This strategy RPG was supposed to be cute but here I am weaponizing the life force of children

gamesradar.com:

Turn-based strategy RPG Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 recently launched on all platforms, and its trailer gave me such bewildering whiplash that I simply had to try it for myself.

The game leads with lovely illustrations of its anthropomorphic cast of dog boys and cat girls, all fluffy little child soldiers fighting the good fight to recover from the war that took place in the first game (which I haven't played). Sure, I thought. Beastars meets Valkyria Chronicles. I'm down. 

Things quickly take a dark turn when the history and nature of the two bio-organic tanks at the center of this conflict, the legendary Taranis and the Tarascus model emulating it, become clear. My alarm bells started ringing around the time the Taranis brainwashed and kidnapped a bunch of these kids just to use them as ammunition for its honest-to-god Soul Cannon. They didn't stop ringing when the friends of those kids, who are of course the only ones capable of piloting these tanks, piled into the Tarascus to chase after them.   

Imagine if, when you lost one of your favorite anime lovelies to permadeath in Fire Emblem, you had the option of tying explosives to their corpse and chucking it at the enemy camp. That's basically where we're at with one of the driving mechanics in Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2. The Soul Cannon – I cannot get over that name – drains the life force out of someone and uses it to power a big-ol' laser. The fact that the victims are all cute little animal kids is just overkill at that point. 

Fortunately, the tank that you pilot has something of a diet Soul Cannon, more of an 'I can't believe it's not a Soul Cannon' arrangement called the Managarm. This gun will also drain the life force of an adorable child soldier of your choice,