红色史诗

The Long March

红军不怕远征难，万水千山只等闲。

五岭逶迤腾细浪，乌蒙磅礴走泥丸。

金沙水拍云崖暖，大渡桥横铁索寒。

更喜岷山千里雪，三军过后尽开颜。

                         — Chairman Mao

About the Game

Epic Campaigns: From Breaking the Encirclement to the Final Reunion

Based on real historical events, Red Epic brings players into a vast and perilous expedition across China.

You will lead the Red Army from Ruijin, Jiangxi, beginning with the breakthrough of the first blockade line. Along the way, you will experience the brutal struggle of the Xiangjiang Campaign, the tactical brilliance along the Chishui River, the desperate race across the Dadu River, and finally the crossing of the Minshan Mountains, where the Red Army reaches the historic moment of victory and reunion.

Gameplay Features

Reconstructed Historical Maps

The battle maps are generated in Unreal Engine using elevation and geographic data, aiming to recreate key Long March battlefields as faithfully as possible based on real terrain.

Grant Unique Unit Titles

The game currently features five unit types. Each unit type has its own attributes and growth tree, and can later be granted unique titles that unlock special abilities.

Buildings also have different upgrade paths. You may train a squad into an elite assault force, or develop a rear base into a hardened defensive stronghold.

Choose Tactical Doctrines

The game offers around ten core tactical doctrines. These doctrines can be learned and developed through campaign progress, and each one significantly changes your strategic options and overall playstyle.

Ignite the National Spirit

Red Epic features an original “National Spirit” system, serving as the main progression line throughout the campaign.

Heroes who fall in battle are not forgotten. Their sacrifice becomes part of a greater cause, strengthening the spirit that carries the Red Army forward. The strength of the Red Army does not come from superior weapons, but from the will and sacrifice of countless revolutionary predecessors.

Gameplay Type

During development, I often asked myself: what kind of game structure could best represent the Long March?

The battles of the Long March were complex, and no single simple genre could fully capture them. In the end, this game adopted a hybrid structure of tower defense and light real-time strategy. This was not done to stack systems together, but to reflect the nature of the campaign itself.

Tower Defense at the Core: The Resolve of Defensive Warfare

During the Long March, the Red Army often faced pursuit and encirclement by superior enemy forces. Many battles became desperate defensive actions, such as the Yanshou blocking action and the Xiangjiang Campaign.

The tower defense structure is well suited to this kind of battlefield: holding the line with limited forces, building a defensive position, and resisting wave after wave of enemy attacks. You must plan your defense carefully and protect the line between survival and collapse.

Light RTS Elements: Assaults, Maneuvers, and Unexpected Encounters

The Long March was not only about defense.

The capture of Luding Bridge was an assault operation, while the Four Crossings of the Chishui River relied on maneuver, deception, and rapid movement. In these stages, the game does not remain limited to tower defense. You will need to take the initiative, move troops, encircle enemies, and launch attacks at the right moment.

Form Serves History

In Red Epic, the form of each battle determines the gameplay mode, rather than forcing every battle into the same formula.

Every system is designed around one goal: to let players feel the character of each battle along the Long March.

Final Words

Many of us first learned about the spirit of the Long March in textbooks. At that age, it may have been difficult to truly understand what it meant. Only later did I come to more deeply recognize the greatness of those who came before us.

I would like to give special thanks to the Bilibili creator “War on the Sand Table”. His video series inspired me to begin making this game.

I hope that every player who experiences Red Epic can find not only the enjoyment of strategy, but also a sense of the Long March spirit that came through snow mountains and grasslands.

May this national memory never fade.

This work is dedicated to the revolutionary predecessors who opened the road of the Long March with their blood and lives.