14 DAY TRIAL // 
Keeper Mzuka Mku launches a Rush attack, knocking down her opponent as she takes a big chunk out of its important stamina class. It will take another assault or two to take this opponent entirely out of the fight. But it’s more important to now control its friends, so one of my Vets delivers a tranquilizer that puts one to sleep.
An enemy Engineer takes his turn, shooting at my party members with limited results before my own Mystic uses a preemptive heal to make sure I lose no one during the fight. The rest of my characters target the stamina of the opponent group and the battle is over in two rounds, giving me a reputation boost and quite a bit of experience.
This group now needs to head to a friendly city and try to heal for a while, as another of my parties tries to make sure that there are no poachers able to target the Raun moving across the map. I still need to disarm a few traps to achieve a secondary objective before I look for and then defeat the leader of the poaching faction.
We Are the Caretakers is developed and published by Heart Shaped Games LLC. I played it on the PC using Steam. The game is also available on the Xbox Series X and S and the older console from Microsoft. The title delivers a strategy and role-playing mix with Afro-futuristic themes.
Players will take on the role of the Conductor, leading a powerful organization charged with protecting the Raun, adorable and threatened fauna. It’s an original premise that gives players a clear objective, hunting poaching expeditions while giving them the space to learn more about characters, relationships, and more. Aliens show up at the end of the first narrative campaign to add complexity and enhance the threat of poaching.
The atmosphere is good, as are the futuristic elements, but the writing often feels a little too sentimental. A little more context, especially when it comes to organizations, would have worked wonders. Still, this is a good game in terms of narrative and setting. And a Raun joins the Conductor’s squad to help in combat, useful despite its cuteness.
We Are the Caretakers is an exploration and tactical battle mix, at its core. Players will take on missions, move squads around maps, discover and explore points of interest, interact with others, and, finally, engage in combat when everything else fails. This side of the game is intriguing, although the variety of the map points of interest is pretty limited.
Once combat begins, gamers will have to choose abilities for their party, trying to bring either the stamina or will of the enemy force to zero. Once that happens, characters can choose from a few finishing moves, which determine the fate of the opponents. There’s no movement to handle, just what players choose to do on their turn
Choices made during combat will affect reputation and future opportunities. We Are the Caretakers also tracks a Threat level, which can lead to some enemies fleeing to fight another day if the player is too aggressive. Entire combat scenarios can be automated, with the player only choosing the most important target and the tactical approach.
The entire system works well, especially when it comes to choosing between attacking an enemy’s will or stamina. Healing is pretty limited, which means gamers need to make sure that they only launch encounters with fresh forces (moving across the map drains stamina, and standing near settlements replenishes it).
Map exploration also brings in money and research. The first is needed to sustain squads in the field, while the second can be invested to improve overall capabilities and gain access to more units. Outside of missions, there are opportunities to deal with captured enemies, unlock tech, and upgrade characters to new classes.
Progress through the campaigns, called eras, is linear, which is a shame given the potential of the game’s universe. Some of the missions are simple, short conversations with a few characters, capped by a choice. Most are, thankfully, full map exploration and enemy fighting adventures.
We Are the Caretakers has just enough interesting mechanics to keep players engaged, trying to find out more about the setting while taking down as many poachers as possible. The tactical battles and the ways they can play out represent the highlight.
But, once the second campaign is finished, the game starts to feel a little hollow. Combat starts to feel repetitive, even if you delegate most to the computer and keep a key pressed to make everything move faster. Upgrades and tech do not have depth. Mission objectives keep coming up again and again.
I love the stamina/will combat choices and the fact that opponents are not killed. Even the short Atrium interactions are interesting. The game should have expanded these elements, adding more ways to engage with the world and to affect it directly.
We Are the Caretakers uses a very distinct style, inspired by Afro-futurist ideas. But that style deserves a better graphical representation than the title can offer, especially when it comes to characters during battles. There’s a clear lack of detail and personality, and even the strategic maps are relatively sparse and limited. The concepts are there but the execution is lacking. The sound design also has its limits, with battle sounds that don't convince, but benefits from a strong soundtrack, with limited variety the only problem here.
The Good
- Solid game universe
- Poacher eradication
- Tactical battles
The Bad
- Needs more variety
- Limited presentation
- Does not use themes to their full extent
Conclusion
The problem lies with the execution, which is affected by limited resources. Presentation never manages to do the world justice. The core mechanics are decent but they tend to become repetitive. We Are the Caretakers is a good strategy and role-playing mix that had the potential for so much more.
A review key was provided by the publisher.
