Obsidian's Armored Warfare E3 trailer mixes recon, artillery and MBTs

armoredwarfare
YouTube YouTube
Watch On

I'm still not sure how it is that Obsidian Entertainment ended up doing a multiplayer armored combat simulator, but here it is: The Armored Warfare E3 trailer , a brief gameplay clip demonstrating how armored recon, main battle tanks and self-propelled artillery will work together on the battlefield.

I was only half paying attention when I first watched this video and it took a moment to register that I wasn't looking at another chunk of World of Tanks gameplay, but rather the next big thing from Obsidian. The game was announced a few months ago, but it still seems strange that the developer of Knights of the Old Republic 2 , Fallout: New Vegas , South Park: The Stick of Truth , Pillars of Eternity —full-on RPGs, in other words—is doing a free-to-play tank sim.

The trailer itself is fun—tanks blowing stuff up usually is—but has a very pre-release vibe to it, too. The vehicles look insubstantial and "floaty," and while it's hard to say for certain because of all the smoke and fire, they don't seem terribly destructible either, even when they take a direct artillery hit.

Applications for a closed beta are still being taken at aw.my.com and there's no launch date yet, meaning that there's plenty of time to turn it into a solid armored combat sim. But there's clearly still work to be done, and if you get into the beta you might be able to help.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.