And here I thought real-time strategy on the PC was dead. Ubisoft have unveiled their newest IP, an PC RTS entitled Champions of Anteria with a trailer that lays on the quirky humour pretty thick.
Champions of Anteria is made by Blue Byte, famed for creating The Settlers franchise as well as Ubi’s ongoing Anno franchise so their pedigree for the strategy genre is substantial.
The trailer indicates, at least to my mind, a real WarCraft III vibe. The visuals remind me of WarCraft III, the champion characters remind me of WarCraft III, the monster designs remind me of WarCraft III. This isn’t a slight against the game, by the way. If you’re going to draw inspiration from anyone, crib from the best, you know?
While we don’t get to see very much of the game in action, it does at least feature some gameplay (rather than a cinematic which has become the norm for announcement trailers). You have five champions to choose from, and take three into battle, each weilding elemental effects like wind, water, fire, metal and lightning. So there sounds like there’s a bit of a MOBA-y element to it — another WarCraft III inspo. Where it differs is that the game will apparently allow you to pause the action to better plan out your next move, not unlike X-COM 2, which certainly deviates from the RTS norm.
I have one major question here and that is: Are players going to have to use Uplay on my PC to play this game, and is that going to be a major turn-off for players? Time’s gonna tell on that one.
Champions of Anteria releases August 30 exclusively on Windows PC. It’s genuinely nice to see that the RTS-genre still has a heartbeat.
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