When it comes to war and strategy games, how much detail do you really want? XCOM and Command and Conquer demand a certain amount of attention and expertise, but they’re also relatively easy to pick up and play, and they make intuitive sense – stay in cover, don’t get destroyed, and try to kill the enemy. The further you zoom out, the more complex, and arguably the more rewarding, the strategy experience becomes. Channeling the realism and military sim pretensions of Arma and War Thunder, perhaps the biggest and most detailed war game there is has just hit 1.0.
When you first get started, Warno is a frankly intimidating strategy game of unprecedented scale. Maps are gigantic, and different types of terrain provide advantages and disadvantages in combat. There are five campaigns and more than 1,000 different units and vehicles all authentically modeled on their real-world counterparts. The UI is comprehensive, to say the least, and almost every aspect of combat needs to be directed, perfected, and overseen if victory is to be secured. You can play skirmish mode and also compete in 1v1, 2v2, 4v4, and 10v10 battles in multiplayer.
So how does it work? Fundamentally, your job in Warno is twofold. First, you need to assemble units using a kind of deckbuildng system. Infantry, air, and armored divisions can be customized and improved depending on which specific vehicles or soldier types you fold into them, and you want to cultivate the best combinations of stats and abilities possible. After that, it’s into combat. Maps are separated into numerous capture points. For each one you control, you earn new score multipliers – the first army to reach a preset score wins the map.
That’s Warno in a nutshell, but this is a grand strategy game of serious depth, and if you want to be successful, you need to throw yourself into its mechanics and systems with full conviction. Created by Eugen, the team behind Steel Division and Wargame, Warno has all the authenticity and military simulation complexity of War Thunder and Arma – perhaps even more so.
After a long period in Steam Early Access, where it’s earned an overall ‘very positive’ rating from players, it’s just hit 1.0 and is available in full right now for $39.99 / £34.99. If you want to try it out, just head here.
Otherwise, the best simulation games might be for you, or perhaps the best 4X games available on PC right now.
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