I never had the chance to play the previous entries in the Jagged Alliance franchise, but when I heard there was an indie XCOM-like strategy title based on video games from the 90s, my interest was immediately piqued. 

Developed by Haemimont Games and published by THQ Nordic, Jagged Alliance 3 is set in the fictional African nation of Grand Chien, where the populace is divided and constantly battles over the land's rich natural resources. Putting players in control of a militia, you must fight against a rebellious paramilitary organization called "The Legion," which remains a constant oppressive force to the people and characters you meet along the way.

Immediately thrust into the main storyline, I met Emma Lafontaine, the daughter of the President of Grand Chien. From here, she put me on a quest to find her father, and this is when the game really gets going, and the core gameplay opens up.

Players are put on a massive campaign map with a squadron of mercenaries and must slowly make their way to new levels or squares to explore the country while encountering enemies and NPC civilians along the way.

While the over 100 tiles would be impressive on their own, what's even more impressive is the fact there are a ton of sidequests and colorful characters you can meet on any given square, including a few squares with hidden mysteries. 

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Granted a shared pool of funds, the mercenaries you hire have limited-time contracts which expire if you don't pay up, adding a resource-management element to the game. Combat feels familiar here, with turn-based action, cover mechanics, and a wide arsenal of customizable weaponry to choose from. 

I'd be lying if I said that my first playthrough of Jagged Alliance 3 was smooth sailing. I'm familiar with other games in the genre, and I especially loved Wasteland 3, but Jagged Alliance 3 does not hold your hand or ease you into its difficulty. 

In Jagged Alliance 3, taking chances could mean full squad wipes, and it isn't halfway through the game, either – it’s more like your third or fourth mission. When you lose a squad member, they are dead forever, so it means you need to reach back into your coffers and come up with the cash to replenish your forces. 

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This makes every enemy encounter and every level a potential fight for your life, where measured decisions and tactics must be made if you hope to pull your mercs out of the mission alive. 

As you delve deeper into the game, more events happen -- you realize you can field a second squad of mercs, and the game evolves into a cat-and-mouse game as The Legion relentlessly attacks your liberated cities. 

While it took a while to actually get to this phase of the game, once you do, it really gets interesting, and you feel like you're fighting an all-out conflict rather than just controlling a squadron of mouthy mercs. 

Each NPC in Jagged Alliance 3 has a distinct personality that adds depth to the characters you meet in the world. This also extends to your party members, who will quip during certain conversations based on their personalities, with others going so far as refusing to work with another character.

Decisions and interactions with NPCs matter, too. Quests in the game have divergent choices, meaning that decision-making matters as much in your dialogue as it does on the battlefield. Going one way may provide a benefit that you use until the end game, while another decision may kill a character permanently. 

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The permadeath nature of your squad, mixed with the serious difficulty curve, can sometimes make the mercenaries you hire feel indistinguishable since they’ll be dying a lot, but it's a small gripe when there's so much else going for the game. 

The visuals in Jagged Alliance 3 dazzled me, as I could swear that the warm humidity of Grand Chien was washing over me as I played through the campaign. From dense rainforests to arid deserts, there are a ton of beautiful environments to explore.

In addition to this, the title manages to strike a perfect balance between the cartoony aesthetic of the character art melded with the realistic graphics of the environments. There's true attention to detail here, with every building containing furniture and decorations that make them feel real inside almost fully destructible environments. 

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The overall sound design is also superb, as the whizzing of bullets grazing by your ear rival even the best FPS titles. Voice acting is also top-notch, and I never felt like the accents were too over-the-top or campy, but just the right amount of cheekiness. While some games make you want to skip through dialogue, Jagged Alliance 3 makes you want to talk to more characters in the game. 

Playing Jagged Alliance 3 is like peeling back the layers of an onion. What seems like a pretty basic XCOM-like strategy game based on a nostalgic franchise is actually a deep and interesting title filled with great ideas with arguably a more impressive execution. 

When you think you've fully grasped the game, it'll throw another curveball at you, which you'll have to contend with by yourself without the assistance of a tooltip telling you precisely how you should react. I could go on and on about everything included in this mighty indie title, including weapon customization, a skill and perks tree for your mercs, among other mechanics, but you get the picture. 

If the punishing difficulty has got you down, stay resilient because the end result is something truly special and worth experiencing. 

Pros:

• A fun, unique, and challenging core gameplay loop

• Great visuals, voice acting, and sound

• Divergent dialogue choices with a compelling story

• The freedom to play how you want with a multitude of fun side quests

Cons:

• A lack of clear tooltips makes some game mechanics hard to figure out

• Individual personalities can get lost because of the number of mercenaries you'll hire

• A few less-than-stellar UI choices

Score: 9/10

Reviewer played the game on Microsoft Windows.

Jagged Alliance 3 is available July 14, 2023, on Microsoft Windows

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