A familiar theatre gets a new story from a new lens. Polish developers Destructive Creations is pulling the curtains and showing more of their highly ambitious title, War Mongrels. This isometric real-time strategy game is not only promising an immersive and gritty war experience but is also poised to be an extremely important tale told from a very different lens.
The news comes from online public relations firm Stride PR's press release. The press release was accompanied by a new trailer, unveiling glimpses of the gameplay, as well as the storytelling of War Mongrels. The trailer shows an animation detailing a former Wehrmacht soldier recounting his days as the War Mongrels, a rag-tag resistance group comprised of former germans, Polish resistance fighters, Lithuanians, and others looking to strike back at Hitler and his Reich. The black and white scene, which strikingly resembles an old-fashioned comic book, mentions a strong fighter and transitions to glimpses of gameplay. The gameplay depicts the resistance fighter using brute force to directly engage and eliminate nazi soldiers. Other clips show the wise use of anti-tank artillery, and in one immensely satisfying moment, the characters push a slab of concrete from a high rise, crushing the nazi infantry below. Later in the trailer, another fighter is introduced, using traps and stealth to achieve objectives, as well as platforming on ledges. The trailer ends with the title of the game.
War Mongrels is described as an isometric real-time strategy game, where the gameplay is as gritty as the story it tells. Unlike most games in the subject matter, the goal isn't to glamorize or frame WWII in a cinematic light but instead to be authentic, raw, and distinct. War Mongrels won't be a simulator in any way, but it will pay close attention to historical accuracy and details, as well as its depiction. War is hell, and War Mongrels won't sugarcoat the reality of it. The team has been paying close attention to how World War II is often depicted in other games and media, with titles like Call of Duty WWII and Battlefield 5. The team at War Mongrels hopes to achieve a different kind of portrayal, one that is a more realistic depiction based upon historical fact, as opposed to the cinematic and romanticized depictions of war. “World War II has been warped by a lot of other media, and that’s left historical blind spots, often intentionally,” said Marcin Stanek, Business Development Manager at Destructive Creations. “Stories outside of the American perspective rarely get enough visibility, and we aim to change that with an interactive and immersive experience.”
War Mongrels brings back memories of an exciting time I lived in with older video games. On the PlayStation 2, three World War II games reigned supreme: Medal of Honor: Frontline, Call of Duty: Finest Hour, and Brothers in Arms: Road To Hill 30. While Medal of Honor and Call of Duty depicted a grand, epic scale of patriotic fighting, Brother In Arms brought the crushing weight of war home, in addition to introducing players to engaging real-time strategy and authentic combat. In fact, Brothers in Arms featured incredibly accurate depictions of combat with the 101st Airborne and was featured in a History Channel special, using gameplay from the game to tell the stories of veterans who fought in the French countryside. War Mongrels is shaping to become a combat experience of truth, where the missions played experience are not too unlike the actual events that took place not even one-hundred years ago.
War Mongrels arrives on October 19th for Steam, with console ports to follow.