Lead or destroy the revolution in Mars Tactics, an XCOM-like strategy game from Hooded Horse featuring throwable ammo and UBI
The factional asymmetry of Mars Tactics ain’t about Fish Himbos vs The Telepathic Hairdryer Folk of the Highlands. It gives you the bracingly topical choice of calculating suits vs baying revolutionaries. In the blue corner, you’ve got the iron fist of Capital, who begin each campaign in a position of supremacy, but are beholden to the fatter cats on Earth for supplies. And in the red corner, you’ve got Labo(u)r, who kick off with little more than their chains, but are able to manufacture their own gear due to being honest working folk, and have higher morale due to being a bunch of zealous bolshies.
You can tailor their differences further by means of governmental policies. Introducing Universal Basic Income, for instance, means you can deploy robot workers without riling up your fleshy dogsbodies quite as much. Fully automated luxury communism for all! Except you, Kevin – I’m sending you off on a doomed mission to reclaim that rocketpad from the fuzz. You can also found a police state, set up labour camps, and embrace neoliberalism, if you’re feeling especially dystopic. More pragmatic research projects include fermentation: if ideology alone won’t carry the day, perhaps some liquid courage will do the job.
Between Capital and Labor sprawl the deserts of Mars: curiously cuboid, usefully deformable, and rich in building components. To claim the wargod’s favourite planet, you’ll need both a shrewd understanding of cover and a head for logistics. You need to capture and defend resource hubs, build railways, and get hold of some jets for troop movement and airstrikes. You need sturdy offworld trade connections. You might want to hire a few mercenaries.
The battles are turn-based, and waged by squads of upgradeable, customisable troopers. They look a lot like XCOM, perhaps with a splash of Gears Tactics. You can suppress foes both to sabotage their aim and steal initiative from them. You can also gouge out trenches with explosives, call in artillery strikes from neighbouring regions, and toss unprimed grenades or spare magazines of ammo between friendlies. Foes can be captured, then interrogated for intel, then held for ransom. As for the guns, there’s a phat grid editor that includes a choice of scopes, stocks, calibers, and receivers.
It all seems very appealing, though I’m basing that assessment on trailers and snatches of press release – please qualify my enthusiasm appropriately. I am crossing my fingers for 1) a demo, and 2) a Total Recall-inspired endgame involving underground terraformers. Please, though, no boggle-eyed Arnie death scenes. The developers are Takibi Games, and the publishers are Hooded Horse, who have a good nose for this kind of thing. It’s out in early access in May 2026. Read more on Steam.