The Maestros is an Arena RTS with potential but no players
Robo rumble
I really like what The Maestros is going for. It's a 3v3 MOBA/RTS hybrid where you attack neutral minions to turn them into an army of robots, then go attack a team that's doing the same thing. It entered early access last week, does something new in a way that's immediately fun but promisingly deep... and no one is playing it. Wanna help fix that?
You start each game by strolling up to some critters that are minding their own business, spend ten seconds whacking them into mini-robots, then march those mini-robots onto pads that turn them into bigger robots. Every type of robot has a special ability, which you'll use to either reach five kills first or knock over the enemy team's base, depending on the game mode.
I've only played the tutorials and a practice deathmatch against the AI, meaning that so far my tactics amount to trotting all of my robo-dudes onto the nearest pad, reading what their ability does and spamming it against the first proper enemy I come across. It's basic stuff, but I'm already enjoying the simple decisions I feel ready to consider: should I keep recruiting, or is it time to go hunting? Do I activate that ability that makes my entire army explode, or do I hold off?
That's fun enough, but I can see the game coming alive once I've taken a few more steps. There's one unit that arcs electricity between each robot of the same type, which could make for some devious traps between multiple players.
Ah. Yes. Multiple players. I've had the server browser open for the past hour, and it's remained disappointingly empty. It looks like you'll have to rope in some friends if you want a proper match, or you could try organising a game through the official Discord server.
Developers Systence Games estimate they'll spend a year in early access, during which they plan to add more abilities, another map and a multiplayer ranking system. I doubt they'll drum up enough of a playerbase to make that last addition worthwhile, but I'd love to be proven wrong.
The Maestros is available on Steam Early Access, with a 25% launch discount pricing it at £8/$10/€10. The discount ends on Wednesday October 10th.
Cheers, PC Gamer.