Hands-on: Brass Tactics is a VR RTS inspired by the opening credits of Game of Thrones
We go hands-on with Brass Tactics, an upcoming real-time strategy game for the Oculus Rift VR headset. Brass Tactics comes from Hidden Path Entertainment and features traditional RTS mechanics mixed with the up close and personal immediacy of VR.
Playing Brass Tactics involves moving yourself around the "tabletop" from top-down perspective by reaching out and dragging the battlefield. You can raise and lower the table as needed and it's possible to move from one hotspot to another quite quickly with a flick of the wrist. It's a strange sort of movement at first, but becomes natural after completing the game's brief tutorial.
The voice you hear on the recording is the game's player, Nick from GameCrate, talking to developer Mark Terrano, the Lead Designer of Age of Empires II: Age of Kings.
RTS gameplay in virtual reality
According to Terrano, the goal with the design of Brass Tactics is to offer the same satisfying strategy gameplay of a tradtional hour-long RTS match (he specifically mentioned Age of Empires as a model) distilled and refine for a VR experience that lasts about 20 to 25 minutes. RTS elements like technology upgrades, unit construction, and responding on the fly to what your opponent is doing are all present in Brass Tactics, whether in its single-player campaign mode, head-to-head multiplayer, or 2 player co-op against AI opponents. Basic gameplay involves building units and moving them forward to claim territories, which will then provide you with additional resources and the ability to build more units.
The game's clockwork world was inspired by the opening credits of Game of Thrones, says Terrano. The tabletop environment of the game is actually
intended to be a simulation of what is happening in the game's "real world," and biomes will include snow and desert environments in addition to the forest seen in the gameplay video above. Each biome will come with distinct sets of resources and environmental challenges, such as mist.
In terms of gameplay experience, actually being in the game, so to speak, makes for an engaging an active kind of RTS. You feel like a giant commander walking around a battlefield, and the fact that you can actually attack enemy units yourself, through the use of in-game catapults, adds a totally new kind of fun to simulated warfare.
In multiplayer you’ll actually be able to see a simulation of your opponents on the battlefield, including where they are looking and what they are interacting with. When playing against AI foes you’ll need to deal with a variety of personalities, including some who stubbornly turtle and others who favor early aggression.
Brass Tactics is targeting an October release date, and will be an Oculus exclusive.
For more VR news and hardware, visit Newegg VR Central.
