Earth vs. Mars is the first game released by Relic Entertainment under their Relic Labs label. Unlike Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and Age of Empires, it is a 'small' turn-based tactical game reminiscent of Advance Wars.
Since separating from Sega, Relic Entertainment has released the well-received Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition. The game was so well received by players that Relic Entertainment subsequently extended the period during which they planned to release updates for it. However, they also announced their intention to launch smaller strategy games under the Relic Labs label. The first of these, which was developed in-house, is titled Earth vs. Mars.
During the announcement, Game Director Philip Harris explained the decision as follows: "We are excited for players to get their hands on our first Relic Labs title Earth vs Mars. While we're continuing to develop the large-scale strategy titles Relic is known for, we wanted to create an opportunity for Relic to try out different ideas in the strategy genre with a smaller scope and share them with players, and Relic Labs allows us to do that. We hope that both longtime Relic fans and new players enjoy Relic's twist on classic turn-based strategy games."
Earth vs. Mars; © Relic Entertainment
Earth vs. Mars is a turn-based strategy game inspired by classic titles such as Advance Wars and, to a lesser extent, Impossible Creatures, developed by Relic Entertainment. Players take on the role of commanders leading Earth's military against a retro sci-fi Martian invasion, fighting high-tech saucers, grav-tanks and elite alien warriors. Their "secret weapon" is the "Splice-O-Tron", which can combine human "volunteers" with the DNA of up to three creatures to create supersoldiers to fight alongside the regular military. There are ten creature DNA types, each with their own bonus. Each creature type has its own special ability and passive boost, providing tactical options such as stun (bear), charge (rhino), swap positions (gecko), defence buff (cockroach), and ranged attack (squirrel). However, Relic misses the opportunity to include some more powerful options here. As the campaign progresses, players unlock new types of creature, unit upgrades, and commander abilities. Many units have unique abilities, and there are eight playable commanders in the campaign, each with passive and active abilities.
Earth vs. Mars; © Relic Entertainment
The game features a narrative-focused, fully voiced campaign composed of 34 (hand-crafted) missions with multiple mission types, including HQ capture, holdout and city capture, as well as the classic conquest objective. However, Relic plays it safe with the mission design, offering few highlights in the otherwise Advance Wars-esque battles, in which players capture cities to collect income, build ground units on industry tiles and air units on airport tiles, and engage in combat using the familiar rock-paper-scissors principle. The battle scenes lack a certain intensity, though. The campaign hub provides access to 27 campaign upgrades, which can be purchased using Marsonium currency. There is also the Splice-O-Tron and additional conversations that add detail to the story. Multiplayer is also available online (1v1), either as the armies of Earth or as the forces of the Martian invaders — and this is where things get a bit more interesting, because the factions are asymmetrical. In VS mode, players battle against the AI on custom maps, and there is also a map editor.
Earth vs. Mars was released for PC on 29 October 2025, priced at €13.99.
This small side project from Relic Entertainment is being sold as a budget title. It offers classic Advance Wars battles based on a familiar formula, set in an appealing scenario.
