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Developed by Bohemia Incubator and published by Bohemia Interactive, Silica is a unique blend of FPS and RTS. Three factions must battle for control of the planet Baltarus in an effort to cement their presence in this alien world. Players can choose to either lead from above by taking control of the entire faction or get stuck in the thick of it first-hand.
This unique perspective allows players to enjoy the game solely as an RTS experience or blend the best of both worlds to form a new one. That said, I got a chance to try it with the developers and a few others, and from what I've experienced, there are some great ideas at play.
Silica - A land where the Balterium and Tar flows
The year is 2351, and humanity has discovered teleportation. This allows them to tear through space-time to colonize a terrestrial planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. Owing to the red hues of the dwarf star, the new home is named Centarus, after the constellation within which it resides.
Despite reaching new frontiers, humankind's curiosity doesn't cease to exist. With dreams of exploring the deepest depths of space, probes are sent out. While most don't return, only one makes it back, leading to the discovery of Baltarus.
After the teleportation link is established, expeditions are mounted to this seemingly barren world. Rather than finding dust, the brave explorers stumble upon an element that forever changes humankind's course - Balterium. This new discovery ushers in an age of prosperity.
Balterium can be used to multiply the input energy by several magnitudes, making the element seem surreal. It can also manipulate the matter around it in seemingly magical ways. Following this, more mining expeditions will be launched, but Balterium is not all that's waiting to be discovered.
Sensing an alien presence in their homeworld, crustacean/cephalopod-like creatures native to the planet have begun to emerge. Quickly, a military presence is established to eliminate the alien threat, but this leads to another problem altogether.
With the supply of Balterium feeding the people of Sol, the proud Centauri are left high and dry. Within a year of mining, the planet becomes a three-way warzone between the humans of Sol, Centauri, and the Aliens.
This is where you come in as a player in Silica. You can choose which faction to side with, what to build, and how to eliminate the other factions. You can leave everything to the AI while you get into the thick of it or take control and micromanage everything; the choice is truly yours.
First impressions and gameplay
As a kid, playing an RTS title was often challenging. You play it with the intent of going all-out without considering resource management or which units to use to counter. Eventually, in a last-ditch effort, you tend to imagine yourself being tossed into the deep end, taking control of the situation, and emerging victorious; that's exactly what Silica does.
The ability to take control of a unit, be it a Scout or a Hover Tank, is a childhood dream come true. I cannot overstress how good it felt to be able to switch between managing the entire faction at times, just letting my hair down, and going into an FPS frenzy.
The best part is that there's no need to panic and rush back to management as the AI takes over. This gives you, the player, a chance to explore the vast landscape of Baltarus and engage enemies at will. That being said, I got the chance to partake in a three-way multiplayer battle, which was pure chaotic entertainment. But we'll talk about it a bit later.
Let's begin with discussing the game itself. For those of you who have played an RTS, getting started is fairly simple with respect to the mechanics. Depending on the faction you choose, you'll either have to set up a basic supply chain in order to build structures. Once that's done, they can then be used to produce units and get the ball running.
I must admit, out of the three factions available, the Aliens are probably the most entertaining. They can use the planet's terrain to their advantage to hide from line-of-sight and scale up cliffs to ambush or flank enemies with ease. Given that this is their homeworld, it's good to see them have a home advantage, so to speak. That doesn't mean that humans are sloppy.
What humans lack in numbers, they make up for in high-tech equipment and long-range firepower. If alien critters get spotted on their approach, they will likely not make it close enough to the base. With that said creatures like the Behemoth and Goliath are a bit more difficult to take down, even at long-range.
Thankfully, with the ability to research new equipment, the odds can be evened out somewhat. All said and done, maintaining a healthy distance in combat while playing as Humans is probably for the best. On that note, while there are two human factions in-game, they share the same kind of units and technology.
However, this is set to change in future updates as they will be given their own unique units and esthetic looks. This is just the tip of the iceberg for the roadmap that lies ahead. All in all, my experience in the single-player mode was fun, but it was nothing compared to the absolute blast I had while playing multiplayer.
In multiplayer mode, one player can choose to become the Commander of the faction. They can oversee construction, allocate resources, and build units. Everyone else that's part of the faction can hop right into the action and get their thrills by shooting at whatever comes into view.
Given that I had taken control of the faction in single-player, I didn't want to be a Commander in the multiplayer mode. For this reason, I jumped into the battle and spent sixty-odd minutes shooting Aliens and Humans with extreme prejudice. Although enemy players did manage to best me in combat, even dying was a fun experience. However, this could be a setback.
Given how large the maps are, getting eliminated on the battlefront can be frustrating. Thankfully, humans can teleport across the battlefield to forward positions and quickly get back into the fight. This makes the experience of constant warfare much more streamlined and consistent.
During my playthrough, I fought as a Scout, drove a Siege Tank, and even controlled a few Aliens (after I had switched factions towards the end of the game). Overall, the entire experience left me smiling from ear to ear and wanting more.
Performance and Sound
Silica, provided by Bohemia Interactive, was played on a system with the following configuration:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- GPU: RTX 3070 8GB
- RAM: 32 GB
Over the course of my single-player and multiplayer playthrough, Silica ran perfectly. There were no crashes, lags, or anything of the sort. From start to finish, it was a smooth experience.
In terms of music and SFX, Silica is doing pretty well. It's easy to identify the type of weapons being fired and the type of aliens approaching from nearby.
In conclusion
Silica has a lot to offer, and even in the early stages, it's clear to see that there's a lot of potential. With 20 units, two different genres wrapped up in a single game, and three different game modes, there's already a lot on offer. No doubt, it has the potential to be a good RTS/FPS single-player game, but truth be told, the multiplayer experience shines the brightest.
Being able to go head-to-head with other players on the field or oversee the action and manage the faction as a whole is a dynamic experience. Those wanting to jump into a multiplayer battle can get their thrills in the FPS mode, while those wanting to play Commander can do so from the RTS mode.
Although Silica will be in early-access for about a year, I can already envision how things will turn out a few months from now. With more units slated to be added to the mix alongside building types and perhaps even combat mechanics, there's a lot on offer. I, for one, cannot wait to partake in more large-scale multiplayer matches.
