Matrix Games

Hello All! This is Alex, lead developer of the Panzer Corps series. Panzer Corps 2 released three weeks ago (time flies), and we can already draw some first conclusions.

On the whole, we are really happy with how the game has been received. Metascore reached 84 and all 13 critic reviews were positive, which is very rare for a niche wargame, and an improvement over the prequel. User reactions have also been positive overall, and many war-hardened veterans of this genre told us that Panzer Corps 2 was the best game which they ever played, and better than the predecessor in every way.

Although it is 2020 and we had to update the graphics to modern standards, it’s very satisfying to hear that the new game does not only stand out because of the graphics, but also because of advancements in gameplay. In particular, players feel that the new game is more deep and tactical, without losing its charm and simplicity; that all unit classes are now useful; that the game rewards varied army composition and combined arms approach like never before, and that the number of available options allows to adapt the game to any playing style and provides a lot of replayability.

However, we will readily admit that it’s not all perfect, and there are definitely issues and things to improve. Upon release, the game has some stability issues, performance issues and bugs, especially in Multiplayer. We apologise for these defects, consider them all a top priority, and are working on them right now.

⦁ We are getting all crash reports in real time and collect them all in a big database. In each patch we address at least some of the most common crashes, and then watch how the number of events drops, so stability of the game is quickly improving. If you are playing Panzer Corps 2 and get a crash, please do press “Send & Close” button to send a report to us, and ideally also add a short description of what you were doing when the problem occurred.
⦁ There are no simple methods to improve game performance, so we are already working on a deep refactoring of the engine to provide good performance on a wider spectrum of PCs, even not the most recent or top-of-the-line models. Preliminary results look promising.
⦁ As for Multiplayer, this is where most of the time of the whole team goes right now. We are not only fixing problems, like annoying desyncs in online games. There are also several major features in the pipeline, in particular tournaments, ranked games and more content, both competitive and co-op. Panzer Corps was primarily a single player game, but we want Panzer Corps 2 to shine in Multiplayer as well.

Although many players eagerly embraced Panzer Corps 2, some others remain unconvinced. I read everything posted in player reviews and on the forums, and so I’m aware of all concerns which people voice. For example: the map looks blurry, units are hard to recognize in 3d, some mechanics could use more balancing (e. g. heroes), there is not as much content as Panzer Corps had, random maps need more options, and so on. All these concerns are perfectly understandable and valid. We will always keep them in mind and will likely address most them as we develop the series further. Our goal is to make Panzer Corps 2 a game for everyone, a definitive experience for all fans of this genre.

From experience we know that such games have a long life span and get even better over time. Panzer Corps is a prime example here; it enjoyed a record-breaking 1000+ online players this February. Not bad for a 9 years old game! We are confident that the release of Panzer Corps 2 is also just the beginning of a long and exciting journey, which we will happily share with our vibrant player community.