BonusXP, a new team made up from ex-Ensemble developers, has announced Servo, a fast-paced real-time strategy title with a focus on unit customisation and no-nonsense, ten to fifteen minute matches.
There’s more than a little of the Transformers about Servo’s day-glo sci-fi world, not least that it features massive, brightly coloured robots kicking the snot out of each other.
”Servo puts players in command of a team of far-future mercenaries who pilot their immensely powerful giant war machines, called Servos, in dangerous missions to profit from the deadly but valuable Bloom that consumed Old Earth centuries ago,” explains BonusXP. ”Though humanity fled the doomed Earth decades ago, the way home has recently reopened – and the mysteries lying dormant in Old Earth’s ruins will change humanity’s fate once again.”
In terms of the RTS action, BonusXP wants to focus on short, sharp bursts of multiplayer gaming, aiming for a typical match length of around ten to fifteen minutes. Battles are fought over the aforementioned ‘Bloom’ resource, which when gathered allows you to customise your squad of mercs with new upgrades and support drones. There’s also 25 story missions and a co-op mode for those who don’t like competitive play.
”Win or lose, every battle unlocks new parts to equip onto your Servos,” BonusXP continues. ”Void Beams, Hydra Launchers, Nemodium Blades, and much more can be slotted into the dozen-plus slots on each Servo. Designing a team of Servos that works well together to execute your strategies – and can react to the new challenges each match brings – is as important as building up an economy or landing a perfect rocket swarm.”
The customisation options sound like the real draw here, though I think there’s room in the market for another quick and easy, budget priced RTS. You can pre-order the game now for $19.99, and it will wind its way to Steam Early Access within the next few months before a final release later this year.