Istrolid

Most strategy games still rely on pretty old gameplay concepts and ideas borrowed from the classics of the genre, such as Dune, Warcraft, and a few others. However, as great as those might be, players long for something new as well, especially nowadays. Granted, it’s pretty difficult to innovate in the genre without causing all types of balancing issues, but even an imperfect design can reach greatness.

Istrolid is a real-time strategy game that features an intriguing concept: Player-created units. It’s not an Earth-shattering revelation since many other games featured something similar, but at least here you get a bit more control over it. Everything else is very straightforward and intuitive, which makes it easier to concentrate on the ship creation aspect and have fun with it.

You can choose to play the campaign and face the might of the AI, or jump into the multiplayer mode and take on other players from all over the world. Obviously, the campaign mode features an introductory tutorial as well, so it might be better to avoid PvP until you understand how everything works. On the other hand, the campaign is not that exciting in regards to the story, so you can let it go whenever you want.

The ships are created out of small pieces that must be connected as efficiently as possible. There are certain rules, such as the fact that you can only place weapons on turrets, or that the thrusters shouldn’t touch other components, but everything else is left up to you. Energy efficiency is important as well because some ships are more agile and quick, while others are very slow but pack a mean punch.

When it comes to the interface, every strategy fan should be familiar with the controls, although it must be noted that the camera can be panned using the keyboard. Other than that, it’s one mouse button to select units and the other for giving them orders. You can even form control groups like in every other RTS out there, which should make it easier to tackle multiple objectives at the same time.

Even if Istrolid might appear to be simple and devoid of content in the beginning, the truth is that you should be getting a few long hours out of it, even in its current Beta phase. Hence, if you are up for something new and you enjoy a challenge, this could certainly keep you busy for a while.