When it comes to the strategy genre, the Switch has some fair representation, but there’s obviously room for growth. In terms of the overall genre landscape, there’s no doubt that roguelike deckbuilders and things in that vein are the most common, but on a general level real-time strategy hardly has a leg to stand on when compared to the dominant turn-based options out there. While Grit and Valor - 1949 isn’t without some challenges, I’m at least happy to report that it succeeds in helping to make a case for the tension and challenge of real-time battle, helping to get the heart pumping a bit.

Set in an alternate world’s version of World War 2, one where people are able to power mechanized robots armed for battle, your challenge will be to manage a small but dynamic battlefield, keeping yourself and your team alive. At the core of your team is the Command Center unit, which acts as your base of operations and needs to manage to survive in order for you to complete your missions. You’ll then be supported by a variety of more combat-ready units, which you’ll continue to get more access to over the course of your campaign, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Progressing through a roguelike map, choosing your path full of challenges and potential rewards, you’ll need to try to find a balance between taking on tougher stages to get access to better equipment and loot with the simple need to survive. Throw in longer-term customization and improvements you’ll be able to make to your mechs and the skills of the pilots operating them, and there’s an ability for you to slowly turn the tide as you get more effective at combat and your units continue to become more capable.

While early on the missions will feel more accessible, even as you’re getting used to the flow of things, you’ll need to be ready for the challenges to start ramping up pretty quickly. Not only is the combat not turn-based, you’ll also find that your enemies will attack in waves that will hardly give you time to breathe. Given the fact that they’ll end up coming at you from different directions each time, you’ll need to scramble to get your units into position to simply deal with incoming threats at all, let alone be able to push back against them. This gets to be pretty complicated in a hurry, since the game does an excellent job of throwing important considerations and distractions in your way. Depending on the type of units you have attacking, you’ll want to match them up against your ideal units in a rock-paper-scissors sort of system, so it isn’t enough to simply throw your one strong unit into the fray, you’ll need to take care or they may get blown apart. In addition, you’ll have an interest in picking up airdrops made between waves since they contain perks that could be critical to your success. 

Trying to adapt to ever-changing conditions without any real break can absolutely wear you down, but it also makes for a great challenge for people who’ve been looking for something to sink their teeth into. This wouldn’t likely be a good match for less seasoned strategy players, though you could certainly choose to grit it out, grind to gain meta enhancements for your units and pilots, and continue to get better… but it would likely be a brutal education along the way. Still, given the lack of solid real-time choices in this general vein on the system, I found this to be a welcome addition to my Switch strategy library.