What does Obsidian Entertainment do when it is not working on high fantasy RPGs like Pillars of Eternity or goofy licensed games like South Park: The Stick of Truth? Well, it’s looking for footing in an entirely new market beyond its usual stomping ground, the free-to-play tank shooter genre to be exact. Armored Warfare is the company’s first attempt to go MMO.

It’s definitely a weird combination, nearly as baffling as Nintendo releasing Steel Diver: Sub Wars, but as the game enters a closed-beta, many are praising it for finely balancing itself between the borders of simulation and arcade action. It sounds more like the Ace Combat series than anything else.

Tanks range from World War II models all the way up to the modern tanks you can see on the battlefield today. “Some of the most incredible, modern destructive machines to grace a battlefield,” as the official website describes. Obsidian used the CryEngine to get the game up and running, and the announcement trailer looks like a blast. I don’t know if I want to take it seriously or not, but Obsidian just might have found a new calling in life.

“Armored Warfare gives players two deep levels of upgrading and progression through a huge array of both military vehicles and their own personal military base,” says Project Director Richard Taylor. “Each giving players a diverse and wide-ranging path of strategies.”

The twist is that Obsidian is well known for being a studio of complex systems, exceptional storytelling, and grand ideas that often outshine their execution. It remains to be seen if the bugs and janky gameplay the company is known to deliver will hold back what looks to be a pure gameplay experience.

Considering Armored Warfare is free-to-play, you can give it a try risk-free once it is finally released later this year. I’ve always been a fan of Obsidian despite how mixed its games turn out, so I’ll be there to give it a shot when the time comes.