Warhammer: Age of Sigmar gets a new RTS and is console-friendly
Frontier has announced a brand new Warhammer RTS.
Set in the world of Games Workshop’s beloved fantasy board game, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruins is an RTS brand in the style of genre classics such as StarCraft 2dawn of war, AND Company of heroes.
In a welcome return, Lands of ruins will not only appear on PC. In fact, it was designed from the ground up as a console-friendly, reminiscent title Hall of War 2. As such, the game will also be released on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, in addition to Steam and the Epic Games Store.
In a special preview, Frontier showed two of them Lands of ruinsfactions as well as some gameplay. Lands of ruins stays true to the RTS formula in many ways, offering team combat where armies compete for resource points while racing to advance their tech trees.
However, Lands of ruins has two aspects that make it stand out. The first is a commitment to the fantastic and the exaggerated Age of Sigmar setting. The two Frontier factions revealed in the preview, the noble Stormcast Eternals and the cunning Orruk Kruleboyz, were Warhammer at its best. Shining knights shrouded in lightning battled against a horde of cunning orcs, faithfully recreating the look and feel of a miniature game.
Another feature that stands out Lands of ruins from the package is the DirectStep interface. This intuitive UI structure gives controller users great precision and flexibility when commanding their units. Traditionally, controller implementation has been a challenge for RTS titles, but seeing DirectStep in action I was impressed with the intuitive controls.
Using the analog sticks, you can move between units and issue context-sensitive commands, allowing your troops to adapt on the fly. It’s not yet known if Frontier will hold the landing with this new technology, but it certainly piqued my interest.
As you’d expect, there’s a story mode that follows the Stormcast Eternals in their quest to bring order to the Realm of Beasts. It was even co-written by Black Library author Gavin Thorpe – a Warhammer author of serious pedigree.
Frontier also wants to offer multiplayer gameplay
Frontier also wants to offer multiplayer, including 1v1 and 2v2 skirmishes with support for cross-platform play. Four factions will be available at launch, with more to come in the planned DLC series.
Although the first gameplay trailer will not appear until June, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruins is a pleasant surprise for fans of high fantasy, Warhammer and RTS games in general. Perhaps even earning a coveted place on our list of the best strategy games. Frontier wrote himself a big check with this ad, let’s see if they can cash it.
