This year at the UK’s 2016 three day EGX Rezzed event I was fortunate enough to try out a vast selection of titles ranging from the well publicised and wide spread (like the fantastic open beta to Orcs Must Die Unchained) to the unique and the unknown. Sitting in the center of the London Tobacco Docks staring at the event map I was somehow attempting to come up with a gameplan of how to approach the next few days. This was, after all, my first ever Game development event.

It was the bright and very intriguing Sigma Theory stand that stood out in the corner of my eye that dragged me up from twaddling my thumbs.

“A futuristic and global Cold War.”

Oh man.

“I’m so in.” I told myself, cramming my laptop away and brashly composing myself before rushing over to meet the French development studio behind the award winning and FTL-esque mobile game, Out There, Mi-Clos, who have clearly been hard at work on their latest project.

Based in the near future a select group of scientists have made a discovery they are calling ‘Sigma Theory‘ something that will give whoever is in control of it the potential to create world changing technologies, the ability to take out complex global systems, and even the chance obliterate entire countries. This is a world where Sigma Theory is the key to your country’s advancement and far more importantly, survival.

The game will put you in the shoes of an intelligence agency chief, taking full advantage of your drones, agents, and diplomacy skills to ensure you outsmart the opposing nations at every turn.

The bulk of Sigma Theory‘s gameplay is through the futuristic world map, giving one command action every turn to each of the four agents you start out with. Such commands include travelling from one country to another or staying put and doing some recon in the area, seeking out a weapon or doing research to find Sigma Theory scientists.

Things become particularly intriguing when a scientist is traced, take your time to figure out what makes them tick and you just might select the right method to bring them to your side. When doing so you’ll enter a city map, evading randomly moving police to escape. A mini-game that certainly felt like it could do with another gameplay aspect and a tad more polish but held my attention nonetheless.

The build on display at Rezzed was a very early one with a few key features not yet implemented, such as the lack of drone use or weighty diplomacy but the reality is that the title has only been in development for a few months. A few months that have somehow produced something already so aesthetically pleasing and conceptually engrossing that I strongly believe it will enter the same line of success as Out There.

Whether a full length version of the game could keep my attention for hours at a time, really depends on where development goes from here I can, however, quite confidently state that I believe any fans of unique/board game-like takes on the turn based strategy genre like the critically acclaimed Pandemic will be in for a treat.

Sigma Theory is available for pre-order on their website for $14.99.