Given the popularity of superheroes, though some could argue that trend may be waning a bit, I remain pretty surprised that we haven’t seen more video games featuring them, at least outside of those tied to DC and Marvel. The thing is, way back in 2002 I remember a great superhero strategy game hitting the market in the form of Freedom Force, which absolutely showed the way, doing well enough to even get a sequel. The Switch did get a game in a similar vein called Sentinels of Freedom a few years ago, but on the whole the scene has been pretty quiet.

Enter the varied and generally quite creative vigilante heroes of Capes, working to try to save a city that has been turned against them. I do appreciate the effort put into trying to give the game a fleshed out story, even if it is very trope-laden fare that will likely often feel familiar. The thing is, even if some of the twists and turns that come along the way are often telegraphed a mile away, it beats there being a lack of effort into trying to flesh these heroes out, just using them to fight your battles but never really letting them feel more well-defined. Perhaps the disconnect between the 2D cutscene art and the in-game 3D look isn’t so great, but it’s nice to see some effort there.

On the gameplay side of the coin, there’s mostly good news as well, though that may depend on the specific style of strategy you’re looking for. Rather than going with the more traditional style in the X-Com vein where there are no guaranteed hits and you can sometimes feel the wrath of the RNG gods’ cruelty, Capes at least keeps everything reliable. That does arguably shift the game into a middle territory between strategy and puzzles in some regards, but that doesn’t make it less satisfying. Once you’ve accumulated a more full roster of heroes, you’ll absolutely need to put different combinations of them through the paces, to get a feel for your preferred teams and also to simply level your key folks up. In the field the feel can get a bit slow and meticulous, mainly because there are so many potential tactics to exploit. Getting enough oomph to use each hero’s ultimate tends to be one strategy, as they can absolutely turn the tide of battle, but synergies that allow them to use their powers to boost each other can also be vital. Given the variety of heroes, and different power sets, it’s absolutely worth exploring different combinations a bit, and I’m happy that it doesn’t feel like only certain sets of skills will bring you success outside of some maps that may require a specific combination of heroes to complete.

All in all, while perhaps in the end Capes doesn’t quite hit the same highs as some of its peers, it still has a distinctive look and feel, some well-designed heroes, and a fair degree of general challenge. While it lacks the licensing to let you play with well-established favorites, there’s enough creativity and good humor in most of the hero designs that it can still be a lot of fun. If you happen to be looking for something more like X-Com, the lack of RNG and that giving the game a more puzzle-like feel may be off-putting, but otherwise this is generally a good time.