Freedom Force: Squad Tactics, Energy X Canisters, and Destructible Buildings

Assembling the Squad: One to Four Heroes per Mission

Each mission in the single-player campaign begins with squad assembly rather than a fixed lineup. From the team roster you select anywhere from one to four characters to enter the fray, then confirm with the launch command to begin the mission. The choice is not entirely free: some characters must deploy because their special abilities are needed for the objectives, while others are required to remain behind at the base. The manual's guidance is to weigh each hero's capabilities against the enemies awaiting the squad, since the roster you bring defines the tools available once combat starts.

Squad assembly sits inside a broader mission cycle. The campaign is broken into a sequence of missions that must be completed in order to advance. Between missions the team returns to the Freedom Fortress, where Character Points are spent to train heroes, villain data can be reviewed, and new heroes can be recruited. Those recruited heroes then become candidates for later deployments, so the size and composition of the four-slot squad reflects decisions made at the base as well as the requirements of the upcoming fight.

Power Commands, Energy Points, and Overpowering Attacks

Power commands draw on Energy X, and each power can carry its own EP cost. Opening the Command menu pauses the game, and right-clicking a power there brings up a small menu for choosing normal power, a two-step intensity increase, or a four-step increase, marked by a dot, a single up arrow, or a double up arrow. Raising intensity makes the attack hit harder, but the energy points paid for the command rise with it, so the same power can be dialed up or kept modest.

Energy regenerates slowly on its own, and several states cut that trickle further. Flying reduces a character's regeneration rate, ordinary movement lowers it slightly, and an active shield halts it completely. Wielding an object locks out the character's other attack actions until it is released. Defense outcomes add another layer: an attack can be absorbed, blocked normally, deflected in a random direction, redirected at a randomly chosen enemy, or reflected straight back at the attacker, and blocked damage is applied to the defense's hit points.

Energy X Canisters and Wielding Objects in Patriot City

Energy X canisters are found scattered around Patriot City, and each one grants the character who picks it up a bonus. The Power Canister recharges the character's energy points and places them into a brief energized state; the Health Canister restores the character to full hit points; and the Experience Canister adds a bonus of experience. Because the bonuses are timed to the pickup, a flagging hero can be topped up mid-mission rather than waiting on the slow passive trickle. The canisters therefore give you a reason to break off from the fight and cross ground to collect them.

A strong character can also wield certain objects, such as lampposts, by picking one up and swinging it like a club. This costs no energy points, and heavy objects deliver significant crushing damage when thrown, but the trade-off is that a character holding an object cannot perform any of its other attack actions until the object is released. Buildings in Patriot City are fully destructible: a projectile or other damaging force that strikes one applies a damage effect, and enough damage destroys the structure. Wielding and destruction thus meet in the same environments, where debris and struck buildings share the same damage rules.

Mission Objectives, Experience, and Base Progression

Mission objectives come in two tiers, and the game flags them in the playfield with colored arrows: red arrows point to primary objectives, while yellow arrows point to secondary ones. A mission text window reports the changes as they happen, posting a notification when a new objective is added, when one is completed, and when a secondary objective is failed. Because secondary objectives can fail without ending the mission, the two tiers carry different weight: the primary goals define what must be done, and the secondary goals are optional targets that can be lost along the way.

Experience and Prestige feed two separate progressions. Whenever characters participate in a mission, each member of the team gains experience, and at each threshold a character levels up and receives Character Points; recruits who sit out a mission receive less experience, though they can still gain it by exercising back at the base. Character Points are then spent on that character to improve powers, and raising a power's level can unlock further powers in its tier. Prestige Points come from completing primary and secondary objectives, defeating villains and minions, and finding Prestige bonuses, and the total is what gets spent to recruit new heroes, with stronger recruits costing more.

First published Oct 21, 2026.