Weekend Reading: The Possible Small Scale Future of Strategy Gaming

There are two big strategy-minded titles that are arriving during the first two weeks of March, with Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution bringing six way conflict to players at first and then to Total War: Shogun 2, taking fans of historical warfare back to Japan for another round of swords versus bows versus spears.

Both video games are coming from established studios, with Relic, also known for Homeworld and for Company of Heroes, delivering the second expansion for Dawn of War II, and with The Creative Assembly continuing their work on Total War, after the rather disappointing Empire and the smaller-sized Napoleon.

The problem is that these are shaping up to be the biggest strategy-oriented launches we are likely to see during 2011, as long as more niche offerings like those delivered by Paradox Interactive, are not taken into account.

This just as Company of Heroes Online has announced its closure and there are not many mod based or indie projects that seem to deal with the genre.

After the big releases we saw in 2010, including the behemoth that was Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and the good but not great Civilization V, this year seems to be another off one for strategy gaming and one which will prompt fans to worry about the future of the medium.

And to me as a strategy gamer, it seems that the future is one where the small scale, both in terms of development and in terms of delivered gameplay, is the one to rule.

Just take a look at games like Blight of the Immortals, Conquest or Influence, each building a small set of mechanics linked to a main hook in experiences that can take as little to play as a few minutes at a time, delivering both depth and simplicity at the same time.