Inspired by Advance Wars, the new Earth vs Mars from Relic Entertainment is out now

A smaller team at Relic Entertainment under the Relic Labs umbrella have released Earth vs Mars, a homage to some classic strategy games like Advance Wars.

Quite a break from the likes of Company of Heroes / Dawn of War. Relic said their smaller teams with Relic Labs are experimenting with smaller games to get them into your hands sooner. Not really surprising, spending many years building up single games simply isn't sustainable for a lot of developers.

From the press release:

This love letter to the turn-based strategy genre puts players at the helm of Earth’s forces in a desperate battle against a full-scale Martian invasion. Players must lead an unlikely group of commanders against alien saucers, grav-tanks, and elite alien warriors threatening the planet.

Humanity’s secret weapon is the Splice-O-Tron, a device that fuses human volunteers with Earth’s creatures to create powerful hybrid super soldiers. From cheetah-fly scouts to rhino-human tanks and squirrel-cow infantry, these bizarre, but powerful, super soldiers give humanity a fighting chance.

As the campaign unfolds, you’ll unlock new creatures, upgrades, and commander abilities—but your enemy evolves too, unleashing horrors like “The Creep” and other mutant creations.

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Game Features:

• Splice-O-Tron – Bringing some old-school Relic flavor to this genre, the Splice-O-Tron is a key mechanic in Earth vs Mars. Combining creatures with human “volunteers” will allow you to field an array of exciting and powerful hybrid units
• Single Player Campaign – Earth vs Mars will feature an expansive narrative focused campaign composed of over 30 hand-crafted missions
• Online Multiplayer – Battle against other commanders in 1vs1 multiplayer, either as the armies of Earth or as the forces of the Martian Invaders
• VS Mode – Battle against the A.I. on custom maps giving endless replayability to single-player fans
• Challenge Mode – Chase your high score in battles against the A.I.
• Map Lab – Fully featured map editor allows you to create custom maps and scenarios
• Unit Abilities – Many of the units in Earth vs Mars will have their own unique abilities, adding new strategies and gameplay depth to this style of game
• Commanders – There will be multiple commanders in the game, each bringing unique abilities that change the way you play
• Beautifully realized 3D world – The world of Earth vs Mars brings expressive units, vibrant environments, and stunning effects to players
• Fully Voiced Experience - The game is fully voiced, bringing commanders, units and story moments to life

There's a campaign demo available to try before you buy. You can also follow the developer on Bluesky.