Recent content by Al

🔥 The Community-Driven Development Revolution Jack interviews the Beyond All Reason community manager PtaQ and game designer Tim, exploring how passionate volunteers transformed a Total Annihilation mod into a standalone epic-scale RTS that's "ruined other strategy games" for its creators. They...

🔥 When Developers Move On: Community Preservation Adam, Nuno, and Jack examine how passionate communities refuse to let classic strategy games die, transforming abandoned titles through mods, custom servers, and complete engine recreations that often surpass the original developer's work. They...

Steam Veil Games is launching Drill Rift in Q4 2025 on Steam, with a demo available from September 20. It’s a single-player, turn-based colony sim where you manage a dwarven mining operation under a mountain. You upgrade machinery, research tech, keep dwarves from losing it, and try not to...

War Mongrels drops on Nintendo Switch September 16, putting you in charge of a small guerrilla team on the Eastern Front of World War II. You start with two Wehrmacht deserters and pick up more characters along the way, each with unique skills. Missions involve sabotage, document theft, killing...

Total War: EMPIRE Mobile is getting a new expansion, A New World, on September 18. It adds 44 factions, new campaigns, expanded units, and more naval options, bringing the total playable factions to 55. Minor nations are less of a paperweight now, and the balance changes actually affect how...

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era has revealed a new playable faction, the Schism. Unveiled by Hooded Horse, Ubisoft, and Unfrozen, the Schism will join the lineup of factions in the upcoming turn-based strategy release. First teased at gamescom’s Awesome Indies showcase, the Schism draws...

Amazon Games will begin Closed Alpha testing for March of Giants on September 2, 2025. Developed by Amazon Games Montreal, the project combines MOBA mechanics with RTS elements, putting players in the role of a massive Giant leading armies across the battlefield. Matches feature two teams of...

Paradox Interactive is expanding Crusader Kings III with Coronations, an event pack launching on September 9, 2025. It introduces coronations as a new in-game Activity, turning a ruler’s ascent to the throne into a stage for ceremony, scheming, and political manoeuvring. A coronation isn’t just...

Knights of the Crusades leaves Early Access and launches version 1.0 on September 6, 2025. Reverie World Studios, with indie.io, confirmed the date after a long Early Access run shaped heavily by player feedback. You start as a minor knight with little more than a band of soldiers. The aim is...

🔥 Dawn of War 4 Announced Games Workshop has handed the reins from Relic to King Art Games. Al and Joe break down why Relic’s decline and Dawn of War 3’s failure opened the door, and why Iron Harvest’s success gave King Art the credibility to take over. They discuss the risks of stepping into...

🔥 Mechanics Before Story The narrative in AI War wasn’t written first. It came from a design problem: how do four humans survive against overwhelming AI forces without breaking suspension of disbelief? The answer: the AI doesn’t care. Humanity is beneath notice while it’s busy with bigger wars...

🔥 From Modder to Indie CEO Chris started as a hobbyist, modding Supreme Commander for fun with his dad and uncle. That side project grew into AI War: Fleet Command and eventually into Arcen Games. His timing in 2009 was lucky—Steam had just opened the door to indie publishing, competition was...

In Episode 41 of Critical Moves, Al, Joe, and Tim assess the state of 4X strategy gaming after the release of Endless Legend 2. The discussion asks if the genre is still locked into decades-old formulas or if innovation is possible through technology shifts and indie experimentation. Stellaris...

In Episode 40 of Critical Moves, Al and Tim interview indie developer Matt about Fungal Front, his sci-fi RTS set in 2062 where humanity chases superbug cures on the fungal planet Mycopia. The conversation exposes the realities of small-team RTS development, from engine rebuilds and asymmetric...

In Episode 39 of Critical Moves, Al, Jack, and Adam tackle the complex relationship between narrative and strategy games. The discussion reveals the financial pressures behind storytelling decisions and why most developers can't afford to ignore single-player campaigns. Adam joins on the eve of...