, comes to the squad’s aid. Even with such powers, there’s an unseen enemy that they have to face, insanity. The game uses a stress/insanity mechanic, which I want to expand on a bit more next.
Stress/insanity meters- As I mentioned before, the game uses a stress/insanity meter. Stress acts like a shield for members of the squad and if someone gets hurt or incapacitated, they start to freak out and different debuffs get applied such as accuracy decrease, confusion, shell-shock (ie paralysis). As for insanity, it works a bit like the stress meter, however works a bit differently. It’s stated in the Call of Cthulhu story that if one is to gaze upon Cthulhu himself, any of the Old Gods or any Eldritch creature, that one’s mind will break and they will go mad and insane. This is applied to the game. If any of the squad members gaze upon any creatures that the Black Suns have conjured up, they will slowly start to go mad and won’t be able to be controlled unless the creature is killed or is out of view. This forces players to be extra careful of their surroundings. especially when venturing into The Shroud.
Black Suns/ Nacht Wolves- In every WWII game, there has to be at least a big bag Nazi for the player to go up against. In Wolfenstein its Frau Engel. In the Captain America game, it was Red Skull. For Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics its the Dark Suns and the Nacht Wolves. The Dark Suns are a order of Nazi wizards, yes you read that right Nazi wizards. Or warlocks since it sounds more evil. Anyway, the Black Suns are responsible for the Nazi’s research into the occult and have successfully summoned Eldritch creatures and other abominations to do their bidding without going mad themselves. The Nacht Wolves are the Nazis’ experimental weapons outfit. They use advance experimental technology to lay waste to their foes. However, even though they share the same of of pushing back the Allied advance, they are bitter rivals.
Going insane
Controls a bit wonky- As I mentioned before, Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics plays a lot like the modern reboot of XCOM. However while XCOM’s controls are smooth and put up no trouble, Achtung!’s controls are a bit on the wonky side. By default my whole unit moves together when not in combat instead of individually. While I could click on one of the four characters and move them one at a time, this brings up another problem. Usually most tactical and RTS games have one mouse button as the move/carries out commands (the right mouse button) and the other one is deselect/select all (left mouse button). In the game, the right button positions the characters’ field of view (ie the direction they’re looking) and carries out commands, while the left button has you lay out the characters’ path. I’ve tried remapping the controls and it still bit of a mess to relearn everything so I just reverted back to the default set up. After a while you do get used to the controls, I just wish they were a bit more fluid.
Fighting Nazis is always fun. Fighting mystical Nazis ramps up the fun. Fighting mystical Nazis who are trying to summon Cthulhu, now its a party. Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is a fun adaptation of the tabletop RPG of the same name. It mixes my love for history, literature and video games in a neat package. They story of a group of commandos dropping behind enemy lines in order to stop the Nazis from summoning Cthulhu is an intriguing story. If you played any of the modern XCOM games, then the game will be easy to play, as they have similar mechanics. And with the addition of mechanics, such as the Shroud and the stress/insanity meter, you have a tactical RPG that stands out from the rest of the crowd. However wonky controls do set it back a bit, and in a tactical strategy game, control is key. After a while you’ll get used to the controls, but like I said, I’d wish they were a bit more fluid. Regardless, if you like WWII, the Cthulhu mythos and tactical RPGs, then I suggest giving Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics a try. Hell, now that I know that there’s a tabletop version of the game as well, I might try that out as well.
