Advance Wars fans have been waiting for a new title in the series for nearly a decade.

The last entry in the acclaimed catalog launched on the Nintendo DS in 2008 with Days of Ruin. Since then, Nintendo has failed to listen to the clamoring of Advance Wars fans pining for a new game.

With Nintendo failing to deliver,  Chucklefish has stepped in to provide its own game that is not only a labor of love to the series, but is challenging itself to be better than its source material in every way imaginable.

Becoming its own thing

While a lot of the core mechanics of the Advance Wars series are present in Wargroove, Chucklefish has added a host of new intriguing features to the game to shake up the formula.

While you can win a game by taking out the opposing team’s main structure, you can also win a match by destroying the foes commander unit, a powerful unit that has its own offensive capabilities and special perks.

In a one-on-one battle between ourselves and a random event-goers, the situation seemed dire. Our base was overrun and we were down to our last few units. Thankfully, however, the opposing player left his commander wide open to attack, letting us skillfully take it down to steal the win.

Building on a classic

The developers of Wargroove made is clear to The OP at Birmingham’s Eurogamer expo over the weekend that while the game was created due to a fondness of the Advance Wars and Fire Emblem series, it wants to be so much more.

Every inch of the game has been crafted with love and care. The pixel art encapsulates classic gaming while the fantasy setting offers a wide array of different unit types to explore, such as witches, dragons, and even a feisty golem that is looking to crush all in its wake.

Every unit has a weakness, so managing unit types is essential to battle. If you only focus on one type of unit, your opponent can easily counter you for an easy win.

Still preparing

At the time of writing, Wargroove has been in development for a few years with no sign of a concrete release date. Its set to come out sometime in 2018, but as more months pass, the game is looking more likely to be delayed till next year.

There is a lot about the game that still needs to be shown off, which leaves us wondering about what other tricks the developers might have under their sleeves when it comes to the extensive campaign, map creator and editor, and other things we haven’t even discussed or scratched the surface on.

Until we finally know when it is coming out, however, we will be patiently awaiting our chance to join the  battlefield on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.