New Trailers, New Games, and Major News Updates
The world of strategy and wargaming saw significant shifts this week, highlighted by the surprising news that Paradox and Cities: Skylines developer Colossal Order are parting ways, with the franchise moving to an internal Paradox studio in 2026. Beyond this major development, the community was buzzing with several new releases and massive updates: the military history animation channel Yarnhub announced its first video game, Brass Rain, a new WWII MMOFPS; Matrix Games launched the ambitious wargame Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War; and popular strategy titles received huge free overhauls, including the transformative 2.0 update for Phantom Brigade and the final major patch for Terra Invicta before its 1.0 launch, alongside a new Japanese DLC for the indie strategy game Bellfortis. Wargame Design Studio also previewed their upcoming title: Crusades: Book II.
Brass Rain Is A Historical FPS From Youtube Channel Yarnhub
One of my favorite YouTube channels, the military history animation studio Yarnhub, known for its high-quality 3D films, has officially announced its first video game: Brain Rain. Backed by over $2.9 million in community equity crowdfunding and built by veterans from studios like EA and Remedy, Brass Rain is going to be a free-to-play WWII massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS). My first impression of the trailer is that it looks excellent, but why are people reloading the M1 Garand so much? Since this appears to be a pre-rendered trailer, it feels somewhat disconcerting to have the same reload animation repeatedly. I’m hoping this game turns out to be a great competitor to Hell Let Loose and Enlist.
Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War Is Out Now
Matrix Games has officially launched Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War, the newest and most ambitious entry in the acclaimed operational-level wargame series from On Target Simulations. Cold War brings an impressive amount of new content, featuring over 100 scenarios and 10 campaigns across 80 maps. It includes the largest number of nations ever featured in the series, with the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Belgium, West Germany, Russia (Soviet Union), East Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. I really wanted to review the game, but this is such a complex and massive title that I don’t think I’ll be able to do it enough justice, but we’ll see.
Wargame Design Studios Celebrates Its 4th Anniversary And Announces Crusades: Book II
It’s hard to believe it has been 4 years since Wargame Design Studio took over the John Tiller catalog of games. Since then, they have released 12 new games and have reworked countless others. To celebrate that, the team has announced their next entry into the Sword & Siege series with Crusades: Book II, the second of the trilogy of games set during the Crusades. The game starts in 1149 and it’s going to have night shading, scaling ladders, improvements to the AI, and, of course, a whole new host of battles and units to experience. The game is set to release sometime during the first half of 2026.
MicroProse Goes Full Steam Ahead And Publishes Battleship Command
I’m starting to think that MicroProse’s ultimate goal is to eventually publish every wargame under the sun. After two major announcements last week, the wargame-dedicated publisher just unveiled Battleship Command, a World War 2 naval simulation game that puts players at the helm of a Scharnhorst-class battleship. The game looks like it’s going to exclusively zoom into the experience of controlling a single ship, and trying to simulate every little aspect of its operation, recreated from historical blueprints. Players will be able to explore the ship in first-person, take direct control of key stations, and do all kinds of chickanery to disrupt the Allied war effort. Looks very neat, but it doesn’t have a release date. I’ll keep my eyes on it.
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