Cyber-cult RTS Re-Legion prays for an early 2019 release
Our god is a terrifying cybernetic god
Being a cyberpunk cult leader in Re-Legion doesn't look easy - for starters, where do you get so many tastefully coordinated purple robes? And then there's the problem of assembling your flock. Unlike most real-time strategy games, Ice Code's upcoming RTS (now due in 2019's first quarter) makes people your primary resource. You can't just click on a barracks and magically spawn soldiers, right? You've got to convert them, then have them pray, train them and then begin upgrading them in worrying ways. Take a peek at some messy laser battles in the trailer below.
While I was expecting something more Syndicate-like from Re-Legion (Syndicate Wars, specifically), the new trailer paints it as a somewhat more traditional RTS with some twists. Rather than mining Vespene gas to smelt into soldiers, you've got to recruit the locals and use them for utility purposes (like prayer or hacking) or send them to the front lines to fight. It does seem that higher tier units need augmenting, though. There's perhaps a little Sacrifice in the design here, but the traditional RTS map and hotkey panel suggest something a little more conventional.
I do like the aesthetic of the game. Syndicate, Satellite Reign and anything with rainy neon cyberpunk streets is my jam, and the messy laser-tracer effects on gunfights look oddly satisfying. Interestingly, Ice Code haven't mentioned multiplayer, but have said they're focusing on the single-player story side of things with an eye to replayability. Players will decide whether the prophet Elion is raising this army for selfish or altruistic ends and pick various dogmas to decide merciful or vengeful their cyber-god will be. An interesting twist.
Re-Legion launches in the first quarter of 2019, although publisher 1C don't have an exact date worked out yet. You can find it here on Steam and its official page here.