After a couple of weeks running with an inconsistency that could put a Twitch community manager to shame when enforcing their community guidelines, I’m pleased to announce that my sudden obsession with 2018’s God of War is finally behind my back and the only War I’m currently craving is the war in wargames, and fortunately, there isn’t a shortage of new things to pen some words about.

Gunner, HEAT, PC! Out Now

Mother gave birth to countless generations of wargamers that have come and gone without ever laying their eyes on a good -and decently priced- tank sim. That is, until now. Radian Simulations LLC took the mantle of creating an accessible, fun, and semi-realistic simulator. A highly detailed damage model that could put War Thunder to shame, and a simplicity in its approach make Gunner, HEAT, PC! easy to wishlist.

“GHPC will blend game and simulation in just the right amounts, providing awesome fire control and ballistics simulation behind deceptively simple controls”- I’ve been gifted a copy of GHPC! and have to confess my mind is split. This is a game that has a very solid foundation (but isn’t that the case with almost all Early Access titles? The problem is that there isn’t a lot here as of right now, other than some very barebones Campaign missions and two dozens of single-player missions of variable caliber. However, if you take into account the price of entry to help put things into perspective, with what’s on display right now, for 24,99 Gunner, HEAT, PC! is a gamble I wouldn’t mind taking.

New Company of Heroes 3 Details

Look, I’m not particularly excited or hopeful that Company of Heroes 3 will be the genre-defining game the first was, but there’s no denying it’s going to be an interesting and refreshing take for RTS enjoyers to sink their time into. Italian partisans will show up during the campaign and not only help you, but also act as a constant reminder that the allied forces are there to help, so don’t go around bombing the living hell out of everything you see, or else! You’ll also be tasked with handling complicated situations between the allied commanders, who bickered in real life as much as they’ll in-game.

What I’m most excited about is the fact that Company of Heroes 3 is wearing these real-life political influences on their sleeves, something a lot of more mainstream RTS tend to shy away from.

A second, more linear campaign will take place in North Africa and will focus on the Afrika Korps and follow the story of the acclaimed strategist, Erwin Rommel. Relic Entertainment won’t shy away from tackling the issues that come with the topic and how controversial the figure is.

Commandos 3 HD Remaster Out

Apparently, the developing team behind the remaster of Commandos 3 didn’t get the message. After flopping harder than a fish out of the water with the remake of the series’ original two entries, and as the saying goes: you can’t have two without a third, Raylight Games and Kalypso Media decided to Amber Heard their bed and replace the third for a turd.

If you happen to be interested in this buggy and lazy mess then try the demo first and it might actually end up changing your mind. Somehow, the game manages to look as bad as it did way back when. Just donate your 20 bucks to charity instead.

Slitherine and Creative Forge Join Forces

Slitherine keeps on slithering into new places. Now, the UK-based publisher and developer have announced that it will be “joining forces with Creative Forge Games, a Polish producer of games specializing in strategy games, listed on NewConnect”.

This new studio will be located in Poland and under the name of Slitherine Poland, “and it will work on both original IPs and licensed products”, the PR claims. This collaboration, however, isn’t new, because Slitherine and Creative Forge have been working together since 2020 on the ongoing development of Stargate: Timekeepers and Ancient Arenas: Chariots.

This partnership is effective immediately, with Slitherine Poland “already operative and working”.

Starship Troopers Roadmap

Empowered by their recent success, The Artistrocrats and Slitherine have revealed their first content roadmap for Starship Troopers: Terran Command. An eager press release is already clamoring for a renaissance of the RTS genre with its release, and I’m not so sure about that. What I know, is that Starship Troopers is an easy-to-recommend RTS that will surely appease fans of the franchise and the best game of its genre in recent history.

“Initial free updates will focus on balance and interface improvements. Following that, an update will contain a new, free scenario and a new Federation unit. The next update will bring Achievements and new Challenge missions. This new type of mission will come with a freshly implemented High Score system”. Later, a Scenario editor will also find its way unto the hands of players and a new unnamed game mode focused on replayability will arrive in 2023.

As for premium content, two paid DLC will arrive during the first year of release: “the first is a mini-Campaign based on challenge missions. A more extensive DLC will follow, with an entire campaign set in a new environment and featuring additional units”.

Warplan Needs Your Help

Alvaro Souza is quite a nice bloke if you ask me. It was one of a long line of developers to accept my request for an interview, at the time, with the soon-to-be-released Warplan Pacific. Now he needs your help to force the eldritch beings behind the Steam algorithm to showcase Warplan to potential new customers.

So, if you have the game, give Alvaro a hand and leave the game an honest review, as it helps him get more eyes on his game. It also helps that Warplan is a fantastic game.

Field of Glory II: Medieval To Get New DLC

Field of Glory II: Medieval just keeps on getting better and better as the march of History grows longer. This time, Sublime Porte is going to Eastern Europe to expand the game with the following features:

• Additional coverage for the following nations and factions from 1260 to 1500 AD: Albanians, Anatolians, Turcomans, Black Sheep Turcomans, Bulgarians, Byzantines (Central, Epiros, Trebizond, and Morea), Catalan Company, Chagatai Khanate, Kingdom of Cyprus, Georgians, Indians (Muslim, Rajput, Hindu and Vijayanagaran Empire), Islamic Persians, Jalayirid Sulktanate, Latin Greece, Mamluk Egyptians, Moldavians, Navarrese Company, Order of St John, Ottoman Turks, Serbians, Timurids, Venetians, Wallachians, and White Sheep Turcomans.
• 22 new units
• 62 more army lists allowing historically realistic armies for each of the above factions and their allies at different dates during the period and bringing the total number of Medieval army lists to 361. In addition, armies can include contingents from historical allies. This gives hundreds of thousands of permutations. You will never run out of new matchups to try.
• 8 more historical scenarios covering key engagements of the period on an epic scale: Apros 1305, Saint George 1320, Kosovo 1389, Ankara 1402, Varna 1444, Târgoviste 1462, Krujë 1467, Vaslui 1475.
• 63 more historical matchups added to Quick Battle mode, increasing the total to 302, most playable from either side.
• 5 more historically-based campaigns covering major leaders and conflicts of the era: Rise of the Ottomans Part 1, Rise of the Ottomans Part 2, Catalan Company, Timur, Matthias Corvinus.
• Sandbox campaign expanded to include all the new army lists, allowing you to lead any nation (and their historical allies) against any other nation (and their allies) – giving over a hundred thousand permutations.
• Time Warp modules expanded to include the new army lists

Field of Glory II: Medieval- Sublime Porte will release on the 15th of September and will (probably) set you back around 12,49€.

New Crusader Kings III Pack To Expand Events

My Crusader Kings III review is hard stuck on my draft menu for as long as I can remember. And with the continuous release of new features, DLCs and updates, the longer this review will take to dislodge it to “published” status.

To make matters worse, Paradox has decided that this was the perfect time to release an “event pack” called Friends&Foes, that’ll expand the game with “over one hundred unique new experiences of medieval larger-than-life drama […] From rival noble houses holding lifelong grudges to childhood bullies, summer crushes, and spoiling spouses with lavish gifts. Your ruler’s everyday existence has never been more fraught- or more exciting…”

This pack just release last week, on the 8th, and costs 4,99€.

Lisbon Arrives in Mini Motorways

Want to bring some relief to the thousands of unfortunate commuters that have to traverse the busy streets of Lisbon every day, including yours truly? You can give your best shot at it in Mini Motorways, the excellent arcadey-traffic-management from the creators of Mini Metro.

“Get ready to explore the brilliant blues and tricky geography of the Iberian Peninsula’s famous City of Light. It’s up to you to keep traffic moving across the city’s stunning bridges and coast!”.

Now I’ll be waiting for Oporto city to finally make an appearance on a videogame! Mini Motorways is constantly on sale, but the 8,19€ it’s asking for right now is a really fair price for a fantastic game.

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IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Normandy Available

After three years in development, the Battle for Normandy DLC is out to appease those eager to soar into the skies of northern France and southern England! The developing team has provided a handy list of what you can find:

• All Battle of Normandy owners have access to Northern France and Southern England map in two variations (before and after the D-Day). As usual, in multiplayer mode the map can be accessed by all Great Battles players.
• 2. All Battle of Normandy owners have access to the mid-1944 Career mode (3 countries, 5 phases, 17 frontline states, 225 historical squadrons, 103 of them joinable by the player, many new mission types).
• 3. All Battle of Normandy owners have access to QMB and AQMG game modes on the new map for a quick action, also with many new mission types.
• 4. Numerous new aircraft paint schemes added, including different invasion stripes for various time periods of 1944.
• 5. PzKpfw IV Ausf.H. tank added (AI controlled).
• 6. Flakpanzer IV «Möbelwagen» SPAA added (AI controlled).
• 7. Gleaves-class destroyer added (AI controlled).
• 8. The loading speed of all missions on all Great Battles maps has been improved significantly.

The Standard Edition of Battle of Normandy will cost 49.99€ and the Premium Edition is costing 79.99€, with the only difference being that Premium owners get two collector planes: the Spitfire Mk. XIV and Ar 234.

UBOAT Update Delayed

The best skipper sim around UBOAT, is teasing up a massive update. Unfortunately, the previously estimated release date of late summer had to be pushed back until mid-October, with a precise day to be announced near the end of September.

Ports are the star of the show: “The ports have undergone a total overhaul. The new ones are more detailed and historically correct. The ports reworked in 2022.1 include La Rochelle, La Spezia, Bergen, and many more. There are also new ports added in”. There’s also the possibility that, from time to time, the allies will bomb the ports where your submergible is stationed, but you can build submarine pens to counteract

UBOAT is currently on a 65% off sale at 8,74€- a decent deal.

More Homeworld 3 Gameplay

And, to round things off for the week, here is some more Homeworld 3 gameplay!

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