Silica

Silica is a science-fiction battle game set on the desert planet Baltarus, where human factions and aliens fight for control. Players can take the overhead commander role or join the battle on the ground as a combat unit.

As commander, you build structures, gather resources, produce forces, and direct units across the battlefield. As a soldier, you fight in first person, and can take control of vehicles as well as infantry.

Battles combine ground and air forces across large maps. The game supports multiplayer and skirmishes against AI, with faction choices that include two human sides and an alien side.

Players who enjoy Silica often point to its unusual blend of overhead strategy and first-person combat, especially the ability to command an army while other players fight as individual units. Reviews also praise the visual scale and spectacle of battles, and say coordinating with friends can make matches especially engaging. Criticism frequently focuses on units—particularly resource-gathering harvesters—getting stuck or navigating poorly; players also report weak AI, performance problems, and difficulty finding populated online matches.