I must confess that I had lost track of the development of Scramble: Battle of Britain after it was announced a couple of years ago. Not out of interest, but because it seemed so far off its release date that I just thought it was better to wait a bit before starting to cover it again.

Colour me surprised when, this week, I saw a Steam code with early access to its demo, that’s going to be featured in the upcoming Steam Next Fest, starting on the 10th of June. Installed as soon as I got home, and spend a couple of hours with it. Finished all the available scenarios and have been dabbing with the skirmish generator.

What is Scramble: Battle of Britain?

Scramble: Battle of Britain is a unique tactical dogfighting game set in 1940, during the titular Battle of Britain. You’ll act as a squadron leader, commanding either the Luftwaffe or RAF in aerial skirmishes.

The game’s focus is on intense aerial battles and realistic flight simulation. Players strategize, command, and review manoeuvres throughout each turn.

The final version of the game will include a Channel Defense Campaign that will have players intercepting and repelling Luftwaffe raids. By its Steam description, where one can read “Manage the physical and emotional strain on your men, identify leaders and forge heroes. With pilots risking their lives every mission, can you keep your squadron alive in the face of relentless danger?”, it sounds like the campaign will be dynamic, which I sincerely hope that’s the case. The game will also feature multiplayer.

First Impressions

Consider that what’s available isn’t much and it’s supposed to serve as a showcase for the Steam Next Fest. I have spent around 4 hours with Scramble: Battle of Britain, and I’m glad to say that I wish there was more to play around with. Let me explain why:

The battles are concise, short, but intense, nail-biting and captivating affairs, as they should be.

Most of the time will be spent trying to predict and outmanoeuvre your opponent to get a brief opening in your line of fire so you can, hopefully, get some shots in and send them plummeting to the bottom of the Channel.

Everything comes down to that small moment where one can spray the other and hope for the best. The fact that the available scenarios play out really quick means that losing is never disheartening and that the process of trying new tactics and manoeuvres can resume at a moment’s notice.

The game’s beautiful, easy to read and has a near-perfect UI (more on that on my criticism of the camera controls at the end), giving you all the necessary information to make informed decisions in the heat of aerial combat, there’s no doubt about that. Enemies are clearly identified, the blue and red arrows immediately distinguish who’s going where, and the firing lines help you lead your target.

I cannot attest to the authenticity of its flight physics and damage models, and this is far from my area of expertise, but I know that speed is something that needs to be constantly managed if you want to keep an upper hand.

My main problem with the game, as of right now, it’s the camera controls, that appear to be built for controllers instead of keyboard and mouse. You would imagine a game like this to control similar to something like Homeworld, with its 3-axis movement. Instead, it’s controlled from a fixed perspective behind the aircraft, and the plane’s trajectory must be set using the WASD keys.

It feels very clunky and it makes aiming particularly challenging. To line up shots you need to constantly be switching from aircraft controls to free-camera mode. I think the team knew this because they added a yellow stripe along the plot arrow of your aircraft to let you know when it’s going to shoot.

Sure, you get used to it after a while, and it’s not a deal breaker by any means, but it can lead to frustrating situations and constant, very necessary, micro-adjustments to your aircraft.

Give It a Try

Scramble: Battle of Britain will be available for everyone to try out on the Steam Next Fest, starting on the 10th of June. If you enjoy World War 2 aerial combat, give it a go, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

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