Every Day We Fight Demo Preview: An interesting TBS game with real-time exploration and roguelite elements tossed into the mix

Every Day We Fight is developed by Signal Space Lab and published by Hooded Horse. Caught in a time loop, your band of resistance fighters is humanity’s last hope (if they ever get serious about their situation). The game blends real-time exploration, turn-based tactics, and roguelite strategy.

Your characters will acquire new abilities, seek out new weapons, and develop/craft new techniques to overcome the mysterious alien threat. The best way to sum things up is by saying that you're going to have a lot of fun if the blending of three different genres is your thing.

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Every Day We Fight: First impressions and gameplay

Slugs going downrange (Image via Signal Space Lab)

Every Day We Fight was love at first sight for me. From the initial trailer that got me interested to the actual gameplay, it's outright amazing. As someone who played XCOM and the sequel during the pandemic to stop myself from going insane, I know this game hits all the right spots.

From the very get-go in Every Day We Fight, you're introduced to mechanics and tactics that are very similar to XCOM; some even seem inspired by Phoenix Point. It's nice to see worlds blended to create something new and flavorful, while keeping the age-old formula of alien invasion at the heart of things. Nothing like humans banding together to stop outerworld threats.

Try, die, and try again. (Image via Signal Space Lab)

On a side note, I'll be up front and say that I did play much of Every Day We Fight; a mere 104 minutes to be exact. Not because I didn't want to, but because I couldn't. With this being the demo version, I only got to dip my toes into everything that was on offer. As I was cautious, I only got to see a bit of combat, but it was more than enough to get me hooked.

Without revealing a lot, let me start by saying that the start of the mission (after the tutorial) plays a bit like XCOM. You can position your trio wherever you want before initiating combat. The difference in this title is that the mission is based on an open map. This means that you can explore and do whatever you want before the main mission. You can choose to engage in fights or only do so when needed.

"Aim for the head, Leo!" (Image via Signal Space Lab)

There's plenty of loot to pick up in Every Day We Fight's open world, but those in fights can only be acquired after they end. As always, you can craft new items and weapons. I got the chance to make some basic stuff once I got to the safehouse.

One thing I loved about the game mechanics is that you can fast-travel around the open map via Manholes. This saves you time from having to leg it across open ground.

Again, I'm not sure if this would solely serve the purpose of quick travel. It might help in keeping a low profile as the game progresses as well. Being able to avoid patrol blocking off an area by traveling underground seems like the safe thing to do. It would be interesting to see what the developers have planned here.

The banter between these three is epic (Image via Signal Space Lab)

The characters and combat in Every Day We Fight stood out in their own right. Since you can only use three characters, they talk to each other and banter about their past and everything else. This is very different from XCOM, but given the conversations I've heard thus far, I'm completely hooked. Nothing like a bit of "tea" while killing xenos.

Speaking of which, the combat is great. As mentioned earlier, you can position your characters wherever you feel, and once the first shot has been fired (or you've been spotted), combat kicks off.

What I love about combat is that you have to manually aim and shoot. What adds to this is the fact that you can aim, shoot, and force an alien to break cover, switch to another character, and shoot them in real time. It's radical, and I for one am in love with it.

I love how the skill-tree has so many options to choose from (Image via Signal Space Lab)

There's a lot more besides combat and crafting new gear. You can explore the map and look for points of interest to find loot or maybe purge an alien patrol. The leveling of your characters is also seamless. They level up as you do stuff, and you can add skills to their repertoire, which can be used as soon as they are selected. Pretty neat in a way, as you don't have to wait to use new abilities.

As for the Thorn (invading aliens), I got to face off against three variants of them, one of which was heavily armored, but easy enough to bring down with some focus fire. There's nothing that a sniper rifle can't solve with a bullet aimed true.

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Performance and sound

I played my copy of Every Day We Fight, provided by Hooded Horse, on a system having the following configuration:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• GPU: RTX 3070 8GB
• RAM: 32 GB

In terms of performance and sound, everything was in place. However, what really got me going was the conversations between Dylan, Leo, and Vivian. I could honestly listen to them banter for hours. Listening to them rant was the highlight while exploring. Learning about their pasts while walking through desolate streets in Every Day We Fight felt comforting.

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In conclusion

Something about a folded Thorn that makes me happy (Image via Signal Space Lab)

I would like to say a lot more, but given that my run ended in just over an hour and 30 minutes, there's a lot I'm probably missing out on. As such, I would need a few hours to experience everything Every Day We Fight has to offer. I know there's a lot of content that has been planned, and I'm itching to try it out.

On that note, as a fan of the TBS genre, I can highly recommend Every Day We Fight. It has a lot of potential, and while it's not XCOM, it's pretty good. I can already see a lot of value in terms of replayability. I'm sure mission modifiers can be added quite easily alongside rare loot that can only be acquired via special means.

You came to the wrong neighborhood, Thorn (Image via Signal Space Lab)

All in all, this is the start of something good, and I hope the developers can deliver. I enjoyed the storyline, narration, and, of course, the gameplay itself. I love how characters can use cover, peek from behind it to shoot, set up overwatch, and of course, use items to their advantage. The ability to dash to cover after being spotted is also neat in Every Day We Fight.

A bit of balancing could be done in certain fights, but I suppose that's where the roguelite part comes into effect. Try, die, and try again; Every Day We Fight is a truly unique take on turn-based strategy, where the roguelite element hits the sweet spot.

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Reviewed on: PC

Platform: Microsoft Windows

Developer: Signal Space Lab

Publisher: Hooded Horse

Release: July 10, 2025