As RUSE is being developed by a lesser-known developer for a publishing house not especially known for its real-time strategy games, it has not received a whole lot of attention from the mainstream gaming media. There's no figureheads or leaked videos surfacing around the internet, trying to get you to buy the game. It's almost refreshing how RUSE's gameplay is a sort of mystery. The developer has released a beta for RUSE over Steam to (relative) little fanfare, but for those looking for a little insight into this upcoming title, it's a treasure trove of information.

The most important part of the entire game, and the part that has been the focus of all the advertisements and hype, has been the RUSE system. As mentioned before, this system is quite similar to the strategic abilities system of other strategy titles. This is neat, but at the same time disappointing. Advertisements pinned RUSE as a strategy title with a large helping of intel gathering and deception. While the RUSE system is an alright way to cover this, we can't help but feel like it'll be a letdown in the final release. Intel in strategy games tends to follow the formual of knowing nothing, knowing the position, then knowing the unit type. While this allows you to trick opponents and make decisions without knowing all the specifics, it also makes it impossible to receive bad intel. You never end up with bad information about a unit once you scout it. RUSE seems to be following this to the letter, and while it's a system that definitely deserves wider usage, it could still be improved.

One part of the game that we are curious about is the balancing. The beta has shown that the developers plan on including a lot of different factions, with each having strengths and weaknesses in their overall unit composition. As Act of War was a well-balanced game, Eugen has a good track record regarding unit and faction balance. Here's hoping they can maintain it. After all, there is a sort of event horizon is regards to different units and faction where it becomes virtually impossible to do any sort of meaningful balancing. The expansions to Dawn of War proved that lesson quite thoroughly and unfortunately.

Finally, there's the issue of depth. RUSE is on a dangerous line for strategy games. On one side are the more casual titles reviled by most hardcore strategy fans. On the other side are the deep, complicated titles full of crazy balancing and even crazier standardized game mechanics. RUSE, at the moment, is straddling the line between the hardcore and casual, and it's concerning. If it is pulled off, RUSE will appeal to a much wider range of gamers than your standard RTS. However, the more likely result is that RUSE will lean towards the hardcore in order to maintain the purity of its vision. There's nothing wrong with that from a design standpoint, but it could be crippling from a marketing standpoint.

RUSE is a fairly simple game that doesn't have a whole lot of attention being directed its way. It certainly isn't getting the hype that it should be, even if the premise of the RUSE system is a little dated. This is unfortunate, as it looks like an interesting merger of board game trickery and real-time strategy. RUSE is dropping in June, and the beta currently doesn't have a forecasted end date. If you want to experience the game for yourself, you can give the beta a go on Steam.