WARNO is a spiritual successor to the Wargame RTS series
Coming to early access in January
I had some fun with the Wargame series of real-time strategy games, although past a certain point I couldn't tell the difference between its umpteen historical tanks. Now developers Eugen Systems are making a spiritual successor called WARNO, which is coming to Steam Early Access next month.
Here's the announcement trailer, which establishes its '80s setting and love of helicopters and tanks:
WARNO, which is short for "Warning Order", really does sound like Wargame with the name filed off. It's a Cold War-turned-hot alt-history in which NATO and Warsaw Pact nations fight using conventional weapons across lush, tree and town-strewn battlefields. Your arsenal consists of carefully reseached real vehicles, with the aim being to depict how a World War 3 scenario might have actually played out minus the nukes.
Eugen's strategy games - which include the Steel Division series and RUSE - rarely contain much by way of a story. Instead their missions tend to operate like skirmishes, playable alone, competitively or in co-op. In WARNO there will be, as in the Wargame series, a campaign mode that places battles in the context of a larger, turn-based strategic map.
When it launches in early access on January 20th, however, only the solo and online skirmish battles and 10v10 battles will be available, with the other modes to arrive later. You can more screenshots and details on the WARNO Steam page now.