If you’ve been itching for another strategy title for your phone, Red Tides: Art of War has you covered. Since its release on Steam’s Early Access platform in December 2016, this game was only available on PC — but it has now made the move for iPhone and iPad for free.
Red Tides was heavily inspired by the Starcraft 2 map “Desert Strike”. According to developer Game Science:
“At its core, Red Tides is a competitive multiplayer RTS that takes place in a single ‘lane’. Everything from army building, to timing and strategy, is key, especially for climbing that ranked ladder! Our heartfelt thanks go out to the developer of the Desert Strike map from Starcraft 2, without it and our love for it, Art of War: Red Tides would not have been possible”.
The game has you play as an Army’s commander, where you go head-to-head against another player in one lane. Each match consists of players choosing what units to bring into the battleground and using special abilities to get an upper hand. 300 units can be on the battlefield at the same time, and 120 units between three races give plenty of strategic possibilities. The game boasts both its simple-to-understand gameplay and its depth as proof that accessibility and complexity can be connected.
Red Tides also boasts its “fair monetization”, where any purchases made in-game will not affect matches. This will make every match fair, regardless of whether someone buys in-game items or not.
Red Tides: Art of War is available to download via Steam or the App Store for free.
