Gorgeous Industries of Titan trailer shows off combat system

Saturnian colony sim Industries of Titan has received a new trailer, this one showing off the game’s tactical combat system.

The trailer shows the player’s “L2 cruiser” trading fire with a pair of “Dowser Tsunami” frigates over one of the game’s gorgeous, Blade Runner-esque city-scapes. The combat has a somewhat FTL-like structure, with players able to view the interiors of their ships from a top-down perspective, letting them customise its components via a drag-and-drop interface. The system also shows you where laser fire strikes, and the damage done to the respective vessels.

The part of the video that completely blew me away, however, was the moment when the player’s military advisor says “retract the pillars!” and the whole damn city descends underground, protected by dozens of blast doors. One of the city blocks is replaced by a massive ground-to-air cannon, which obliterates the enemy ships. That's impressive.

The video ends with the player seeking aid from “The Council” which hints at the factional politics that developers Brace Yourself Games (formerly of Crypt of the Necrodancer fame), plan to include in the game.

I’ve had my eye on Industries of Titan for some time, though up to this point it’s mainly been because of its splendid aesthetic. This video has raised my expectations of the game enormously, however, if the depth shown in its combat applies to the experience overall.

No release date for Industries of Titan has been announced yet, although it’s reasonable to assume it will drop sometime in 2019.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.