Blitzkrieg First Look

Commonly exploited in FPS and strategy games, the times of the Second World War are the main inspiration for this isometric RTS, currently in development by Russian developers, Nival Interactive. This time we go back to the period of the Blitzkrieg (German: "blitz" - lightning, and "krieg" - war), when Germany strengthened its forces and commenced a swift major onslaught over many European countries. Not in the least bit romantic I'd say; but perfect for your average strategy game scenario. In case you're worried about the game being created by a bunch of inexperienced teen programmers, you can guess again. Nival Interactive has already distinguished itself in the gaming industry as a successful game developer, offering a solid range of titles. It seems that throughout the years they have had an exceptional knack for strategy/RPGs in particular (Rage of Mages 1 and 2, Etherlords), although they also managed to achieve an excellent reputation with their action/RPG Evil Islands. Now they have turned their eyes to a more earthly scenery.

Surveying the enemy territory.

Marching across no-man's land.

In Blitzkrieg players will get a chance to participate in WWII battles while having a choice between Russian, German, or Allied forces. The game covers the period between the beginning of WWII in 1939 and 1945.

Concerning the missions, the team at Nival Interactive has revealed that every campaign will be divided into chapters, which in turn will have sub-missions loosely based on events that took place in actuality (Seizure of Poland, defense of Stalingrad, and landing in Normandy). Some of the missions include covert operations that need to be carried out with extreme caution without the enemy detecting you, while other missions will feature sweeping ground, air, and convoy attacks on enemy forces. Scenarios are going to be carried out mostly on European soil (Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Norway, Finland, and Ukraine).

But, in some campaigns players will get to fight in the snowy regions of the old USSR (Euro-Asia), while others will take them to Africa (Tunisia to be more precise). During every mission, players will be faced with many challenges in order to achieve victory; for instance, building bridges, digging trenches, laying mines, calling air support and auxiliaries.

The game will present over 40 different types of units. You can expect to control snipers, SMG-equipped riflemen, machine gunners, grenade launchers, artillery personnel, tank crews, army engineers, etc. One of the most interesting things is that your units will gain additional experience and diverse skills as you progress through the missions. Also, an important role is played by the troop's morality level. This must at all costs remain high, because if it decreases soldiers will start loosing fighting capabilities and may fully refuse to cooperate. Such features are an interesting thing to incorporate in an RTS game and will surely broaden the gameplay, and create an exciting atmosphere.

Back in the times of the Second World War, the German blitzkrieg was a deadly and extremely powerful tactic. German forces were issuing motorized artillery, tanks, and dive-bombers to ensure the destruction of enemy communications and defense systems. This was the way invasions were achieved during WWII. The game designers have assured that their main motto throughout development was to maintain historical accuracy in almost every aspect of gameplay. First off, they had to make sure that each vessel appears true-to-life in terms of size, movement, weapon range, and exterior facets. Obviously, one of the most important things to them was to portray realistic vehicles not just visually, but in the way they perform and react on the combat field.

Blitzkrieg has a set of features that are all powered by Nival's in-house engine, which is going to allow some nice and realistic effects such as various weather conditions - snow, fog, and so on. Rain was also included, and it can prove to be quite an obstacle during speedy offenses. It may decrease the player's visibility and downgrade the general performance of his units. What's more, there will be such details as vehicles leaving tracks and raising dust as they pass across the battle fields. And, as the developers recently claimed, the in-game vehicle models were taken directly from authentic WWII vessels and will feature location-based damage.

From what was revealed of the game so far, we can expect a fine and fulfilling RTS experience with enough features to entangle players in a creative and truthful depiction of the horrors caused by the Blitzkrieg. We will catch up with Nival at E3 to bring you more info and media from this title. Until then, enjoy a few of these nice in-game snaps provided by the developers.