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I’m a big strategy game fan, I like building stuff and especially destroying stuff. I did a quick check on new Steam releases today and came across ‘Particle Fleet: Emergence’ [Official Site, Steam] and I don’t want to put it down.

Note: Copy personally purchased.

It’s from the same developer as the Creeper World series of games, so it has their signature style to it. Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal is also very cool, so I was excited to see another Linux release from Knuckle Cracker.

The game has a similar style to Creeper World, in the sense that it’s a strategy game where your enemy is swarming around trying to eat away at everything. You need to carefully manage your energy resources while taking out the enemy swarms and their bases.

You control an array of different spaceships with a different variety of weapons, all constructed using the energy you acquire through mining in each level. The ships have different functions from supporting ships that can take out enemy “Emitters” which produce the swarming enemies, to destroyers that compliment the support ships with missiles or heavy point defence lasers. Even your HQ is essentially a big lumbering spaceship.

There's a lot of thought put into the different modules a ship can carry, which is clearly shown. Your energy emitters have a limited range to keep supplying your ships to repair them and give them ammo. So, eventually you can build a tanker ship which can refuel and supply ships in it's range. What I especially love about this little ship is that if it's out of range of your energy emitters, it has a little shuttle to ferry energy to itself to then push out to your ships in the field. It was very cool when I got far enough to use that.

You gradually unlock more ships and weapons as you play through the campaign, once you reach a certain point in the campaign you also unlock other game modes.

I love the way ships are built using an energy beam “Lathe”, something not too dissimilar from the old Total Annihilation RTS game.

The game even has a ship and map editor, if you’re into content creation.

One thing I would like to see, is the ability to move your ships in their current formation, instead of the chosen formation the game seems to randomly put them into.
Update: It seems it does have a form of this, but the tutorial text wasn't clear on it. It also doesn't function in the way I would like.

I’ve had a serious amount of fun with this game, sunk well over an hour into it in my first session without realising it at all. That’s always the sign of a great game.

If you like strategy games with spaceships and a campaign, you will probably really enjoy this. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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10 comments

coruun Sep 30, 2016
I followed the development of this game from its experimental beginnings and bought it immediately, when Virgil finally released it. I, too, played for more than an hour, without realizing. :D

@Liam: Did you try to hold "E" to keep the formation?
amonobeax Sep 30, 2016
Humm this game looks like "Space Pirates and Zombies" and I loved that game!

I'll check this one out, thanks.
psymin Sep 30, 2016
Damn, only single player :(
Liam Dawe Sep 30, 2016
Quoting: GuestAfter the huge disappointment that was Creeper World 3 I don’t think I will buy this one.
Interesting, why didn't you like it?
Magamo Sep 30, 2016
Loved CW3. Might check this one out on a sale some time.
Liam Dawe Sep 30, 2016
Quoting: coruun@Liam: Did you try to hold "E" to keep the formation?
Yeah, while it keeps the formation, they don't rotate towards the location which is annoying. You can either move and rotate them towards the location and they fuck up the formation, or keep formation and don't rotate at all :(
Mountain Man Sep 30, 2016
It looks like a glorified tower-defense game.
bgh251f2 Sep 30, 2016
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: liamdaweInteresting, why didn't you like it?
I found the constant addition of new game mecanics (one each level IIRC) to be tiring; it prevented me from just enjoying the game for a while after having learned something new. The story was annoying and hard to follow, but unfortunately it wasn’t possible to skip it because it contained randomly hidden instructions on how to complete the next level. And Farbor, a level that had to be played entirely differently that the rest of the game due to the short time limit, and was NOT any fun at all. (And the dev did nothing to fix it.)

Interesting,

You know that the game is really only about the extra content, the puzzle like worlds? The "story" is only a tutorial so you can learn all the game mechanics and the last level has 3 endings depending on how you beat it.
Liam Dawe Sep 30, 2016
Personally I enjoy the way it's done, introducing you to more and more types of weapons and abilities as the campaign goes on, been having a real blast with it!
Ilya Sep 30, 2016
QuoteParticle Fleet: Emergence just became my new Linux gaming addiction

If it's anything like the previous games by KnuckleCracker (Creeper World) then it probably will be mine too ^^
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