Tiny Metal 2 is a game that doesn’t shy away from showing you its inspirations, and there’s something charming about that. This turn-based tactics game, developed and published by AREA 35, has clear similarities to Advance Wars and even Fire Emblem. The anime-style visuals, combat cutaway animations, grid-based warfare, and colorful commanders feel familiar in concept while bringing their own unique flair.
Truth be told, I didn’t know very much about Tiny Metal before playing the demo at PAX East last month, where I spoke to AREA 35’s head of Western PR, James Mielke. We talked about the wide variety of commanders, online/offline multiplayer, and more.
Since my trip to PAX East, I’ve learned that Tiny Metal 2 is technically the third entry in the series, as it’s coming seven years after the 2019 release of Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble. The devs explained that Full Metal Rumble was designed as an expansion of the original 2017 game, and it didn’t have enough new content for them to consider it a true sequel.
That’s where Tiny Metal 2 comes in, adding requested features and an updated visual style. The distinct character designs and overall vibrant aesthetics had me curious before I visited the AREA 35 booth. They also had a giant banner above the booth and a man with a mic inviting passersby to try the game, so I likely would’ve stopped by even without an appointment.
Land, Air, and Sea
Most of my conversation with Mielke happened during my demo period, and I didn’t finish the mission I was given before my time ran out. I probably wouldn’t have completed it even if we weren’t having a conversation because, admittedly, I play tactics games like these so slowly. I did, however, play just enough to understand the basic flow of gameplay. Choose a commander and play to their strengths to defeat an enemy commander or complete a specific objective.
“There are multiple [paths to] victory,” Mielke said. “Destroy every enemy unit on the map, capture the enemy’s headquarters, or meet the specific condition – like shoot [and] destroy this one ship on the map.”
I was given a mission that highlighted the brand-new naval units. My objective was to defeat a commander located on a ship in the water on the other side of the map. I started on land, making my way north through the map using infantry, trucks, boats, tanks, and helicopters. I built additional units to counter enemies and captured a factory to gain funds. Infantry units can capture factories, cities, and other bases to fund the creation of more units.
“[The UI] shows you what your movement range is,” Mielke explained. “It shows you what you’re strong against [and] what you’re weak against. So you’re weak against those [units] in red, you’re neutral against the ones [in] yellow, and you cannot hit the ones with the Xs.”
Tiny Metal 2 does a good job of providing all the information you need as you highlight your units or the opposition. A small graphic appears in the bottom-left corner of the screen to show the advantages and disadvantages of your individual units, and I referred to it often.
You won’t always be in an advantageous position in combat, though. And that’s where the new Focus Fire mechanic comes into play. I used it to take out a tank that I had surrounded, destroying the large threat with several weaker units.
“If you are up against a really strong enemy, like this tank, and you know it’ll take you five attacks in order to destroy it – and you might die in the process – you can actually surround it with other units and do a focus fire attack,” said Mielke, pointing at the screen. “All units will combine, and you’ll have a much more powerful attack.”
I didn’t experience much of the naval combat, but I did destroy a few ships on my way to the commander’s vessel on the north side of the map. Of course, the demo timer ended just before I could reach my objective.
During our chat, Mielke brought up how important the multiplayer options are in Tiny Metal 2. You’re able to play with up to eight players in PvP or co-op, both online and offline, which feels like a huge number for a game like this.
“I have kids, so one of the worst things is to have a game that you can’t play together, because there’s no offline co-op,” Mielke said. “You both have to have Switches, and you both have to have a Nintendo Online account. You both have to have separate copies of the game in order to meet online, even though you’re sitting right next to each other. So anyway, that’s what we do – online, offline, one to eight players.”
Mielke mentioned that Tiny Metal 2 is popular with families because of the art style and couch co-op. “We were at Paris Games Week, and there were so many families showing up,” he said. The fact that multiple people can choose the same commander in multiplayer might also help avoid arguments when several people want to play at once.
Commanding Attention
There are 15+ commanders to choose from in Tiny Metal 2, each with a unique look and geographical inspiration based on their background. They each specialize in a different approach when it comes to combat. Returning commander Wolfram is a sniper whose units usually start on land at a higher elevation. And newcomer Nora is a mechanic and inventor who has higher technical stats.
These specialties and backgrounds are evident in some of the character designs, which I appreciate. Nora, being a mechanic, has two large screws as earrings and a stylized jumpsuit, for example.
“One of our lead character designers is Kozaki-san,” Mielke said. “He’s one of the [main] character designers for Fire Emblem games. So that’s where that pedigree comes in.”
Yusuke Kozaki is the main character designer for Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates. He worked on others as well, including Fire Emblem Heroes.
“[The cutscenes] are very beautifully animated,” said Mielke, continuing our discussion on the game’s visual style. “The animations are done by our Safehouse team. AREA 35 is the game development studio. Safehouse is our animation studio. They do a lot of support animation for all the big animated movies.”
“And we have a team called Whistler that does music production,” Mielke added. “So all the orchestrated theme songs and soundtrack songs.”
Safehouse has most recently worked on games like Final Fantasy XVI and Forspoken, while Whistler has done music production for Digimon Survive, Xenoblade Chronicles, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, and many more. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see many animated cutscenes or hear much of the music during my limited demo time on the loud showfloor. But it’s always nice to know who is contributing to a project and how, especially when you’re familiar with their other work.
I want to get more hands-on time with Tiny Metal 2 because it’s tough to get a comprehensive feel for a tactics-style game in 20 minutes or less. The storytelling and commander diversity were mentioned as being much improved from the previous entries in the series, which is clear, but I was only able to get a glimpse at those advancements.
I’m looking forward to seeing the full list of commanders, along with their individual styles and personalities. That’s one of my favorite parts of games with rosters like these, but for now, I’ll need to wait until Tiny Metal 2 launches in Q1 2027.
If you’re interested in trying the game for yourself, you can request access to the playtest on Steam.
