Brigador brings up a lot of associations for me: Desert Strike's isometric vehicle combat, C&C Tiberian Sun's walking mechs, the future visions of 80s and 90s anime like Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01. The Desert Strike comparison isn't quite fair, though. Brigador's customizable tanks and mechs are much more complex vehicles. Piloting with the tank controls is tough enough at first—I started to get the hang of it after a few minutes, I think—but the weapons also require a lot of thought. Some guns fire in arcs while others fire straight ahead in a shallow dive toward the ground. And your backside is more vulnerable than your front, everything is destructible, and everything wants to kill you (except for the civilians I accidentally killed a bunch of). It's fast and tough.

In the video above, I chat with Stellar Jockeys founder Hugh Monahan about Brigador's inspirations, its custom-built engine, and the upcoming Steam Early Access release on October 20.