Soviet anime girls meet historical tanks in fun topdown tank shooter Multi Turret Academy
A topdown tank action game with roguelike elements and cute Soviet anime girls is not something you see every day. Multi Turret Academy seeks to fill that gap, featuring a plethora of customizable WWII tanks, fun pick-up-and-play action and light-hearted humor. The game is still in development and was released in Early Access on January 18 to positive reviews.
In Multi Turret Academy, you become a tank commander with an extensive range of WWII Axis and Allied tanks to choose from and customize. Each mission is quick and has a simple goal, but the varied objectives mean that you will have to adapt your strategy accordingly. Sometimes, it’s best to mount a full-on assault to secure a target, and other times its more advisable to stealthily hide your tank in the undergrowth or behind buildings in order to survive.
Multi Turret Academy is not a dour tank battle game. Guiding you between missions are your Soviet commanders, but in this universe, all your advisors are cute anime girls! Similar to Command and Conquer Red Alert (perhaps best remembered for Tim Curry struggling to say “Space”) in this regard, Multi Turret academy interprets Soviet Russia’s military in a totally unserious way. There’s even a catgirl character who purrs when you click on her. Oh, and the in-game currency is pineapples… as in fruits, not grenades!
The game gives you plenty of choices as to how you advance your army. Multi Turret Academy’s interface is very easy to understand and gives you the option of choosing one of three missions, with objectives clearly explained. At the end of each mission, you can select from one of three rewards- this could be a crew member who brings her own unique personality and abilities to your army, or new ammo or armor for your tank. If you don’t like either of the 3 choices, you can use the game’s pineapple currency (obtained from destroying enemy tanks) to re-roll. This gives the player freedom to customize their army of tanks how they please and choose missions to suit their strengths.
Multi Turret Academy uses keyboard and mouse controls with the WASD keys for movement, and the mouse keys and spacebar for different attacks. As someone who is more used to playing action games with a controller, this felt a bit awkward at first. However, the controls are responsive with a degree of heft which makes you feel like you are controlling a tank. AI tank allies were helpful for the most part, but sometimes they got in the way- so it would be nice if a system to give orders to allies was implemented in the future.
As the first ever game from indie developer Scarlet Academy, Multi Turret Academy has already garnered an impressive “Very Positive” rating on Steam, with 94% of the 132 reviews praising it. Most commenters mentioned what a fun and charming pick-up-and-play title it is and were impressed by the amount of effort put in by the developer.
The game should satisfy even the most diehard tank enthusiast. According to the developer, one of Multi Turret Academy’s main selling points is that it boasts 92 selectable historical vehicles including multi-turret tanks that rarely make an appearance in games. Scarlet Academy has already released an Early Access Roadmap for January to April 2024, detailing the improvements they plan to make to the game. As well as solving issues reported by players, they also plan to add more content, including new tanks, bosses and maps.
The topdown tank action game already has a global community of over 700 players according to the developer. It also racked up 170 concurrent players on Steam on the day of early access release. It may be up against free-to-play behemoths like World of Tanks and War Thunder, but its indie charm, fun gameplay and planned updates will hopefully attract even more players in the future.
Multi Turret Academy is currently available in Early Access on PC (Steam) with an introductory offer of 10% off until January 26. A free demo is also available.
