Art of War: Red Tides is a very addictive tug-of-war style RTS inspired by the popular Desert Strike map in Starcraft 2, in which players send big waves of units across the battlefield in easily accessible, but deeply strategic battles where the tide can change in an instant.
Art of War: Red Tides can be played in single player vs AI, or in ranked or unranked multiplayer 3v3 matches. Each team starts at opposite sides of the battlefield and must build up their army of units, releasing them in waves as they attempt to destroy their opponent’s base. You can upgrade your mining facility (to increase the speed you acquire resources) and you can purchase and upgrade different types of troops.
You don’t have any direct control of your troops once they’re released – they simply walk across the battlefield, battling any enemies they come across, but you do have some useful commander skills, such as airstrikes or troop drops that can really help turn the tide of battle. To win you must overpower the enemy team and blow up their base, and your success if largely dependent on the make-up of the troops that you send out into the battlefield.
After the match you’ll be rewarded with XP and unit unlocks that you can use to customize your ‘deck’ of available units that you can call into battle. With three distinct races, each with forty available units that have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, there’s plenty of different strategies to experiment with so no two battles are ever the same.
Art of War: Red Tides impresses with its fun, fast paced matches, that offer easy to pick up and play gameplay but still has plenty of nuance and depth. The action really ramps up throughout each match too, with more and more units spilling out onto the battlefield, resulting in epic clashes between hundreds of units. When that time comes, hopefully the tide is in your favor!
Note: We really recommend not skipping the tutorial as once you skip it you can’t go back and play it later!
Download The Art of War: Red Tides Open Beta Here (Steam)