Team17 and renown RTS development studio, Petroglyph, recently announced that Forged Battalion will be entering into Early Access on Steam starting in the middle of January on the 16th, next year in 2018. The game is supposed to be a revolutionary take on the real-time strategy genre, bolstering all new ways to engage and utilize your tactical prowess in a spiritual successor to Command & Conquer.
The press release wasn’t big on details but the Early Access release trailer showcased a ton of the game’s features in just under a minute. We see how the game’s 60fps RTS battles play out across massive battlefields with more explosions than a Michael Bay wet dream.
The real highlight is being able to customize your units, outfitting them with new upgrades, weapons and abilities. What’s really cool here is that you can alter a unit’s support abilities, its base weapons, and its movement. So if you need a bunch of ground-to-air, 4×4 jeeps blasting around you can do that. Once you get done setting up your units you can also give them custom names.
You can check out the trailer below to get an idea of what the gameplay is like.
Setting up and organizing your army units is just one part of the game’s heavy reliance on player-customization and options. There’s also a massive skill-tree of different abilities that can be unlocked to increase your base’s support, attack ratings and defenses.
As you progress through the game and unlock additional player skills, you can specialize in particular fields, such as focusing on being a highly defensive tactician that can mitigate incoming damage, whether it be explosive, nuclear, or electrical-based.
Graphically the game has a bright, cartoony look.
Not everyone is okay with the Planetary Annihilation-style visual art, especially since Forged Battalion is being billed as a spiritual successor to Command & Conquer. However, maybe throughout the Early Access run they might include some other filter options for those who would prefer a C&C look instead. Heck, if you want it badly enough definitely mention it in the forum threads or the review section.
The Early Access version of Forged Battalion will include the first act of the single-player campaign mode, skirmish maps for online PvP, dedicated server support for online multiplayer, and five customizable vehicle archetypes along with the resource management tech trees.
You can look for Forged Battalion to enter into Early Access on January 16th, 2018 next month, next year.
