Ares: The Iron Vanguard Brings Com2uS' Suit-Swapping Sci-Fi Combat to Mobile

Ares: The Iron Vanguard is among this week's notable new iOS and Android releases, giving Com2uS a markedly harder-edged action RPG alongside the publisher's better-known fantasy catalogue. The game revolves around free-flowing combat and the ability to switch between two powered suits during battle, letting players chain attacks and adapt their weapon and class combinations without politely waiting for the fight to stop.

A deployable mech adds another layer of spectacle, while multiplayer co-op gives the combat systems somewhere to stretch beyond solo encounters. The visual direction is a deliberate departure from the colourful fantasy aesthetic associated with properties such as Summoners War, leaning instead into polished science fiction, armoured combatants and the universal videogame truth that everything improves when a giant robot can be summoned from orbit.

Mobile action RPGs have become technically ambitious enough that visual spectacle is no longer unusual; the harder problem is building controls and combat that remain satisfying on glass. Suit switching is therefore more interesting than the screenshots: if Com2uS can make the mechanic feel fluid on touchscreens, Ares has a stronger identity than simply being another handsome mobile RPG. Phones already do banking, photography and navigation.

Apparently they are now also responsible for storing emergency combat mechs.