14 DAY TRIAL // The Protagonist is a game where a dog can use his teeth to take down an alien drone that can shoot energy charges. Where close-quarters combat moves can take down the same enemies. Where longer-range weapons mostly miss and make the combat feel repetitive, lacking any excitement.
The experience mixes role-playing and tactical combat but fails to introduce much new in the way of ideas to either genre. The Early Access version of the title has one interesting concept that seems half-backed and others executed adequately.
The story is built around an operative named Angel, sent to infiltrate an alien spaceship. She quickly meets other team members as she aims to explore it and find more information. The writing is limited but serves the purpose of pushing players forward, most of the time.
The combat system is turn-based. Each character can move and then take usually two support or offensive actions. The team has hacking, healing, and sabotage options to use. But most of the time the characters shoot weapons (mostly missing their targets) or go up close and personal with the aliens.
Fists and knives against unknown alloys and weird power sources. This is the idea that The Protagonist should find a way to develop. Players can choose from a variety of attacks and chain combos, with more options opening up as characters level up. One can explore some interesting possibilities but the entire concept seems more suited to a fighting game or, at least, to a much more fantasy-focused tactics title.
The game also features a robust character development system, based on both stats and skills. Crafting is also featured, as are some light puzzles that rely on moving items around the world to open doors.
The Protagonist: EX-1 has the adequate but unimpressive presentation of a title created by a small team. The Unreal-powered graphics are bland, with limited effects and some weird blandness when close-ups are involved. The levels are repetitive and uninspired. The music also fails to inspire which led to me muting the game after around 20 minutes, searching for some nice synthwave in my collection to spice things up.
Conclusion
In its current state, the game offers limited but enjoyable combat that quickly becomes repetitive. Significant improvements are required for the mechanics to be addictive in the long term. The narrative and writing could also use some tweaks.
