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Hostile Takeover: The Manipulators

• Sean Flint
• April 17th, 2015

My research today was rewarded with the discovery of an interesting RTS title that I had not heard of before. The Manipulators is a RTS-stealth hybrid where you control an alien race who uses parasitic powers to manipulate and control the beings of Earth. The game has a strong focus on creating solid AI and implementing a well-designed stealth mechanic.

In The Manipulators, you play as an alien race who has just landed on Earth, specifically California, during the late 1990’s. You begin your mission with control of a Queen, who is the main unit of the game, as well as the seed of your hive. One of your goals is to expand your hive as much as possible in order to increase the amount of units you can have, create powerful new structures, and gain access to destructive or helpful abilities to aid you in your goal for domination. One of the most interesting features of The Manipulators is the unique social structure that the human AI possesses. Each person will have their own connections in the town, and once you take control of a human, it is possible to use their social connections as a way to infiltrate and manipulate more of the townsfolk. As your presence becomes more clear, the humans will begin to take defensive action against you, including forming groups and sticking together as well as avoiding areas of previous alien activity. This in-depth system sounds very interesting as well as extremely ambitious, and I feel that it will add some fantastic flavor to the gameplay.

The Manipulators is a very interesting concept, and is still quite early in development by the looks of it. However, with the planned implementation of an in-depth AI as well as the ability to grow and expand your hive definitely sounds as if it will make for a satisfying strategy experience. Finally, The Manipulators is looking to implement a stealth system, which focus on using subterfuge to take control of humans and use them as pawns. You are able to use your pawns to gather information on the humans and can use this information to find the best areas to plan ambushes. With the combination of strategy and stealth, The Manipulators has a solid concept and I’m looking forward to keeping up with the game as the development progresses. My only concern with the game is the fact that it is in such early stages, which can often mean having features cut or replaced. I would be crushed to find out that they’ve decided to cut one of the more interesting features of the game, but we can only hope that they are able to implement all of the features they’d like to and more.

For more information about The Manipulators, see their official site, and be sure to follow their Twitter account for future updates.