Beyond All Reason
Beyond All Reason | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Real-Time Strategy Redefined
| ||||||||||
|
Beyond All Reason (AKA BAR) is an indie Real Time Strategy game that is entirely community driven with a developer team led by Beherith and other members grouped into the 'BAR team'. Initially a revamped recreation of another RTS namely Total Annihilation before becoming it's own identity due to differences to the original. The gameplay is heavily ported from Zero-K a fork project which too was inspired by TA. Project for the Remodelled version started in 2019 with the game being released in 2021 in alpha and is currently being developed as of 2025 for an eventual Steam release.
Gameplay retains the same as their predecessor Total Annihilation in which players control a giant robot known as the Commander that constructs a base and defends it with the end game goal of eliminating the other commanders. Economy is based on Electrical Energy and Mass, the former can be generated through solar generators, wind turbines or reclaiming foliage while the latter resource requires metal extractors onto metal deposits or reclaiming from wreckage.
Why It Rocks
- Beyond All Reason is a modern retrofitting of a classic that is truly fuelled by passion of the community that adored Total Annihilation! It retains the general gameplay intact while also improving the core aspects.
- What makes the game a unique outlier amongst the RTS community are the bountiful amount of intuitive commands that simplify complex manoeuvres and automate redundant tasks, BAR grants a higher level of control like no other RTS. Features like: Move units in a drawn line formation for effective spread out formations! A selection tool that groups all metal deposits in a zone to insert extractors in one click or upgrade them, or a drag select feature that selects all specified enemies for your units to attack instead of clicking individually.
- Ports numerous quality of life changes onto the battlefield, with many options inspired from Zero-K and Supreme Commander. From the move line draw that enables even formations (Zero-K), to strategic zoom to watch over the entire battlefield with adjustable angles and special icons to identify threats (Supreme Commander). You are also able to program a currently constructed unit to build in advance as soon as completed without needing to select the factory after completion.
- BAR presents perhaps the most satisfying Economy Management features of any RTS. Many ways to expand and expend while also providing convenient features for economy management: limits can be set on how much energy can be maintained to automatically shut down energy converters (instead of manually shutting them off), or engineers can either reclaim in zone. This automated management lets you steer focus toward conducting battles instead of micromanagement of manufacturing.
- This economy system inherited from Total Annihilation is also distinctly unique to mainstream RTS in which it uses a flux economy that gives a constant supply of resources that increases depending on the quantity of extractors or energy generators. This means the exact amount of resources aren't needed to afford construction.
- No mandated build orders or research system just like the predecessors. Units and buildings are not forcefully locked behind certain requirements, this all dependent on the engineer or factory having the schematics and resources to build them. Allows players to jumpstart unpredictable strategies like with an aircraft opening at early game or a quick rush to Tech 2.
- In keeping with the predecessor's traditions of grand battles, there are no restrictions of your army population with only a generous 2000 limit of units and buildings. Individual units also don't have arbitrary value nor a limit to how many players can field at one time opening the possibility to create multiple superweapons at once.
- A pristine quality of the visual presentation of the game. Aside from some of the choppy animations and basic looking UI, the graphics are outstanding quality! Sharp textures and solid designs on the units and terrain are majestically detailed and soothing colours and the effects spectacularly dazzling! They even dedicated themselves into crafting tiny but immersive details: Explosions create craters, gun barrels intensively heat up and battle scars present on the war machines! Sound design also immersive with the impact!
- Gorgeous variety of maps with over 200+ of them! It also comes with single player scenarios.
- Instead of the map pre-defining the spawn points, players have the option to pick the exact spot their commander will be placed, or the players can rearrange the spawn ranges on any map.
- Although the game is in Alpha state, the physics and game engine are robust. Every projectile is simulated and their impact matters, anything coming into contact with projectile will receive the hit.
- Gigantic variety of units with over hundreds of options to counter any situation. A bountiful assortment of weapons for battles of large scales and convenient utilities to boost your economy! From battleships, constructor towers, cloaking bots, epic laser towers to submersible planes! Unit design is also simplistic not relying on upgrade system to further invest capabilities. And thanks to the intuitive commands, the units are significantly easier to control for example, zone select to select all enemy targets rather than individual clicking, or bombers attacking points in a drawn line. Even tier 1 units are still viable in later stages of the game.
- One particular unit that changes the gameplay in a new level are are the Resurrection Bots, although initially faction exclusive and only obtainable in high tier, are now accessible in early game completely swinging the dynamic of the battles, either reclaim swathes of wreckage to substantially boost economy, rebuild demolished structures at lesser cost or resurrect your opponents fallen armies and assimilate to your own side.
- Another small but unique weapon type are the JUNO towers that are missile launchers that launch a missile that specialised in eliminating minefields, Radar and Jamming towers, and hordes of scout units (they cannot hurt other units or cloaking spy bots).
- Each of the weaponry now feels distinct with their own quirky perks straying from the typical projectile that just applies damage value. Lasers being instant hit with less damage on far targets, plasma cannons having range bonus on higher elevations, lightning weapons strike multiple targets and nukes deforming terrain.
- Two factions each with their own set of unique units. Compared to TA, the new units and adjustments greatly increased the distinct roles of the factions! For example, Armada is granted cloakable defence turrets and light gunships while Cortex gain siege weaponry like tactical nuclear missiles, armed metal extractors and fire based weaponry.
- Reworks on TA side, the changes are mostly well balanced and polished compared to the original: CORE AK (now remodeled as the grunt) for example has instant hit lasers and larger sight range than the ARM Pewees (now Pawns in BAR), or spy bots having an EMP explosion upon self destruction, or the addition of hard hitting Tech 3 experimentals onto both factions. Regarding the faction appearances, the new designs also achieve them to be distinct.
- Armada: featuring cheap and fragile specialised units with cloaking and lightning technology being their specialty with a cost for high energy consumption, use deception and guile strategy to compensate for their fragility. Featuring units such as the Gremlin a cloaked tank with the potential to cripple weak points, Epoch a T2 Heavily armed Flagship that is capable of relentlessly raining down plasma shells onto land or sea targets, Thor an experimental T3 tank shooting electrical bolts that jump onto other targets and EMP missiles that stun foes, or the Liche a swift atomic bomber with an explosive payload that devastates unguarded economies or commanders with one pass.
- Cortex: Highly armoured and stronger units that are highly metal expensive, cheaper solar panels and nuclear technology and armed metal extractors are their benefits. Notable units include Salamander a T2 tank with the ability to traverse water, scale steep hills and accurately disintegrate fast targets, T1 Shuriken drones that stun enemies, Dragon a T2 heavily armoured flying fortress with flamethrowers and lasers along with decent AA capabilities best used to siege heavy fortifications, Exploiter a weaponised metal extractor perfect for protecting important resource points, or the Catapult, a large T3 rocket artillery bot capable of raining overwhelming ballistics onto target area from afar.
- As a result of the accommodating features and tools, the gameplay achieves a balanced pace that doesn't feel too slow to start, or demanding high speed for micromanagement, just right for casual and competitive play.
- Sometimes, you don't always need to build strong high tier units to assure victory, this is where the Flank bonus comes to play. This mechanic grants 200% damage bonus toward the attackers when they hit a target (either unit or structure) from their rear along with one hitting them by the front. This intuitive feature allows weak armies to decapitate heavy defences swiftly and encourages usage of agile raider units, well coordinated attacks, tactical positioning and aggressive pushes to secure victory.
- Compared to TA and other RTS, BAR's intel system has intricate amount of layers of unique counter-play that realise the potential of mindgames. Instead of fog as an annoying void that obscures the map and demands units to constantly run into it, the radar and fog mechanics are reworked to units hidden by fog and able seen by radar and be targetted at but have their actual positions scrambled to opposing sides, results in missed shots. Furthermore, another challenging addition is that Radar is also blocked by elevation, emphasising the map differences and strategic approaches to them.
- The Targeting facilities initially from Total Annihilation are now given a better purpose, reworked to provide accurate reading of radar detected objects for reliable hit detection (instead of enabling units to shoot through fog targets in TA).
- Support for up to 25+ players on each side! With 8v8s being the popular format in casual scene.
- Aside from the standard decimate your opponent main mode, BAR includes other game modes (these are currently work in progress at the moment) such as surviving against mutated war machines of the Scavengers, or the Raptors mode that your team must survive against alien hordes.
- Great AI that is challenging while not being too overwhelming. Their units don't suicide charge, instead wisely retreating when they aren't able to compete your numbers.
- Free to play. And for that it delivers promising content and a robust experience overrall, without the tempting need for microtransaction or pay-to-win features.
The Only Bad Quality
- As the game is in an alpha state there are still some features to be polished notably the animations (when units climb elevations), group movement or the UI. Although however the gameplay remains robust.