Strategy Games

Lessaria - A Kingdom Building Strategy RPG Heir To Majesty by Splattercat

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36239110

cross-posted from: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/7b625df1-29fe-492c-9945-1c0bd9e3ed9f

ARC SEED, a turn-based strategy mech game, just hit full release on Steam today—and I’m torn on it.

So what is this? You’re piloting hulking mechs against the interstellar Archangels in a tactical roguelite. Battles play out on an isometric city grid, where every skyscraper and block can either save you or sink you. It’s deckbuilding meets mech combat: draw the right hand, fire missiles, unleash artillery, collapse buildings, and pray your civilians are evacuated before the entire city becomes rubble.

Building your mech is important, but you also manage cards, weapons, and upgrades, while juggling city defenses. The tension is always there: do you spend resources saving lives, or do you turn that tower block into an improvised weapon to crush an Archangel? Clever stuff, at least in theory.

Visually, tremendous at first glance. Anime portraits, gorgeous pixel cities, even some cyberpunk flair. The problem is the isometric view. Buildings get in the way. You can’t always see your units clearly, and placing mechs feels awkward. Screenshots look slick, but in practice the map is cluttered and confusing.

The music is good enough—deep, ambient electronica with a futuristic pulse. Sound effects are brisk and sharp. Nothing groundbreaking, but it fits.

Controls are where frustration sets in. Yes, keyboard and mouse works. Yes, Xbox and PlayStation controllers are supported. But troop placement—getting the exact tile right—feels clumsy. In a tactical game, that’s a big strike against it.

I don’t want to make it sound awful, because it isn’t. The card system inside a mech game? That’s genuinely fun, and it sets ARC SEED apart from other Into the Breach-style tactics games. Add in destructible environments and evacuation mechanics, and there’s meat on the bones.

Specs are mercifully modest: a Core 2 Duo or Athlon 64, 4GB of RAM, 200MB of space. Even integrated graphics will do. Windows only, but Steam Deck Verified, which also means Proton plays nice on Linux.

Developer is Massive Galaxy Studios—the same folks behind For the Warp (adequate reviews) and Lakeside (mixed reviews). ARC SEED has already picked up awards and sits at “Mostly Positive” on Steam. But players note issues: crashes, bugs, UI quirks. And I’ve already mentioned the clunky perspective and fiddly controls.

Price at launch is C$12.66. Is it worth it? If you’re a tactics junkie, you’ll probably forgive the jank and get hooked on the mech-deck combo. If not, you may bounce off the awkward interface.

For me? ARC SEED isn’t terrible. It’s just a game where your enjoyment depends entirely on how much clumsiness you can tolerate.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2332970/ARC_SEED/

@videogames@piefed.social

cross-posted from: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/325eaecd-46ae-40fd-93f5-e3e5fa9b3a7e

The original Combat Mission Trilogy, a turn-based strategy game, was just re-released on PC via Steam—and wargaming history has just been unearthed.

Back in 2000, Big Time Software (later Battlefront) launched Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord. It was unlike anything else at the time. Instead of cardboard counters and hex maps, you got a fully 3D battlefield and WEGO turns: both sides issue orders, then a one-minute replay unfolds in real time. It was janky, cinematic, and mesmerizing. Reviewers called it revolutionary, and they weren’t wrong.

The sequels arrived quickly. Combat Mission 2: Barbarossa to Berlin (2002) dragged the system east, where Soviet swarms clashed with German armor in brutal mud and snow. It expanded everything—hundreds of vehicles, a staggering variety of infantry, and endless historical battles. Then Combat Mission 3: Afrika Korps (2003) shifted to the Mediterranean, with desert warfare in North Africa and grueling campaigns in Italy. By then, the CMx1 engine was straining under its own weight, but each game felt like a different slice of WWII. Together, they were a trilogy that combined obsessive detail with unpredictability. Units panicked, tanks bogged down, shells ricocheted in improbable ways. Every replay was a little war story.

And quirks—oh, they had quirks. Tanks crab-walked across slopes. Infantry looped animations until they looked like clones. Explosions puffed politely instead of roaring. Yet that awkwardness added charm. You forgave the creaky graphics because the battles felt alive. No two scenarios ever played the same, and the chaos kept you hooked.

Now in 2025, they’re back via SNEG, sold separately or in a bundle called the “Classic Collection.” The premise remains the same: small-unit tactical combat across the big theaters of WWII. Graphically, nothing’s been touched. Expect blocky models, stiff animations, and maps that look like green rugs. Still, a Canadian Red Ensign waving above Shermans triggers nostalgia in a way modern engines can’t fake.

Sound hasn’t aged gracefully. Rifles crack thinly, tanks hum like cheap appliances, and artillery feels more like a pop than a shockwave. It’s functional, not immersive. Controls are unchanged: mouse-and-keyboard only. No controller support. With the exception of Steam Cloud, no modern QoL updates—just the same old interface you fought with twenty years ago.

Platform support is the big news. Officially these run on Windows 10/11, with Steam Cloud and digital manuals included. Specs are almost nonexistent—if your PC can boot, it can run these games. But what about Linux? Proton compatibility isn’t officially mentioned on the Steam pages, but testing shows they run fine. They’re lightweight DirectX 9 titles with no DRM, so Proton handles them without much fuss. You’ll likely need to tweak resolution settings or disable fullscreen shenanigans, but once you’re in, the trilogy is fully playable on Linux. Steam Deck included.

Reviews are already split. Veterans are thrilled to have the classics preserved in a convenient package. Newcomers recoil at the dated visuals and clunky UI. Both perspectives are fair. Price is modest—each game is affordable on its own, and the bundle undercuts a single modern AAA release.

I played the originals when they were new, sitting in front of a humming CRT. Beyond Overlord was my first taste of tactical chaos. Watching replays felt like watching a war film unfold in miniature. Barbarossa to Berlin became my favorite—the Eastern Front was tailor-made for the WEGO system. Afrika Korps was the odd one, with open desert maps that sometimes felt empty, but the Italy campaigns delivered misery in spades. Uphill assaults, fog, machine guns waiting behind every hedge—it was brutal, and unforgettable.

What stuck with me wasn’t polish, but unpredictability. You’d plan every detail, only for one panicked squad to unravel the whole attack. Or you’d watch a tank bounce three shells before firing back with a kill shot straight out of Hollywood. It was frustrating. It was exhilarating. It was war, but digitized through a very specific early-2000s lens.

So here we are again—blocky, stiff, unapologetic. They don’t look modern. They don’t sound modern. But they’re alive in a way many modern strategy games aren’t. And thanks to Steam (and Proton), they’re finally accessible again. Rough edges and all, the Combat Mission Trilogy still hits harder than it has any right to, twenty-five years later.

The price for each individual game is about C$7.01 (introductory discount, -10%). The bundle of all three (the “Classic Collection”) is around C$16.83.

Considering the content—three full games, scenario editors, lots of replayability—it’s well worth it if you’ve ever been curious. If you already own one or two, the individual price is fine. And if you want the whole trilogy, the bundle is a good deal.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/58546/Combat_Mission_Classic_Collection/

@videogames@piefed.social

Reus 2 Steam store page