Between Civilization 7, Manor Lords, Total War, and relative newcomers like Into The Breach and Tactical Breach Wizards, the strategy genre is as busy and full as it’s ever been. But do you ever feel like it’s gotten stuck? There are a lot of great games, but also, perhaps, a sense of endless ‘iteration’ – tweaking, revising, and improving, but not really driving forwards. Perhaps this is why Age of Empires 2, StarCraft 2, and Command and Conquer Remastered remain some of the most popular RTS games on PC. The new stuff doesn’t feel that new, so you may as well replay the old stuff, because it’s basically the same and at least then you get the nostalgia kick.
Chip ‘n Clawz Versus The Brainiods. The title’s reminiscent of the early ‘90s PC heyday, games like Day of the Tentacle, Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and Logical Journey of the Zoombinis. But that affectionate throwback aside, Chip ‘n Clawz is an attempt at something new, a fluid combination of third-person shooters, platformers, co-op, and strategy games, all helmed by Julian Gollop, the co-creator of the greatest turn-based tactics series of all.
Back in 1994, working with his brother Nick and fellow designer Steve Hand, Gollop created UFO: Enemy Unknown, released in the US as XCOM: UFO Defense. 31 years later, he’s the CEO and chief designer at Snapshot Games – having already launched Phoenix Point, the 2020 ‘spiritual successor’ to XCOM, Gollop now wants to create a different type of strategy experience.
You can play it solo, but Chip ‘n Clawz is much more fun as a co-op game. One player takes control of Chip, the other his feline robotic companion Clawz. The eponymous Brainioids are trying to take over the planet and your job is to push back the invasion by mining a pink crystal called Brainium, using it to build bases and factories, and then commanding your android minions in live battles. Aesthetically, it bears similarities to some of the great platformer hits of the last two decades. It’s a bit Spyro, a bit Ratchet and Clank, a bit Jak and Daxter. In practice, however, Chip ‘n Clawz is an intuitive, fast-paced shooter and RTS.
You keep the aliens at bay with your own weapons, long enough to pull up and place the blueprint for a minion factory. Depending on the situation, you might want an army of melee brawlers, a fleet of airborne turrets, a battery of walking artillery bots, or maybe more Brainium miners. It’s quickfire – buildings are completed and deployed in seconds – and the commands are straightforward: you place a beacon, and send units to either attack or defend in that direction. But the colorful, innocent-looking levels of Chip ‘n Clawz soon turn into teeming battlefields. The mechanics may be simple, but you need to think and act fast.
“As a player, you have to think about the action economy,” Gollop tells PCGamesN. “Is the thing you’re doing at this present moment the most useful thing that you could be doing? Do you gather resources, build, hold ground, or go into battle? I wanted to create this feeling of an ongoing battle, where you’re defending your front and then attacking the enemy’s front, and going back and forth.
“We had a big, overhead map at one point, but because our environments are battlefields, you can get a reasonably good idea of what’s going on without that. It’s more immediate and immersive. We put some limitations on the player that are quite deliberate. Your minion control is four rally beacons, and that is it, although placement of your buildings is very important.”
XCOM was a serious game – losing a battle or making a single administrative mistake could have grave consequences. Chip ‘n Clawz is more playful, but it’s just as grabby. Aesthetically and mechanically it’s ‘lighter’ and more accessible than Gollop’s 1994 opus, but if one of XCOM’s greatest strengths was its – at the time – unique approach to strategy, Chip ‘n Clawz has that, too.
“There’s a game called Sacrifice that came out from Shiny Entertainment back in 2001,” Gollop explains. “They tried to do something different. It was a special game for its time. Pikmin was also an inspiration, the various puzzle levels where you have to get minions to help you. And I enjoy playing co-op games with my kids – Lego Star Wars is a great example. We really wanted to do a great co-op game, and make strategy more accessible.
“A lot of people are playing older games these days. RTS games are having a bit of a resurgence, but a lot of those new games harken back to a golden age. So, who do I want to play Chip ‘n Clawz? All those people who are fed up with post-apocalyptic zombie games. In terms of this new genre, action-strategy, I don’t think there are many games that fit that style, and so maybe establishing a bit of a new genre would be cool.”
If you want to try Chip ‘n Clawz Versus The Brainiods for yourself, the first-ever demo is available right now, and part of Steam Next Fest from Monday February 24 until Monday March 3. You can get it right here.
Otherwise, check out some of the other best upcoming PC games, or maybe the best multiplayer games available today.
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