Arcen Games has announced that AI War 2 will be available through Steam Early Access on October 18th.

AI War 2 was successfully Kickstarted in December 2016 by 2, 545 backers to the tune of $97, 205. It’s the sequel to Arcen’s critically acclaimed cult hit from 2009, which remains the company’s most popular and financially successful title, with over 2 million units sold since release.

The game is expected to remain in Early Access until Q2 2019. Much like the original, AI War 2 is a mix of grand strategy and RTS where humanity has lost the war against the machines. You can find a new trailer above.

You control a tiny, insignificant band of human survivors that must wage a secret guerilla campaign against the AI’s vast, technologically superior legion of ruthless war machines. Steal enemy technology and launch surgical strikes against the AI’s commanders without letting the main AI become aware of your presence.

AI War 2 will be available on Windows PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam and the Humble Store for $19.99 when it launches on the 18th.

Here’s a rundown of the game:

AI War 2 is a grand strategy/RTS hybrid against an overwhelming, inhuman enemy who has conquered the galaxy. The enemy has made only a single error: underestimating you. You must steal as much technology as you can, take enough territory to fortify your bases and launch your attacks. But every conquest you make turns the attention of the AI ever more in your direction… so choose your targets with care.

It’s also “a sequel to [Arcen’s] enormo-space RTS AI War, which we called ‘one of this year’s finest strategy games’ back in 2009” (Tom Sykes, PC Gamer)

Key Features:

• We still have a lot we want to add, and even more we want to polish, but the current version of AI War 2 is already vast:
• Many optional factions, each with their own goals and strategy, create a living galaxy.
• Polished gameplay mechanics, representing everything learned from first game’s six expansions.
• Redesigned UI, currently going through iterations.
• Over 1700 lines of spoken dialogue from more than 25 actors, and more to come from the AI itself.
• 1.5 hours of new music added to the 4.5 hour included score from the original name.
• A ton of map types, and with a lot of sub-options to make them even more varied.
• Crazy moddability, with many levers available in easily-accessible XML.
• Multiplayer is temporarily disabled, but still being implemented.
• Multithreading for modern performance, and a codebase that will not summon an elder god.