Gaming can be a copycat industry. When a studio stumbles onto a winning formula, everyone makes their own version of it, hoping to get a piece of the pie. Nothing proves this more than the success of “Dota 2” and “League of Legends,” which spawned a parade of games in the same vein.

Trion Worlds could have gone that same direction with their latest title, but the Redwood City-based studio opted for another route. With “Atlas Reactor,” the developers took inspiriation from the latest remake of “XCOM” to make something new. They took gameplay concepts from that project and sped it up, incorporating elements from multiplayer online battle arenas.

“We wanted to make a PVP tactics game, but the wait time was relatively long between decisions,” executive producer Pete Ju said. “We tried to work out ways to speed that up. We decided upon simultaneous turns.”

The result is an intriguing blend that gives players the best of both worlds. It’s a strategy game with chess-like elements but faster-paced and dynamic. The key to “Atlas Reactor” lies in how the team executes each attack. Teams of four start off on opposite sides of the map, and they must eliminate their opponents by outmaneuvering each other.

That’s done in two phases. In the first phase, players on both sides plan out their attacks simultaneously. Some may move toward cover. Others might rush in to attack. Whatever the case, they must plan out their actions within the allotted 20 seconds. The next phase is the action, where players see how their teammates and rivals execute their moves and see the effects of their decisions. In a way, this constant huddle and action mechanic is reminiscent of football.

The only difference is that there’s an order to the actions that unfold like clockwork. They are done in the following order:

Green: These moves always go first and generally focus on buffs, debuffs and traps.

Yellow: These moves go second and are usually movement based such as dashes.

Red: These moves go last and are attacks.

Because these moves always go in that order, there are moments when players can attack someone who should be dead, but they end up staying alive because of a move that activates later during the action phase. In addition, all moves are carried out regardless of health. The other matter of note is that players can only do one of these moves per turn. Players can choose to do move twice aka sprint to a spot or they can consume their turn by moving and using one of their abilities, which have a cooldown.

With the quick 20-second huddle between attacks, matches usually last 20 minutes or so. The games never drag on.

Because of this, “Atlas Reactor” is rife with mind games as players try to anticipate what their opponents will do. If someone is low on health, they can target one of the power-ups on the map. A smart opponent would find a way to beat them to that item and deny them a chance to recover. When two people that are equal distances go for a power-up, there’s a clash and the two characters bounce off each other denying the other of a power-up. In other areas, there are hiding spots similar to brush in “League of Legends.” When players want to launch an ambush or try to escape, they can jump in these areas.



When it comes to the metagame, players can choose from 21 Freelancers. These are heroes with different powers and abilities. They are each suited toward a different role on a team. They are:

Firepower — These are the damage dealers that are supposed to lay waste to foes. They also in general have low health.

Frontline — These are tanks that absorb punishment. They often specialize in melee attacks and need to chase down enemies.

Support — These characters heal and disrupt the battlefield with buffs and debuffs.

Of course, these classes are merely generalized categories for each character. Some heroes are hybrids that fall into both Firepower and Frontline or Support and Firepower. But for the sake of newcomers, Trion Worlds divides them up into three divisions to make them understandable.

It’s another layer of strategy that makes “Atlas Reactor” one of the more compelling online games. Players can check it out for free right now. They’ll bel able to play a limited number of rotated Freelancers. Players can pay money and unlock all the Freelancers or get skins and other perks. The game launches today on PC.