Hi buckybit - just saw this. Thanks for the callout and the Rise & Fall shots. That game was a blast to work on with the Stainless Steel Studios team and was really ahead of its time in some of its features. I loved that you could build walls and then get down in 3rd person and snipe from them. Sailing across the sea rushing around on the deck of your bobbing trireme, firing flaming arrows, grappling, and ramming other triremes, only then then to beach your ship into the enemy shores and beach assault shoulder to shoulder with your legions (and elephants!) was unprecedented and so fun. When Brad Muir first pitched Brazen I was excited at seeing another "sword and sandals" type game that reminded me all the historical ones I had worked on before. It's great to see that setting kept alive in the Total War series and even the upcoming Ryse game.

I remember playing R&F when it first came out, but I didn't play it for too long. I remember it feeling very much like a lower mid-tier game of the era. Not quite a full RTS and definitly not the best TPS (Third-Person-Stabber?). The idea of running around on the ground with your soldiers was interesting in concept but I feel that it comes off, in most games that attempt it, as a bit of a gimmick. Even in the newest game to try (divinity dragon commander) they don't get it 100% right.

All that said I do have some big nostagia for the early 2000's grungy, muddy textures and awkward animations :) and the stuff they were trying back then was awesome and crazy, even if some of it didn't hit the target. Good find though, I had completly forgotten about this game. It came out around the same time as that other weird RTS that had a similar title. It was kind of steam-punkish. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of it.