Outer space seems like the ideal arena for an RTS game. An enormous expanse that lends itself to beautiful backdrops and offers up so much freedom for futuristic sci-fi themes to blossom, it’s no wonder it’s become the setting for so many in the genre. Well, here’s a newcomer to that ever-growing list of space RTS games that’s just hit early access, Annihilate the Spance, which prides itself on in-depth starbase building and an “endless” stream of spaceship units.
While some galactic RTS games take place on the surfaces of moons and planets, Annihilate the Spance is all about enormous ship battles out in the cold void of space. The focus here, though, isn’t on controlling individual ships or groups of vessels, as every single unit is autonomous. Instead, it’s about crafting and maintaining a huge base that’s going to keep pumping out units that you can use to defeat the opposing forces.
Annihilate the Spance’s battles are a sight to behold, with very high unit density. Developer Skyglow Softworks also prides itself on the variety of units too, and they range from “tiny drones to kilometers-long capital ships that can level entire bases multiple times over.” With ships potentially getting that big, it’s no wonder that the play space has no cap when it comes to height, meaning that battles can quickly become “multiple stories high and can bend and shift as new vessels with unique capabilities arrive upon the battlefield.”
As these huge fights progress, the battle line moves like a tug of war between your starbase and your opponent’s. You have to react as the situation evolves by managing your production resources, expanding your shipyards if the enemy starts throwing more units at you, and picking the right kind of ships to manufacture and deploy. The devs say that there is “constant, endless unit production” from your shipyards, hence why you can get such a vast number of ships battling at once. While units are autonomous, you can still guide them to areas of the battlefield that you want them to fight in.
The game is single-player only – a slight shame, as I can certainly see some heated multiplayer action working for Annihilate the Spance. But given that Skyglow is a tiny team of just three developers, it’s more than understandable that it’s limited to just single-player. Despite being an early access launch, there’s a good amount of content on offer, though. You’ll be able to play a campaign containing “over 40 missions where you fight both with and against each of the main factions” and there’s a level editor to let you make custom scenarios where you can go up against an AI opponent.
Annihilate the Spance is out now in Steam Early Access and will set you back $29.99 / £25.99. If you want to try before you buy, it’s got a demo that you can download too. To pick it up for yourself or to learn more about it, you can find its store page here.
For more titles that’ll test your tactical prowess, check out our recommendations for the best strategy games overall. Or for more galactic adventures, head on over to our best space games list.
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