WARNO, the newest wargame by esteemed strategy developers Eugen Systems, has crashed into Steam Early Access. While only consisting of the skirmish mode, this early version will be continuously updated by Eugen Systems as they take community feedback and continue development. With plans to fully expand to include a dynamic campaign, tutorials, as well as more armies, maps, and modes, players must remember this is not a finished product.

At this point, you can take Russia and the United States and have them face off in 1v1 up to 4v4. Players can take their battles online in co-op or versus, as well as play solo against the computer. Most of my gameplay for this first impression was done teamed up with computers and fighting computer teams.

Gameplay

War is hell, once again. WARNO brutally reminds you that you aren’t as smart as you think you are as you grapple to learn the mechanics. While you may not win your first few battles, you will definitely learn from them. After a deployment phase where you and your allies place a few starting units, you will launch the battle.

Currently, the only game mode is capture the flag, with each team fighting to take over selected regions of the map and hold them to gain victory points. To do so, you must have a command unit within its borders and not let enemy command units enter. As time passes, you will also build up reinforcement points that can be used to requisition more units to the battle. Infantry can be used to ambush vehicles or fight in cities, tanks fire heavy weapons to pin down and destroy targets, and helicopters and planes rain heavy fire from the sky. Other units like artillery, anti-air, and logistics all have their own uses as well, and a well-rounded strategy is necessary to find victory. To oh so kindly help you learn those strategies, the AI enemies have no problem smashing everything to pieces.

The joy of any strategy game is learning how to win, and WARNO doesn’t pull its punches. The AI teammates and opponents are very good, and even on the medium difficulty you will find yourself being brutalized for any slip-up. As your vehicles explode and shells rain down on your suddenly unprotected infantry, you start to think of different methods to avoid that same situation. As games pass and you grasp the mechanics of the game, you start putting together pushes, retreats, and ambushes to divide and destroy enemy formations. Going from being utterly crushed by a machine enemy to eventually overcoming them is a sweet victory. However, seeing the score screen and realizing your computer teammate was the real winner might sour it.

Even though the game doesn’t have much content at the moment, what is there is polished and enjoyable. The graphics pop, and seeing smoke and fire from a recent burning battlefield can be a somber reminder that any victory is hard-won. Explosions look great, and it’s just as rewarding watching an A-10 Warthog fire a mini-gun as seeing a huge artillery barrage. While the user interface is somewhat bulky and has a very utilitarian look, it readily displays necessary info and will put previous Eugen Systems players at ease.

Expectations

I knew going into this game that it was still an early version, so there is definitely more to come. With that, I might have expected at least a few helpful tooltips or pop-ups, but WARNO definitely just drops you in. With a well-done tutorial, it should be much easier for your average gamer to pick the game up. At the moment, it also feels like there is a slight balancing issue between the primary factions. The US has much less powerful anti-tank units than the Russians, though they have superior air power, which can definitely prove an annoyance.

While there is still only one mode, there isn’t a ton of replayability beyond the different maps and amounts of players. One army each leads to a balancing issue and a boredom issue as well and definitely limits the time spent on WARNO.

Verdict

While WARNO has a few problems and not a lot of content in it at the moment, it is still a game to consider buying in Early Access. The graphics, strategic gameplay, and future updates have me excited for more, and as this game goes through development I’m sure it will begin to shine. If you enjoy wargames or tactical strategy, consider joining in on the Early Access fun and help Eugen Systems build their best game yet. If you are not interested in playing an unfinished game, the full release of WARNO is expected by the end of this year.