One of the most exciting video game sequels at PAX East 2026 is Tiny Metal 2. The third title in the turn-based tactical war franchise – following 2017’s Tiny Metal and 2019’s Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble – operates with a nearly identical gameplay flow in which you build units, march them across a grid map, conquer cities, and pit adorable cartoony soldiers against enemy armies. It comes at a perfect time for fans of this game genre.
For the Advanced Wars freaks
The original Tiny Metal was a resounding success on the merit of its shameless love-lettering to its most obvious inspiration: Advanced Wars. So much that when sitting down to play this newest iteration, the introduction includes asking about our experience with that series. Like this franchise’s closest peer, Wargroove (which came out a few years after the original Tiny Metal), the success of these games satisfy an audience that had been starved for quality content after Advanced Wars went radio silent in 2003. Both franchises take the familiar and beloved system and updating its with modern conveniences, snappier graphics and more varied unit types.
Whereas the Wargroove franchise succeeds by implementing the Advanced Wars mechanical formula almost exactly to the letter and moving its setting from a realistic world to a fantasy setting, the Tiny Metal series is almost aesthetically identical to its forebear in every way. However, there are a few mechanical differences that make Tiny Metal shine on its own. In particular: the lock-on mechanic, in which two allied units can work together to unleash a devastating power attack.
Tiny Metal 2 introduces full co-op play
Tiny Metal 2 introduces a fully formed co-op mode. While multiplayer does appear in other tactical war games, it is rarer than to see couch co-op in this genre, and the design of Tiny Metal 2 focuses specifically on including it in each of its gameplay modes. Having to coordinate with a teammate inherently changes approaches to battles, something glaring obvious when the hands-on demo divides the control of the land and naval forces between us, and our lack of coordination between the two unit types resulted in a swift defeat that we could avoid if we could be more cooperative.
Sometimes a winning formula doesn’t need an overhaul for success, and Tiny Metal 2 developer Area 35 is finding even more gold by both sticking to what works and expanding its framework without any compromises. Fans of tactical games can’t do much better than the Tiny Metal franchise, and this newest entry promises drive that point even further home.
Tiny Metal 2 is planned for a release in 2026 on Steam.
Featured images via AREA 35, Inc.
