Crossfire: Legion is a promising, if somewhat sparse tactical RTS

A new campaign chapter, a new map, a new multiplayer mode and more are coming to tactical RTS Crossfire: Legion—but you won't spot any of those in today's new PC Gaming Show trailer, which serves more as a reminder that Crossfire: Legion exists.

An early access version of Crossfire: Legion released on Steam in May. It's an RTS spinoff of popular free-to-play competitive shooter Crossfire developed by Homeworld 3 and Deserts of Kharak studio Blackbird Interactive, which is a hell of a pedigree to come from, and should at least mean the vehicle designs are proper lovely to look at.

While Legion launched with three factions (New Horizon, Global Risk and Black List), competitive multiplayer offerings and the 2.5 hour first "act" of its campaign, early Steam reviews reckon it's a bit light on content and lacking in players right now. According to an official roadmap, the next (currently undated) update should help amend that with another campaign act, a new map and mode, and a host of optimisations.

Long-term, Blackbird plans to add the rest of the campaign, a level editor, Steam Workshop support and more maps, modes, commanders and units, hopefully by the end of 2022. That's a lot to do in very little time—but it sounds like there's a promising nugget of RTS goodness somewhere in Crossfire: Legion, and it'll need all the love it can get to prove it can hold a captive, competitive audience.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.