Warcraft 3’s modding community continues to be a fertile ground for full-fledged game development. The Battleships mod, which offers a unique twist on the traditional DOTA formula, has evolved into Sirocco, a game that launched into early access on Steam last Friday. Instead of conventional RPG-style heroes, players navigate upgradable warships through watery mazes. The key innovation is that weapons fire automatically, allowing players to focus on ship steering and cooldown management while harassment and creep farming occur naturally.
Streamlined Combat with Automatic Weapons
Sirocco presents itself as a MOBA where players can abandon traditional roles, hard counters, and last-hitting mechanics. Despite some performance issues during testing, the game’s focus on chaotic team battles and bullet barrages provides immediate enjoyment.
The automatic firing system makes positioning even more crucial than in traditional MOBAs; long-range cannons begin dealing damage the moment opponents enter their range, while short-range weapons typically compensate for their inherent risk with explosive effects. The Death Bomb, for example, delivers increasingly devastating damage as your health decreases.
Diverse Weaponry and Customisation Options
The game features a wide array of weapons that extend beyond simple damage dealing. The Over Clocker accelerates your cooldowns with each shot, while the Trench Maker deploys a hook familiar to MOBA veterans who have faced similar mechanics. Combined with dozens of ships and captains, each bringing unique active abilities and passive modifiers respectively, Sirocco offers extensive loadout variety for a newly launched MOBA.
While not the first MOBA to eliminate traditional mechanics like last-hitting in favour of immediate team fights, Sirocco maintains a more familiar structure than games such as Battlerite and Supervive, which completely abandon the lane setup. It evokes the early days of DOTA before precise balancing: tower-pushing, gank-focused chaos with flexible roles and unconventional team compositions. The game’s modding heritage is clearly evident.
Although Sirocco promotes “creativity as meta,” competitive players will likely develop tier lists regardless. Nevertheless, it’s refreshing to be caught up in the excitement during these initial days.
For those who appreciate seeing player-created modifications mature into standalone games, Sirocco offers an engaging experience regardless of familiarity with the original Battleships mod.
Sirocco is available as a free download on Steam.