A new eSports title from Bandai Namco Games has been revealed.

There’s a new kid in the competitive gaming scene. Announcing Bandai Namco Games’ free-to-play title Supernova, an RTS MOBA hybrid set in a sci-fi battle between humans and cyborgs.

What does RTS MOBA mean? Well, you get the classic MOBA basics: two 5-man teams fight their way down a 3-lane map toward the enemy base while your Commander levels up throughout each match. There’s no gold to collect, which is why last-hitting isn’t as vital as in other games (and to that end, there’s no in-game shop). During the game, you collect XP which is used to upgrade Attributes and Masteries for your Commander. The Attributes and Masteries systems are fairly robust: Attributes bring things such as Damage, Toughness and Attack Speed to the table, while Masteries allow you to get more specialized in your chosen Attributes.

In your standard brawler, characters are given four abilities that are leveled throughout the game. Here’s where the RTS twist to all of this comes in. In addition to the Commander-specific abilities, you’re also offered Alliance Abilities. You choose four additional abilities under six categories ranging from Combat to Reconnaissance, and these are skills that every single player is able to pick from.

While accumulating experience through farming and skirmishes during the game, Resources are collected instead of gold. These go toward developing tech and units for your in-game army. Which means, if you really wanted to, you could have wave after wave of endless Rhino units. But perhaps that’s not the best strategy. You’re able to buy and sell your army units if they’re not working out for you, and then re-allocated resources to building a bunch of Walking Droids. There’s also global tech for your army units, which grant certain bonuses. You can also chose to paint your entire army a rage-inducing pink, which I did. Of course.

At the end of the match you’re given Materials which are used in crafting Accessories for your Commander to equip. These are items you craft yourself based on which bonuses you need for your upcoming match. You’re able to equip 12 items on your Commander, though we weren’t given much detail on what you’re able to craft yet.

You’re able to toggle the auto-army and auto-upgrade Commander attributes so you can brawler it up and stay focused on the action, or you can chose to have deep levels of control if you can’t get enough of that RTS. 

It’s an interesting mix of real-time strategy and massive online battle arena. How do you think Supernova will rank among its eSports brethren? Want to find out for yourself? Sign up now for the alpha at supernovagame.com.

 Lindsay “amoril” Geektron, Brand Ambassador