Pwnee Studios couldn't have asked for a better reception to their debut as a game development studio with Cloudberry Kingdom. Even Ubisoft believed in the project and partnered with the team to help cast a wider net of distribution. When it launched, the game was praised by critics for its masochistic gameplay. And in the team's own words, "the community really got behind [it]." (If you're the least bit curious, the Wii U version is still on sale for an excellent price until August 3.)
It's been nearly two years since then, and after the game reached its peak, it seemed as though Pwnee Studios had gone into hibernation mode — presumably to recharge for their next project. Now, the team is preparing to re-emerge with We Are Legion, a game coming early August that proposes to extend their reputation for concepts with maddening gameplay.
The setting is China in 220 AD, and it's up to you as an ambitious warmonger to guide your army to victory. And by "army," we really mean an entire populace, because you're controlling hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of units at one time. Given the team's start with Cloudberry Kingdom, a game that thrived on a level of merciless insanity, We Are Legion's premise isn't that much of a stretch — though it'd be more of a head-scratcher if it were almost anyone else.
Jordan Fisher, president of Pwnee Studios, told GameZone that the inspiration came from a similar place as that which led to Cloudberry Kingdom's creation — "a deep-seated hatred for the inadequacies of our childhood." Fisher went on to explain: "Do you know that in the original Warcraft you can only select, like, 4 units at a time? I don't even remember what the unit caps were, but they were bad. Flash forward a few decades, a few millionfold increase in computing power, and you expect [real-time strategy games] to have bajillions of units. Do they? No."
It's that disappointment that gave birth to We Are Legion.
The multiplayer real-time strategy game adopts an arcade design philosophy, which will lead to some familiarity in the sorts of transferable tactics players with previous experience in the genre can expect to implement. However, with a concept of this calibre, there are aspects unique to We Are Legion that will demand a different mindset. If that sounds frightening, Fisher says the game is still designed to accommodate intuitive styles of play. They just won't happen on a microcosmic level.
"Small-scale features are still important, but we really wanted a game where the player was immersed in larger-scale strategy decisions," Fisher shared. He then went on to describe some of the thought processes that will go through the minds of players as they manage their armies: "What areas on the map are you controlling? How are you dividing your resources? Where are you flanking, retreating, defending, etc.?" At that point, the need to manage individual units fades away to an extent that it's not even a secondary consideration. "We designed the maps so there are a lot of these high-level decisions happening [in] lots of places at once, so the player has their hands full without even getting a chance to worry about micro."
Fisher is confident that the scope of the project won't dismiss newcomers from jumping in blind. "It's not easy to master," he admits, "but everyone understands the idea, without reading a manual, reading about DPS and armor classes of different units, etc. It's just, like, 'Oh, that horde of units looks way bigger than my group of units right here, that's probably not good.' Grok that and you've grokked most of what you need to know to start playing this game."
Even so, the question remains: Why this level of pandemonium? "I learned early on as designer that even, balanced gameplay sounds nice on paper, but is kind of boring in practice," Fisher shared. "I'm having the most fun when I'm barely in control of what's happening, but somehow still feel like my actions are directly responsible for my fate."
When asked what the team hopes to accomplish with the project, Fisher's comments acknowledge that there is something of an untapped niche in the genre, where We Are Legion can potentially serve as a beacon of change.
"[Real-time strategy games] are really the pinnacle of eSports," he said. "But I think there's room for something more lighthearted in the genre too. Our goal is to bring an RTS that captures a more arcade, party game feel. Boot it up, throw a few new friends into it, and you're having fun, without feeling like you need to go study YouTube feeds and Twitch channels to get an edge."
And for those still unable to comprehend how a task of this magnitude will play out in a tactical sense, Fisher closed with some words of advice: "You're going to be just as overwhelmed as the other players, so just relax and let yourself freak out. It will be fine."
We Are Legion will arrive for PC on August 7 for $14.99.
