War, the Game announced by former Rockstar North member, out May 12 - trailer

War, the Game is a new real-time strategy title from former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij, and it's launching on Desura from May 12. It harks back to the classic days of the RTS genre, flying in the face of strategy games that Vermei feels have become too bogged down in story.

In an email sent to VG247, Vermeij confirmed that he left Rockstar North five years ago to begin work on his own projects and as of May 12 War, the Game will be available for purchase on Desura. You can pre-order it now for £2.99.

Over on the game's site, Vermeij wrote, Back in the day I used to be obsessed with strategy games and spend weeks on the likes of Dune II, C&C, Warcraft, the Settlers and Populous. In the last 2 decades real time strategy games became more sophisticated with more unit types, more units on screen, more story, more scripting, more graphics and more features.

"In all this the core game mechanics have been watered down and the time required to learn a game increased. At this point I hardly ever bother with new strategy games as they are too complicated. War, the Game aims to bring back the thrill of beating the AI by using ones' brain.

"All units are visible during the game. There is no scripting magically generating an enemy wave you're not expecting. If you fail in a particular level you only have yourself to blame. If you succeed it is because of your wits, nothing else."

It'll deliver basic mechanics across seven unit types - infantry, armor, fighter squadrons, bombers, transport fleets, aircraft carriers and warships - each with the same attack strength in the name of balancing. As such, the winner will be determined by whoever is smartest in the field.

We'll have more on War, the Game at launch. Stay tuned.