Brass Tactics, the RTS from Defense Grid 2 (2016) studio Hidden Path Entertainment, was first teased at GDC earlier this year where they showed off their miniature tabletop world of war. As an Oculus platform exclusive, Brass Tactics is now available for pre-order on the Oculus Store with an October 19th launch date.
Inspired by the iconic visual style made popular by the Game of Thrones opening sequence, which features buildings growing out of the ground in a recognizable clockwork fashion, Brass Tactics promises to deliver familiar RTS gameplay with a ‘VR twist’ that aims to immerse you in the tiny diorama world of filled with all manner of steampunk-ish units including legged tanks, clockwork wasps, archers, and tiny toy soldiers.
Created by the lead designer of Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, the game puts a twist on classic RTS gameplay by letting you grab structures and place them on the battlefield, and direct your units with your own two hands. In our hands-on at GDC, we had fun firing boulders with the game’s giant catapult that you can launch manually with the Touch controllers.
Brass Tactics is the studio’s third VR title, following Witchblood (2017) and Defense Grid 2: Enhanced VR Edition (2016). In an Oculus blogpost, Hidden Path CEO Jeff Probst says RTSs have “never been this social. Seeing the avatar of your opponent or partner in the world—watching your opponent slump when they know they’ve been beaten or rescuing a friend in co-op when they called for help—these are things that just haven’t been experienced in RTS before, ever.”
Brass Tactics offers both co-op and PvP mode, and is currently on pre-order for a 15% discounted price of $25.
