Weeks before release, thousands are already playing the mech strategy game on Steam – and we are also excited about the tactical depth.
When our strategy expert Kevin thinks he”s discovered a real insider tip, then of course I have to take a look.
And even though I didn”t expect much at first glance: Mr. Weber has hit a complete bull”s eye with the mech strategy game Mechabellum – and his recommendation has cost me over 30 hours of playtime in the last month and a half.
What kind of game is Mechabellum anyway?
When you see pictures of Mechabellum, you first think of real-time strategy classics like Supreme Commander. In terms of gameplay, however, it has nothing to do with that at all, because Mechabellum is an auto-battler whose idea is strongly reminiscent of the Starcraft 2 mod Desert Strike.
In concrete terms this means: You place your units on your side of the battlefield and as soon as the round starts, the battles are fought fully automatically without any further intervention. The player whose units survive also wins the round – and for each remaining unit, the enemy loses health points. Once they are at zero, the game is over.
Doesn”t sound like much strategy, but a game that plays itself? Far from it, because in order to win, you need an enormously good tactics. A total of 16 different units are available, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. Some of them are just a single mech, others consist of several troops.
A few examples:
- The Marksman is a mech with a sniper rifle and makes short work of single, strong units at long range.
- Crawlers are fast melee fighters that make short work of a Marksman.
- The Arclight mech has an area attack and will disassemble squads of small units, like the Crawlers, in no time.
- Mustangs are tanks equipped with Gatling Guns and are especially strong against air units.
- Rhinos are fat melee mechs with circular saws on their arms.
In addition, there are four different giant mechs, each with their own strength: There”s a tank, a single-target DPS, a flying fortress, and a giant running flamethrower.
You can get a first look at the different units in action in the trailer for Mechabellum:
Why is this so much fun?
To be successful, you must successfully anticipate what your enemy has planned next. Since you can only ever see his last deployment, this is not so easy. On top of that, there are also random upgrades after each round, such as passive talents and active skills like missile attacks and incendiary bombs – these also want to be taken into account.
And it”s this cat-and-mouse game that makes it so appealing to me. Since I never know what exactly my enemy will change with each turn, my army must always be placed watertight. Not only do I have to be ready for all kinds of units, but the enemy can also invest their resources in upgrades
Does he have a lot of crawler units that I”ve had no problem taking out so far before they even reach my units? No problem! Then he can upgrade them so that they burrow into the ground and can”t be effectively defeated until they go into close combat – and suddenly the tide turns.
When I play LoL Auto-Battler Teamfight Tactics or Hearthstone Battlegrounds, for example, I can always unpack the same two or three tactics and be successful with them, if I”m lucky. That”s not possible with Mechabellum, where my brain has to be running at full speed all the time.
The game will be officially released on May 11, 2023 on Steam in Early Access, but you can already participate in the free playtest. Just visit the (Shop page) and request access to the test server – you”re ready to go.
If you like strategic thinking, like to compete with other players and of course like mechs, you should definitely take a look. However, if you don”t like auto-battlers and prefer to play alone, you probably won”t have fun with Mechabellum.
