Slovakian developer EastWorks Studios announced that Gray Zone, their RTS shoot-’em-up is set to enter into Early Access on Steam for PC starting March, 2020. The game takes place in a fantasy sci-fi setting on a world in a far away galaxy, as players are tasked with freeing the slaves of a Communistic and corrupt government, and you’ll need to travel across exotic planets to build an army, and lead a rebellion.
The story centers around a white slave named Valern who is destined for greatness. He’ll have to escape from the clutches of an oppressive government, explore the colonized planets under the corrupt government’s rule, and free its inhabitants while gathering resources.
The game will feature both in-game and pre-rendered cut-scenes complete with English dialogue.
The reveal trailer for the game is just a teaser that gives you an idea of what one of the locations will look like rendered in real-time.
Unfortunately we don’t get to see much of any actual gameplay, though.
However, the press release and Steam page describes the gameplay as an RTS shoot-’em-up where you’ll need to gather your fire-teams, organize your units, and attempt to overthrow the enemy across some creatively made locations.
It’s hard to compare Gray Zone to other titles right now because I haven’t seen what a match looks like in action or how strategic the gunplay is, but you’ll need to complete various story objectives while collecting and upgrading vehicles, weapons, and heroes to help you liberate the colonies.
According to the FAQ, they have plans on keeping Gray Zone in Early Access for several years, with the final release date for the complete game being the fourth quarter of 2023.
The Early Access version will launch with the first five of seven missions from the first chapter. The last two missions to complete the first chapter in the story mode several months after the game enters early access.
From there they have plans on releasing one new chapter each year.
It sounds like a long and arduous development cycle, but if they manage to complete within the given timeframe then it’s better late than never, right?
These Slovakians at least seem to be making a game catering toward the core demographic, so if it’s a solid experience with quality mechanics, I can definitely see a small community building up around Gray Zone, not unlike Star Citizen.
You can learn more about the new RTS shoot-’em-up by visiting the Steam store page.
