I know it launched eight years ago, but it’s strange that we don’t talk about Blendo Games’ Flotilla more. It’s a playful space romp full of turn-based tactical battles that evoke the real-time scraps of Homeworld. I frequently think about it, and wonder if Blendo will ever return to its distinctly orange universe and its aggressive space critters. Good news, then! Blendo is indeed returning to Flotilla.
Bad news: It’s exclusively for the HTC Vive.
Flotilla 2 doesn’t looked all that far removed from its predecessor, otherwise. You set up plays, ordering your tiny ships to move to specific destinations or attack particular enemies, trying to find chinks in their armour to hit them where it hurts. There’s no up or down in space, so you can flank from any direction and fiddle with your ship’s position to find the best place to strike from. Then you watch as everything plays out before you, hopefully without too many ships getting out of the way of your attacks.
The VR conceit, however, means you’re right there in the battle, mucking around with a room-scale 3D arena. You select ships and link them to enemies or destinations with a chunky cursor, orchestrating the fight like a cosmic giant.
While the first game had procedural battles, the announcement of a level editor implies that they’ll be hand-crafted this time. There will be a campaign, but player-made scenarios will be available through the Steam Workshop. Speaking of Steam, the store page is live now.
Flotilla 2 is due out on August 1, 2018 on Steam.
