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The only thing better than stomping Nazis is stomping Nazis with a mech. Grit and Valor – 1949 draws inspiration from games as diverse as Into the Breach and Slay the Spire, not to mention alternate histories of WWII. Instead of the heavy mech customization and adrenaline-pumping aerobatics of Armored Core 6, Grit and Valor – 1949 emphasizes tactical improvisation and positioning. It’s a self-described “real-time tactics roguelite,” with a grid-based battlefield, a variety of units, and plenty of chances for things to go wrong. Don’t let the cartoony visuals fool you. Blood and oil will spill.
Axis and Axels
It’s 1949, and World War II is still raging. Thank the giant mechs deployed by both sides. You control the Resistance, a mandatorily scrappy team bent on destroying the Axis army once and for all. As the commander, you must protect your command vehicle at all costs. Fail that and your roguelite run is over. The mechs and tight tactical gameplay evoke Into the Breach, but Grit and Valor is its own kind of animal. The Rock Paper Scissors interplay of Ballistic, Fire, and Explosive units feels intuitive, and your units automatically attack within range. Intelligent positioning trumps most other considerations.
Properly using the high ground and destructible cover to your advantage requires snap tactical decision-making. Do you tell your machine gun-toting mech to leap behind enemy reinforcements as they helicopter in? Do you send it to tank hits for your command vehicle instead? What if you command it to haul fuel across the battlefield, completing an optional objective but rendering it defenseless in the meantime? Optional objectives may charge you with defending an outpost or dealing a certain amount of explosive damage, and completing them is key to your wartime economy.
Campaigns of Iron, Complaints of Steel
Losing sends you back to the Resistance’s island base off the coast of Scotland. There you can shop and upgrade your Pilot Abilities and mechs. With a dozen or so stats, as well as multiple mech types, pilots, and upgrade slots, there’s plenty of room for tinkering and theorycrafting. Do you invest in the pilot who can deploy mines or the one who can leap across the battlefield and smash enemies with a Superman landing? Cooldowns and limited uses keep these powerful abilities from getting out of control, but they’re still a blast. Go ahead. Cross a bridge. They can’t all be minefields, right?
The node-based map will feel familiar to fans of Slay the Spire and Inscryption, and each successful mission nets you an enhancement for your mechs. Advanced Missions bring advanced enemies, such as carpet-bombing planes that draw a line of death across the randomly generated map. There needs to be more node variety in the final game, but the demo kept me happy. There are campaigns for Scandinavia, Western Europe, and New Germany, although only the Training Grounds and British Isles appeared in the demo.
Early Impressions
Grit and Valor – 1949 offers a slick strategy experience with tons of potential. The level designs, art, and SFX all testify to the game’s quality. Even in this early stage, it’s fun. Battles get panicky as you scramble to reposition troops, holding the line against enemy waves. With access to only one campaign and a handful of units in the demo, it’s impossible to say how deep the final product will be, but everything here points to a satisfying (and stompy) roguelite experience. You can get into the robot action when Grit and Valor – 1949 comes to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch in 2025.
