WARNO | Early Access PC Review
Enemy engaged! Eugen Systems puts you in the command room in WARNO, an aggressive military RTS. As of now, WARNO is currently available in Early Access on Steam. I should clarify that this instance means very early access. Currently there are only two playable categories: single skirmishes against/with A.I., and multiplayer. A campaign is in the works, but it is not available as of this review. That being said, the official reveal trailer grabbed me with its ‘80s cold war feel, and off I went.
Seize The Day – And Your Target
From the first deployment, you feel the tension rise as you direct your troops to their objectives. Currently, those objectives are simple: capturing different locations on the map. Each location you take over grants you a certain amount of points, and the first team to reach a set number wins the match. It isn’t clear if this will be the only type of battle WARNO will employ in its final state, but as of now, it’s the only contest available in this small morsel of a game.
As small as this early access version is, it really is quite impressive how WARNO shows you what could come to be as Eugen Systems progresses through development. You can get a feel for the systems and resources at play, and how they feel militarily complicated while maintaining their simplicity. Be warned, however, that for some reason, WARNO currently does not give you any kind of tutorial on how to play the game. You are on your own to figure out how the resources and systems work, and all the small functions involved with combat – both ground and air. Even for experienced RTS players, this can be quite frustrating, so if you’re new to the RTS genre, I strongly advise holding off until WARNO reaches its final state.
Military Structure
The handful of different battlefields playable in WARNO are quite breathtaking for what they are. The landscapes are beautifully detailed as your M1A1 Abrams battle tanks traverse the terrain, and your A10-A Thunderbolt II strikes at the opponent’s ground vehicles. Your F-16C Fighting Falcons takeoff at your command to engage with the enemies’ MiG-23MLs in a dogfight above your ground troops, as your scout teams prowl the forestry across enemy lines, surveying the terrain ahead for hostiles yet unseen. WARNO’s meticulous elegance when it comes to military units, vehicles, and aircrafts is extremely enjoyable. The different types available to you are quite impressive in the amount of intricacies spent on each. It shows quite boldly that WARNO is a fanfare to military machinery and design.
While my brief experiences as commander in WARNO were enjoyable, battles were not without issue. Unit functions could still use tweaking, some more than others. Quality of life issues were quite glaring, such as unit selection and command designation. Just keep in mind, again, that this game is very early access, and is nowhere near complete. The WARNO that you would play today is not what Eugen Systems has in mind for their final product. With that, I am extremely excited to see what they do with this going forward.
This review is based on an Early Access PC copy of Warno provided by Renaissance PR for coverage purposes. As of the time of this writing, it is exclusive to this platform.
