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In early July, and entirely under the radar, Headup Games unveiled a first glimpse at an independent game titled Meridian: New World that's been in development for over two years at a one-person studio, Elder Games. The mastermind behind the gorgeous RTS title is named Ede Tarsoly and it's a single-player strategy game about the first trip to the mysterious planet Meridian.
The initial announcement came with a piece of art and four incredible screenshots that we still cannot believe came from a one-man operation. Upon first look, Meridian seems to rival - at least, visually - the most high profile of triple-A RTS games on the market, and it was only crafted in two years. Take note, Blizzard.
Earlier this week, the first trailer for Meridian: New World released alongside the full launch of the official website at meridian-game.com and plays seemingly as awesome as the still screenshots promised. And you can customize mech units!
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Official game description:
Play as Daniel Hanson, commander of the first expedition to planet Meridian and uncover the dark secrets it holds! Shape the world around you with every decision you make and through every dialogue with your crew. Meridian: New World offers countless options to devise your own strategy, including various equipment options for your units and special abilities for you to rely upon. Use your abilities anywhere on the battlefield and turn the tide of battle by weakening the enemy troops. Alternatively take the covert approach and sabotage the enemy power supply to shut down their production. You can rely entirely on researching superior weapons or special abilities. Or you can risk building a large economy, constructing a massive army from your enormous resources. The strategy you use and how many troops you sacrifice to reach your goal will influence the attitude of your crew towards you.
Features of Meridian:
- Traditional RTS gameplay with a focus on strategy - the forceful approach rarely works
- Experience a world of choices where every decision has an impact on the world around you
- Use the right tool to get the job done: equip your units with 15 different weapons
- Gain XP during battle and upgrade your commander profile with special combat abilities
- Get to know the people on board your ship: by talking to them, you influence the crew's behavior
- Including a full level editor and scripting tool used to build the campaign maps will be available
- Never run out of maps with the in-game custom map downloader and official levels released frequently after release
The descriptions and brief gameplay tease from the first trailer hint at a comprehensive and deep strategy experience that features RPG customization and progression elements. We're going to keep our eye on this and look forward to testing it out upon release. Is it time for strategy games to make a bigger comeback much like sci-fi sims, the other big '90s PC game genre, is?
Meridian: New World releases exclusively on PC sometime soon.
Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.