USC: Counterforce News

Marines, in this Early Access on July 25th, you are about to dive into a fight where tactical abilities will be your biggest asset. Experience fierce encounters and more in an immersive sci-fi atmosphere.

USC: Counterforce is inspired by classic 90s tactical turn-based games. You will assume leadership of a team of marines dispatched to the planetary body M-8322 to investigate and destroy the alien forces stationed there. To overcome these fearsome foes, each marine is equipped with their own set of unique skills and passive abilities that have the potential to change the course of the battle.

The aliens are unforgiving and they put the very future of humanity in danger. They are relentless, numerous and deadly. Waves of enemies await your marines as they unveil the mystery behind a distress call they received. Take a peek at this universe in today's Teaser!

[previewyoutube]TEASER TRAILER[/previewyoutube]

The depth of the combat system will allow your marines to use every opportunity and element at their disposal to overthrow a critical situation. But squad preparation is just as important. Assemble, assign skills and roles to your marines, gear them up, stack ammunition, armor and medicine to improve your chance of success. Study the terrain, each map has its own perks and obstacles. Mind your surroundings, use them to your advantage: blast barrels, exploit hazardous areas, close doors, hack security, hide, take cover, find the right formation to advance while staying safe. Be aware of your objectives and leave no one behind, the fate of humanity is in the balance!

Your strategy and ability to secure your position in combat will play a big part in the outcome of each mission.

You are on your own, soldiers. In space, no one can hear you scream.

USC: Counterforce comes to Steam on July 25th in Early Access.

The USC: Counterforce team

[h3]We are grateful to everyone who played and loved our latest playtest version from June. You took the time to share really helpful comments with us, and we listened![/h3]

[h2]1/ New game mode[/h2]

This new game mode was implemented in the latest playtest. You were many to report that this mode was interesting but required more solutions (larger variety of building elements, lower cost, more defensive means, balancing their resistance) to be able to succeed. The quality of life of the building process could be improved and the mode would require a tutorial.

WHAT CHANGED:

• A tutorial for this new mode is already planned
  
• New building elements will be added later on
  
• This new mode will have balance fixes, but it is too soon to share them as they require multiple internal iterations
  

[h2]2/ General balance and fixes[/h2]

Balancing is complex and requires a lot of adjustments based on your feedback during playtests. Some of you reported that some weapons lack sufficient power, while aliens pose a challenge to defeat due to their substantial health points and the amount of ammunition required to eliminate them. Additionally, armor has been perceived as less compelling than medicine, primarily due to the Action Point (AP) cost for movement and repair. Feedback indicates that both armor and medicine are considered costly in terms of currency and AP, as well as taking up significant space in the inventory.

WHAT CHANGED:

• Overall balance fixes (including some armor & weapon changes)
  
• Stability & UX improvements
  
• New iterations of the player profile system to help beginner players & veterans (select the default squad, keep track of various progress in one place, etc.)
  
• Technical improvements (UI scaling & resolution issues, for example)
  
• Audio improvements (such as new unit sounds & movement sounds)
  
• Visual rework of the Main Menu & item icons
  
• Bugs fixes
  
• A new Single Mission menu
  

[h3]Thank you to everyone who took the time to gather and share their thoughts via our form, social media, or Discord. Keep an eye out for future announcements! ☄️[/h3]

[h3]You can continue to help us improve USC: Counterforce by joining our Discord server![/h3]


The USC: Counterforce Team

[h2]We are thrilled to announce that we are about to release a new version of our game ready to be playtested! [/h2]

Fill in the form below if you're interested in taking part in this new session: https://forms.gle/5ErrwxSi7jKoNzfF6




The demo will be live from June 9th until the 19th. We're sending the keys & instructions manually so it might take some time to receive a key but we'll make sure to include as many players as possible.

We really want to hear your thoughts about any aspects of the game (likes & dislikes, ideas for improvement) so feel free to share your feedback. We're genuinely interested in your insights, tell us what you thought of this version and its new features on this form: https://forms.gle/uyTipUAaNLwN7tcr6. You can also share them on Steam or on Discord: https://discord.gg/vsxD6n8P8J

For bug reports, please take screenshots and be as precise as possible so we can reproduce them and fix them!

The USC: Counterforce Team

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

May 12, 2015.
On this beautiful day, we released the game that would later become the very foundation of USC: Counterforce.

Ultimate Space Commando established in 2015 most of what makes USC: Counterforce a deeply satisfying strategy game in 2023:

• Deeply configurable squads assembled by the player,
  
• Destructible and interactive environments,
  
• Many different weapons, tools, and items to tackle every situation in any way you want,
  
• Blueprints and crafting mechanics to upgrade your gear,
  
• Tense sci-fi setting inspired by Aliens,
  
• A semi-randomized, multi-ended solo campaign,
  
• And so on!
  

[h2]"USC: Counterforce is a fresh take on the first title: better, bigger, and deeper"[/h2]

At the time, Aliza Wenders was the only person working on Ultimate Space Commando.

Today she still is the lead developer at Angry Cat Studios and directing USC: Counterforce, but now has new marines to help her:

• Csaba Bak, who joined as a junior Game Designer and Tester
  
• Firesquid, as a Publisher and helping with the production
  

With this extra help, USC: Counterforce will become this better, bigger, and deeper version of Ultimate Space Commando!

Want to try it by yourself? Our new demo is available on Steam now!

The USC: Counterforce Team

[h2]To celebrate we prepared a brand-new demo including:[/h2]

• The ’Scientific data, Retrieval’ operation divided into three missions with new mechanics and three difficulty levels.
  
• 12 single missions distributed across three different map types, each of which can be played on any of the 5 available difficulty modes.
  
• All items will be unlocked for players which will include thirteen weapon types with forty items in total to utilize.
  

[h2]We are also preparing a new video![/h2]
Taking place on the second day of TactiCon, lead developer Aliza Wenders will be featured in a special video exclusive to the event. Stay tuned!


Your feedback is extremely precious, it helps us make the best game possible!

Please share your feedback regarding the demo on discord: https://discord.gg/vsxD6n8P8J


The USC Counterforce team