SpaceChem's Pipemania-esque visuals masked a remarkable puzzle game that asked players to design logic circuits to fuse atoms into new substances. The mind behind such a creation must surely be capable of creating one hell of a strategy game, so it's with a "hmmm!" of great interest that I present Ironclad Tactics, a card based game of warring, steam powered robots.
The new Ironclad Tactics site hosts a trailer showing some art (but sadly no in-game shots) of those very robots. You give out orders by playing cards from your pre-arranged deck of 20 orders. Providing you've managed to deal out your requests before the nippy timer runs out, you'll get to watch your robots carry out your wishes and mangle the opposition into twisted iron wrecks.
There will be 80 different cards to unlock, and a single player campaign supported by an 80 page in-game graphic novel. You'll be able to take on enemies in co-op, and then take charge of those enemies in "Nemesis Mode." To be clear, creator Zach Bath knows that Ironclads were historically boats, but Ironclad Tactics takes place in an alternative version of the American Civil War in which giant robots had been invented, immediately trumping the great vessels' claim to that name. Take a look at the debut screenshots below for an early look at those card-based abilities.
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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.
