We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Men of War: Assault Squad 2 announced; new maps, new factions, and an improved engine

men_of_war_assault_squad_2_alskdn

Much like what World War One was to World War Two, military strategy game Men of War: Assault Squad 2 has new maps, new factions, and improvements to the sound and look of the whole thing.

Developer Digital Mind Software plan to have the sequel to roll out later this year.

As with the first game, Assault Squad 2 will be without an overarching narrative and, instead, have a singleplayer and multiplayer made up of skirmish missions that can be played solo or cooperatively.

Here are the features they’ve announced so far:

  • New single player skirmishes

  • Eight player co-op support and multiplayer 8v8 game mode

  • New multiplayer maps

  • Five factions and various battlefields in Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and the Pacific

  • Improved engine / graphics / sound

  • New Steam functionalities (Steam Cloud, Workshop, multiplayer and match-making)

Nothing game-changing, but Men of War is a series I’m okay with sticking close to the formula that worked because no one else is doing quite what Digital Mind do.

The Men of War games carved out their own niche in the strategy genre. Despite being set in World War 2 and covering the same theatres of war, Men of War’s level of control changed the game into something special. You could manage each soldier’s inventory, pause the game and play in real time, step into your soldier’s shoes and control them directly. It didn’t feel like other games.

It hints at Company of Heroes but only as much as it hints at squad-based RPGs. There are touches of XCOM, too. If Assault Squad 2 is an improvement on everything in Assault Squad 1 then it should be a fine sequel.