Vultures - Scavengers of Death

I spend most of my time in grand strategy and tactics, so when a game advertises itself as survival horror I usually hand it off to someone else. Vultures kept landing in my queue because every description made it sound like XCOM ate Resident Evil and neither was worse for it. After running through both agents and most of the mission roster, I can confirm: the concept works, the execution is mostly solid, and the rough edges are real but shrinking with each patch. The structure is mission-based rather than a single contiguous map. You alternate between Leopoldo, a brawler-type who can push enemies into walls to stun them and vault over environmental objects, and Amber, a lighter operative whose grappling gun lets her reposition across gaps or yank enemies toward hazards like broken floor tiles. Outside of combat the game runs in real-time, with three movement stances including a crouch-sneak mode that lets you set up positioning before a fight triggers. The moment enemies are in range, the game shifts into a grid-based turn system built on two resources: Action Points for shooting, reloading, and healing, and Movement Points for repositioning. Headshots cost double AP versus body shots, which turns every trigger pull into a small resource calculation. That tension, the deliberate choice between spending to kill fast or conserving for the next room, is where the horror-tactics synthesis actually lives. Fog of war keyed to line-of-sight and room lighting does the rest of the atmospheric work that fixed camera angles used to handle in the old Capcom titles. For tactics veterans the difficulty curve might initially feel soft, especially if you are methodical about sneaking and thorough about looting. Several community voices and reviewers have flagged that a careful player can make most standard encounters feel manageable, and a proper difficulty mode is currently in post-launch development from Team Vultures, who have been unusually active with patch notes. The weapon roster includes handguns, high-caliber rifles, and melee options like a combat knife and stun rod, though some reviewers noted that later unlocks feel narrower in application than the starting pistol, which has the most interesting body-part targeting decisions baked in. The inventory UI, a flat vertical list with no category sorting, creates friction when you are mid-mission and trying to swap a shotgun from a chest. It is a genuine annoyance that I hope gets a quality-of-life pass. On the stability side, launch was bumpy. Crashes on death-reload, UI overlaps in the hub area called The Nest, and a handful of softlocks were documented by early reviewers. The developers have shipped multiple patches since May 13 and the most severe issues appear to have been addressed, but if you are crash-sensitive you should verify the current patch state before buying. What has never wavered through any of those reports is the atmosphere. The PS1-era blockiness, low-resolution texture work, and ominous sound design are all deliberate and committed, not cheap. The game looks like it belongs next to Parasite Eve on a shelf, and that is a compliment in this context. For a tactics-first audience: the game is not deep in the Invisible Inc. or XCOM 2 sense. There are no skill trees at launch, character differentiation is functional but limited to those two signature abilities per agent, and the campaign length is modest. Think of it as a tight, curated set of puzzle-box combat rooms rather than a sprawling ops calendar. That makes it a low-risk entry point for horror fans who have never touched a tactics game, and a satisfying but short diversion for tactics veterans who want something with genuine atmosphere attached. The investigative narrative, a slow drip of conspiracy beats involving a corp called Eugenesys and cult activity across Salento Valley, rewards explorers who read every scrap of environmental lore without drowning casual players in exposition. Diego, Scout Team

Valve rates this game Steam Deck Playable.

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