Auralux: Constellations Demo

Auralux: Constellations is a really good and straightforward space swarming RTS that is addictive and fun to play.

The number of good games in this genre can be counted on the fingers on one hand, so it's really nice to see that another title is in the making. For now, the developers from War Drum Studios managed to get their game into Steam Greenlight and the community has already voted for this one.

The studio also released a demo, with online matches included, that shows the gameplay and the system used. In theory, this game should be easy to understand. You start with a star, and you swarm the neighbouring systems until you control them. You then use the resources from two stars to swarm a third one, a fourth one, and so on.

The more stars you have, the easier is to capture others. Or so goes the theory. This is where the other players come into play. They are doing the same thing and you are going to collide with them. At this point you’re going to have to decide if you split your forces to attack multiple targets, if you use everyone in a single assault, or if you retreat to leave the enemy exposed.

Despite the simple principle, some of the matches can become pretty intense, especially if there are a lot of players on the same map fighting for resources. In fact, battles can take a long time if two sides are too evenly matched and they can’t get the upper hand.

Other games allow users access to special powers that can till the balance on such occasions, but Auralux: Constellations doesn’t have special powers. It’s a downside, but we can only hope that it will get better.

With that in mind, Auralux: Constellations is a really nice addition to this niche genre, and we can’t wait to play the full version of the game and to face off with some people, not just the AI, which is either too powerful or too lazy.