Earth vs Mars News

This is your secret weapon in Earth vs Mars – the Splice-O-Tron! Combine human “volunteers” with Earth creatures to create powerful hybrid supersoldiers, with over 160,000 creature combinations. Get an early look at a handful of these hybrids in action:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Earth vs Mars is crashing onto our planet later this year — our love letter to the turn-based strategy genre. Beyond putting a Relic spin on this style of game, we’re introducing a whole new universe; a colorful and fun world built to immerse, surprise, and keep you engaged for hours.

In this series, we’ll explore the inspirations, designs, and ideas that shape the Earth vs Mars experience.

First up: where did this weird, wonderful aesthetic come from? Let’s find out!

[h2]Defining the Style and Look[/h2]

While Earth vs Mars draws a lot of inspiration from other games in the turn-based strategy genre, we wanted to add our own Relic twist. Developing the overall visual direction of the game we wanted to go for something more playful and light-hearted with a sophisticated "Graphic Novel" look. Bright and bold color choices, neutral environments with eye-catching and bombastic VFX to bring forth the spectacle of play. Allowing the artists and players to focus on the clarity of shape, silhouette, and color rather than fine textures and overly detailed scenery.

Pre-Alpha VFX

[h2]Earth vs Mars – Inspiration and Influences[/h2]

The original concepts for Earth vs Mars were heavily influenced by 1950’s nostalgia, looking to capture the vibes of B-movie science fiction films. The team worked highly collaboratively assembling the games characters and units. Each craft area sharing their experience and perspective, this cross-team effort fully realized the cast and made them relatable. While Earth vs Mars is influenced by our world, it does not exist in the same universe, allowing us to tell the story we want and create a visual language that reinforces this in interesting ways.

Early Reference Exploration

A unique challenge was deciding upon an original look for the Martians. We wanted something unique but with so many established visual references we decided on the core inspiration for the Martians to be culturally inspired by 50s-60s era design aesthetics. Mixed with the strong silhouettes of modern urban vinyl toys this combination resulted in a look that feels nostalgic, familiar, and contrasts greatly with the Earth’s military utilitarian aesthetic.

Early Martian Concept Art

That’s a wrap for now! Stay tuned for more and let us know in the comments if you want us to tackle specific aspects of the artistic process behind Earth vs Mars!

In Earth vs Mars, you’re humanity’s last hope against the Martian invasion. Desperate times call for desperate measures: you can use tanks; you can use guns — but you can also use your human “volunteers” to create hybrid super soldiers and take the planet back. Are there still such things as bioethics in times of war? We're sure there's still some humanity in them... somewhere.

Get ready for intense battles in Earth vs Mars, the new Relic Labs turn-based strategy game from Relic Entertainment. A true love letter to the genre, it’s set to launch on Steam later this year. In the meantime, let’s dive into this brand-new universe and its key characters!

Pre-Alpha Screenshot

[h2]Welcome to Earth [/h2]

In an alternate world, Martians have been “visiting” Earth for decades, abducting animals and humans as... raw materials for their hybrid-creature experiments. This has sparked confusion, conspiracy theories, and countless hours of people scrutinizing the skies, hoping a saucer would come and take them. All the while, the Martians voraciously consumed all the Earth media they could get their hands on. For what reason? We may never get an answer...

Now that they’ve revealed themselves and declared war on our planet, only a few brave souls can turn the tide — that means you. You’re one of humanity’s last hopes.

Pre-Alpha Screenshot

It’s time to assemble an unlikely group of Commanders to lead Earth’s forces and repel the dastardly Martian invaders. Across 30 hand-crafted missions, you’ll create powerful human-creature super soldiers in your fight against high-tech saucers, grav-tanks, and elite alien warriors. The planet’s future depends on you!

But fear not — or not entirely. In your quest to protect Earth, you’ll meet various leaders, factions, and mysterious entities. You’ll even experiment with the unique “Splice-o-Tron,” whose many secrets will prove crucial in battle.

So don’t miss our Narrative series, introducing the different characters, factions, and key events you need to know to become an expert in the universe of Earth vs Mars. Learn more next time!

Earth vs Mars is a new RTS in development at Relic, but unlike the studio's big Company of Heroes and Dawn of War games, this one is a "smaller indie-style" game being made under its Relic Labs label, which aims to "explore new sub-genres, experiment, get our creative juices going, and release games more frequently."..
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Martians have been visiting Earth for decades, abducting animals and humans and harvesting their atomic essence to create bizarre Martian-creature hybrids. This time they’re here to claim our planet. 

In this turn-based strategy game, an unlikely group of commanders will lead Earth’s military as they face an overwhelming Martian invasion. Fight high-tech saucers, grav-tanks and elite alien warriors in a battle for the planet’s survival. 

Your secret weapon is the “Splice-O-Tron". With it, you can combine human "volunteers" with animals to create powerful hybrid super soldiers to fight alongside Earth’s regular military. 

Rain acid from the skies with the fast-moving cheetah-fly. Charge through enemy lines with devastating human-rhino hybrids. Or strike from the forests with your deadly squirrel-cow infantry.  

As the campaign progresses, you’ll unlock new types of creatures, powerful unit upgrades and game-changing commander abilities. But as your army evolves, so will your enemy’s, and you’ll face everything from the sentient organic weapon known only as “The Creep” to the Martian’s own mutant creations. 

[h3]Key Features [/h3]

More info on each of our key features will be released in the coming months, but for now, here is a short summary.

• Single Player Campaign – Earth vs Mars will feature an expansive narrative focused campaign composed of over 30 hand-crafted missions.
  
• Online 1vs1 Multiplayer – Battle against other commanders, either as the armies of Earth, or as the forces of the Martian Invaders. Lots more info to come!
  
• VS AI Mode – Battle against the AI on custom maps giving lots of replayability to single player fans
  
• Map Editor – Fully featured Map Editor allows you to create custom maps and scenarios. Again, more info to come in time!
  
• Splice-o-Tron – Bringing some old-school Relic flavor to this genre, the Splice-o-Tron will be a key mechanic in the game. Combining creatures with human “volunteers” will allow you to field an array of exciting and powerful hybrid units.
  
• Unit Abilities – Many of the Units in Earth vs Mars will have their own unique abilities, adding new strategies and gameplay depth to this style of game
  
• Commanders – There will be multiple commanders in the game, each with passive and active abilities that enhance the way you play
  
• Beautifully realized 3D world – We’re excited to bring 3D units, tile sets, and stunning effects to turn and tile-based players in Earth vs Mars
  

[h3]FAQ[/h3]

Q: When is Earth vs Mars coming out?

A: We are targeting a Summer 2025 release for Earth vs Mars.


Q: Will Earth vs Mars be coming to any other platforms?

A: For launch, we are focused on releasing Earth vs Mars on Steam (PC), however based on the game’s reception, we may consider other platforms in the future.


Q: How much will Earth vs Mars cost?

A: We don’t have a final price just yet, but we’re looking at other similar games in the genre to help inform that decision.


Q: What languages will Earth vs Mars support?

A: We’ll have more news on all the language options for Earth vs Mars closer to its release date.


Q: Will Earth vs Mars be Steam Deck compatible?

A: Earth vs Mars will not be Steam Deck compatible at launch, but it is top of mind for the development team.


Q: When will you share more information about the story, characters, units, Splice-O-Tron and more?

A: Over the coming months we will have lots more to share from the development team in blogs, videos, and livestreams. Join the official Relic Entertainment Discord server to stay up to date on the latest.


Q: This game and genre are very different from what Relic Entertainment has done in the past. Should I be worried?

A: No! Earth vs Mars is the first of our Relic Labs games, which allows us to have some fun, be experimental, and try new ideas with smaller games. We will still be working on big classic real-time-strategy games now and moving forward. You can read more about our new development strategy here and here.


Q: Will Earth vs Mars have any post-launch DLC or Expansions?

A: For launch, we are focused on the core Earth vs Mars game itself. If players love the experience, we would be eager to work on additional content for the game.