A story dressed up in bright colors and cute character designs can still be carrying something heavier underneath, and the mismatch between the two is sometimes exactly the point. Alter Matsuyukishiro learns that firsthand, a privilege-born girl and lieutenant in the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Japon, tasked by her cousin the Queen with rooting out a traitor within their own ranks while also staving off a mounting Imperial offensive. All the while, she has to work out her own complicated connection to Elle, a Human Tank she befriended as a child who has now mysteriously returned. War of the Human Tanks – ALTeR builds its entire story around that tangle of duty and personal history, the second entry in a trilogy that started with the original War of the Human Tanks in December 2008 in Japan, told this time from the opposing side’s perspective. Developed by Yakiniku Banzai and localized and published in English by Fruitbat Factory, the game released on Steam February 13, 2015, costs $12.99, with the prequel available separately for $9.99 and a Complete Collection bundle covering all three games in the trilogy alongside their soundtracks and a remix album for anyone who wants the whole series in one purchase.
Set in an alternate history, transhumanist world, the Kingdom of Japon and the Empire of Japon remain locked in war, further complicated by a third power called the Daihon’ei Army, formerly the Empire’s own strongest military unit, joining the wider conflict on its own terms. A recurring cast beyond just Alter and Elle fills out that conflict, Miou, Megumi Yamana, Ruru, Kurara Iikura, Heshiko, Liselotte Satou, and Sengoku Hongou among the names who turn up across the story, alongside Shoutaro, a listless, sarcastic figure carrying his own human tank implants. Elle herself reads as half human rather than a purely manufactured weapon, a distinction the art quietly reinforces by giving her eyes only half the telltale swirl pattern every other Human Tank carries.
Half the game plays out as a visual novel featuring an adorable, chatty chibi cast, with an optional dialogue skip available for anyone who wants it, though skipping means missing a surprisingly emotional exploration of what war actually costs everyone involved. The other half shifts into fast-paced real-time and turn-based combat on a hex grid covered by fog of war, demanding careful exploration to root out and eliminate enemy forces before they close in, continuing a hybrid approach the original 2008 game established and the eventual third entry, Limited Operations, would go on to close the trilogy out with in 2016.
Human Tanks, the game’s humanoid weapons, explode the instant they’re hit even once, and despite that fragility, they remain highly respectful toward their commanding officers throughout every mission. Players can field both Royal and Imperial Human Tanks across roles including Command, Shock, Assault, Artillery, Scout, Interceptor, and Knight, simply assembling more whenever units are lost along the way. The naming conventions behind those units turn out to be a small, consistent joke running through the whole roster, Royal Command Tanks named after footwear and clothing brands, Royal Assault Tanks named for famous movie and television dogs, Imperial Assault Tanks pulled from train model names, Imperial Artillery Tanks named after flowers, Imperial Snipers named after assassins, including one called Tougou after the protagonist of the long-running manga Golgo 13, Imperial Shock Tanks named for common Japanese dog names, and Imperial Samurai Tanks named after historical Japanese battlefields, right down to a special set of tanks that only appear on certain maps named entirely after cuts of yakiniku beef, a nod straight back to developer Yakiniku Banzai’s own name. Detritus, one of the two prototype tanks hiding in the Great Cavern of Fuji, carries a Japanese name built from a wordplay pun, swapping a single character in the word for junk with a homophone meaning elegance or grace, a small joke that the English localization’s choice of Detritus captures surprisingly well.
The campaign itself follows a linear set of missions rather than branching routes and runs roughly ten hours on its own, backed by a completely optional side dungeon called the Great Cavern of Fuji that stretches past fifty hours, built from three DLC packs, Blue, Black, and White, that Yakiniku Banzai originally created for the Japanese release and that Fruitbat Factory folded directly into the Steam version rather than selling separately. Across more than ninety extra stages the Cavern introduces several new characters and its own subplot revealing the true origin of the Human Tanks, running several times longer than the main story itself. Detritus and a second prototype tank, 08, can specifically be fought there for anyone determined enough to seek them out. A shared soundtrack release, Sound of the Human Tanks, covers music from both this game and its 2012 predecessor in one package for anyone who wants the score outside the game itself.
Importing a save file from a full completion of the original War of the Human Tanks unlocks a special bonus unit here, a nice touch for anyone who stuck with the series from the start.
What actually got to me was the tonal whiplash of watching an adorable, chatty cast slowly reveal genuine grief and loss underneath all that cuteness. What Alter’s story or her connection to Elle ultimately resolves stays out of scope here, but the contrast between the game’s cheerful presentation and its darker undercurrents gave the whole experience real emotional weight.
Verdict
War of the Human Tanks – ALTeR carries real emotional depth by letting its cute, chatty presentation sit right alongside genuine grief over the costs of war, giving Alter’s own connection to Elle real stakes beyond simple military duty. The Great Cavern of Fuji’s massive optional content, five times the length of the main campaign alone, shows real ambition for a side dungeon, even if the linear main campaign and simplified combat won’t satisfy hardcore strategy fans. It’s a charming, surprisingly affecting hybrid that rewards anyone willing to sit through its chattier stretches.
