The sequel leans a little more on the fantastical side of things. Certain special spells require precision timing to place a wobbling reticle on the target you want splattered, or just mashing the mouse button for extra combo attacks. While generally focused on the strategic, there's a few light action elements to the game, too. There's a bit more to it than that, including multi-lane maps, but it's mostly a lightweight take on a normally demanding genre. As with the original Swords & Soldiers, it's mostly a game of tug-of-war, trying to get the right combination of units lined up to exploit the weaknesses of whatever troops are leading your enemies formation. Our version of the game has more info in the UI and a massive bar of hot-keyed options, which should help in keeping your troops reinforced while you focus on the front lines. Swords And Soldiers 2 looks like it's handled the hop back to PC gracefully.

It's out today on PC after a long absence, and developed by Ronimo Games, better known on PC now for the still-popular platform MOBA Awesomenauts.

Its meat-hungry armies of Vikings and Demons also make me wish that I had a decent barbecue setup to hand, but that's neither here nor there. Silly side-scrolling RTS Swords And Soldiers 2: Shawarmageddon might be a few years overdue (it launched on Wii U back in May 2015), but it still knows how to raise a smile.

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