Indie side-scrolling pseudo-RTS Shadows of War has unleashed a free demo of the current alpha build on the world, along with a handful of new screenshots showcasing the game’s visuals.
Shadows of War is a game with a unique concept: take your typical military RTS, and turn it on its side.
The first product from Danish/German indie studio TRI. G developed to be released commercially, Shadows of War wants you to tackle the action not from above, like RTS games tend to do, but instead from a sidelong view more akin to a classic sidescroller. The game makes use of a silhouette aesthetic for the visuals, presenting war in all its sprite- and particle-based glory — or lack thereof — through stark contrast of the pitch black foreground against the cities, landscapes, and skies that roll by in the distance.
The team at TRI. G is focusing on a tight design plan for the final game, which should help to keep them from overreaching on scope, like many indie projects tend to do. According to the game’s official site, the expected final features are as follows:
- A 2D RTS Sidescroller Multiplayer game.
- Multiple Modes: Conquest, Rush, Classic Skirmish.
- 20 different unit types including: Dropship, MBTs, Helicopters.
- Over 5 support strikes: Artillery Barrage, Tomahawk Missile, Harrier strike.
- Big and unique maps.
- Intense Online multiplayer battles
- Competitive (1v1) multiplayer modes.
Shadows of War has been in development for a while now, but only this past week TRI. G released the game’s free alpha-stage trial version on the public. Available on IndieDB, the alpha presents players with all the basics needed to see what the game is about, including the ability to experiment with the game’s multiplayer portion, which is expected to be one of the final release’s major driving features.
Oh, there is also a video:
The team at TRI. G is small, and with Shadows of War being their first notable work they are putting a lot of effort into making it successful. Beyond their IndieDB campaign the team is also pushing to gather support for Shadows of War on Steam Greenlight, which would drastically improve their ability to reach as many interested players as possible.
If Shadows of War looks interesting to you, now is the time to grab the demo and try it out. If you enjoy the free version of the game, the team also has a parallel build available to those who preorder the game (which sells for less than 10 USD) that they plan to update more often than the free build, allowing players access straight through beta and into the game’s final release. Currently the purchase only lists Windows as a supported platform for the title, though TRI. G does plan to support Mac and Linux as well.