Kick it to the Goal: The Red Solstice

Ironward, a Croatian-based indie studio, recently started a Kickstarter campaign for their squad-based strategy RPG, The Red Solstice (TRS). The game looks to be a treat, taking inspiration from amazing titles such as, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Starcraft, and Syndicate.

TRS is set in a distant future where a “Virus Pandemic” ravaged the human population. With little hope, the remaining healthy citizens of Earth fled to the fledgling colonies of Mars. After a century of perceived peace on the red planet a violent storm, named The Red Solstice, knocked out the communication lines from their capital, Tharsis. Players take control of the elite space marines who are sent to investigate the colony. What they find on the ruined capital will change their world forever.

Players can choose from eight different classes – Assault, Heavy Support, Recon, Marksman, Demolition, Terminator, Hellfire and Medic – enough for complete variety in the eight-player co-op missions. Each mission breaks down into three distinct phases; resource allocation, fortifying those resources, and the final evacuation. In TRS, the players must be methodical and tactical, or else risk becoming overwhelmed by the ravenous creatures that inhabit Mars.

In an article on Polygon, Horvatek, founder and developer of TRS, spoke about the game, he explained, “Each game lasts for about an hour… and the key to success is cooperation. With eight character classes and up to eight playersworking toward a common goal, players can choose to tackle the game map together, or they can assign leaders to guide half the squad to one part of the map and another to guide the other half of the squad to another area”. This is a game, as Horvatek said, “Based on strategy, planning, decision making and thinking about things in advance”.

TRS looks like it is going to be a treat. A replayable, cooperative experience, that is heavy on the challenge. What more could you ask for! The variety of classes coupled with randomly generated levels will give hours upon hours of fun with your friends. Also, it does not hurt the game looks reminiscent of one of my favorite games, XCOM: Enemy Unknown!

The Croatian studio is aiming to reach 50,000 dollars to complete the game. And if they exceed their limit, they hope to offer Mac and Linux support, a story-focused narrative, and bigger, more polished game in general.