Atre's apocalyptic 4X strategy is coming to PC in June

Croatian developer Ironward is bringing Atre: Dominance Wars to Steam and GOG on June 8. The DRM-free release drops alongside the standard Steam version. The upcoming 4X strategy game blends city management, turn-based tactical combat, and world-shattering magic into a single campaign.

You play as an Elder, a sorcerer trying to ascend to godhood. The setting is not a single static planet. It is actually four different worlds (Men, Haad, Wud, and Erol) caught in a cataclysmic curse called The Merge. This event constantly threatens to destroy the playable area by tearing pieces of these worlds apart and smashing them together. You have to capture regions and bind them to your throne to keep the ground from disappearing under your armies.

Managing the apocalypse

The gameplay loop splits its time between grand strategy and tactical battles. You build settlements and forge artifacts on the main map.

When armies clash, the view shifts to a hex-based grid for turn-based combat.

The combat relies heavily on positioning and unit synergy. Your military forces are highly customizable. Players can mutate their army units based on specific research paths. You also command immortal Avatars that can be equipped with artifacts and unique abilities. These heroes lead your varied species against organized factions like The Last Order, a military cult following a dead empress, or hordes of creatures spilling out from the Void.

Magic dictates the flow of both the tactical and strategic layers. As your Elder gains power, you unlock global spells that can strike enemy shrines or alter the map directly.

You also have to survive dynamic environmental hazards. Massive dust and lightning storms will frequently sweep across the territories.

A high school dream realized

Ironward is based in Samobor, Croatia. The studio is best known for The Red Solstice series, a franchise of cooperative tactical survival games. Studio founder Hrvoje Horvatek originally started working on the concept for Atre in the early 2000s during his high school days. The initial team disbanded, but Horvatek eventually founded Ironward and returned to the idea decades later.

The studio took the game to Kickstarter late last year to fund a full story campaign. The project also received financial backing from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, an organization that helps fund local game development and film projects.

Following a series of public playtests earlier this year, Ironward has spent the last few months tweaking the mechanics. The community feedback highlighted a steep learning curve. After players criticized the empire management tutorial in the demo, the developers overhauled the onboarding process. They added a detailed codex to explain the game's more obscure systems, ensuring new players understand how to manage their cities before The Merge wipes them out.

The game supports solo play, online co-op, and PvP multiplayer. The developers built the diplomacy system with betrayal in mind. You can form temporary alliances with other players to survive The Merge. Once you unlock god-tier spells, you can immediately break that alliance and destroy their entire region of the map.