Vigilantes is a turn-based tactical RPG developed for PC that places players in charge of a squad fighting organized crime in a gritty urban environment. The game combines strategy elements with role-playing depth in a neo-noir setting where players manage a team of vigilantes working to dismantle criminal operations across the city of Reiker.
Gameplay
The core loop revolves around squad-based combat on grid maps where positioning, cover, and ability timing determine outcomes. Players control up to seven characters in missions that emphasize lethal and non-lethal options, attacks of opportunity, aimed shots, and perk-activated abilities. Character progression uses the UPLIFT system with six stats and nine skills that support multiple build paths, supplemented by more than sixty perks for further specialization.
Outside combat, intel gathering forms a key part of progression. Surveillance operations provide data on gang presence and income in districts, while interrogations of captured enemies reveal leadership locations and facilities. Skill checks and dialogue choices during these sequences can grant combat advantages or open new paths. Base management involves constructing and upgrading five facilities including a gym, library, firing range, surgery, and workshop to unlock bonuses and advanced crafting recipes.
Crafting allows upgrades to weapons across nine classes and production of specialized items such as hot-loaded ammunition, armor, and medical supplies. The adversary system adds tension because enemies that escape become stronger and return later, forcing players to decide whether to pursue or handle immediate threats. Reactive enemy AI means gangs conduct their own operations, recruit, train, and build facilities that provide buffs, sometimes dispatching lieutenants for ambushes once the player draws attention.
Game Modes
Vigilantes delivers its experience through a single-player campaign structure focused on systematically targeting three criminal gangs. The campaign integrates combat missions with intel operations and base development, requiring players to climb gang hierarchies by eliminating bosses and destroying facilities. No separate multiplayer or additional modes exist, keeping the focus on the tactical campaign where choices in surveillance, interrogation, and combat shape the ongoing conflict.
Setting and Story
The game unfolds in a declining modern city plagued by crime, presented through hard-boiled narrative prose. Players follow a group of vigilantes confronting mob hitmen, cultists, and survivalist snipers rather than fantasy or science-fiction threats. Dialogue and skill checks during encounters with citizens or captured foes influence combat situations and allow assistance to those in need, adding layers to the central conflict against the criminal underworld.
Is It Worth Playing?
Vigilantes launched in 2018 and holds Very Positive reviews, with 80 percent of 273 user ratings positive. Reviewers highlight its competent execution of squad tactics, character customization, and the unusual modern crime theme compared with typical turn-based titles. The reactive enemy systems and intel mechanics provide meaningful strategic decisions that reward careful planning over brute force.
The game suits players who enjoy detailed tactical combat, base building, and progression systems in a focused single-player package. Its indie scale means a shorter campaign without ongoing seasonal content, yet the verified mechanics deliver a complete experience for fans of the genre. Those seeking fresh settings and consequences for letting enemies escape will find the core systems engaging throughout.
