Jumping in with the full release of Partisans 1941, I’m excited to fully enjoy this game in all of its glory since the initial demo release had me eagerly waiting. Developer Alter Games and publisher Daedalic Entertainment bring Partisans 1941 solid gameplay after it turned heads with its demo release not too long ago, but yet again, you must know the definition of a ‘Partisan’.

A Partisan is a member of an armed group formed to fight secretly against an occupying force, in particular one operating in German-occupied Yugoslavia, Italy, and parts of Eastern Europe in the Second World War. That definition sets the game’s overall setting and introduces you to the world that Partisan 1941 as presented to you, the player. You’re not some highly trained group tasked with taking on Nazi forces during World War II, but a group of soldiers and civilians just trying to survive against an occupying force. This real-time tactics game, set on the Eastern Front of WWII heavily relies on guerrilla tactics and stealth as your weapons of choice.

For those who enjoyed classic single player story-driven games such as the Commando’s series or Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, you can appreciate Partisans’ core gameplay, where brains and tactics are best suited rather than brawn. Particular abilities and skills come in handy with the various characters, which can be obtained through upgrading your characters using experience in the RPG system. Players will also meet new recruitable characters during missions that share the same drive to fight against the occupying force, and can also add to the overall battlefield effectiveness of your unit.

One enjoyable factor in the game for me was the home base aspect, as just jumping from mission to mission wasn’t realistic to the situation. You’ll have to upgrade and micromanage your base, taking stock of food and supplies needed, not just for missions but to make sure your fight against the occupying enemies is sustainable. Morality was an exciting aspect, where low morale takes a toll on your people, and as an example, could have them deciding to take supplies from the very people you are trying to save.

Another enjoyable factor to the home base was that tasks and missions can be delegated to members; send them to go fishing, to get more food, out for raids for weapons and supplies, or even build upgrades to the base for you.

During missions, a nice element with the strategic play is the ability to interact with your environment to gain the upper hand, whether it be to release a truck break to crush a few Nazis, or jumping on a gun turret to mow down your enemies. Not to forget, the special characters as stated before, that can walk right past patrols without being noticed or scale high fences to gain a tactical position before an ambush. The game’s controls will be very familiar to those who are familiar to the classic Commando games with the use of mouse and keyboard along with an informative tutorial mission to get you started. With all these aspects to the gameplay, I highly enjoyed it.

The game is very historically accurate in the portrayal of the setting, with the characters voice audio spoken in the locations native language and handy English subtitles. It is such an enjoyable experience, but it was respectful to the real-life Partisans that fought against Nazi invaders behind enemy lines during the war.

Jumping back in, and expanding from the demo to the full version of the game. My experience has only increased with enjoyment and excitement. This single player game remained true to fans of real-time tactics, and gave me a real feeling of what it was like as a resistance fighter during World War II.

As stated before, the game mechanics were not overly complicated and base micro-management was not overburdening to the core gameplay, and very little in the way of core gameplay mechanics has changed since the demo. Along with the details, the world’s environment becoming even more spectacular as before, you can’t help but commend the work that Developers, Alter Games have put into Partisans 1941. Just like the Partisans, keep up the fight against occupying fascists!

Written by: Simon Hayward