Gratuitous Space Battles

Gratuitous Space Battles is a video game developed by the UK-based company Positech Games. It was released on November 17, 2009. On one level the title is a space warfare simulation consisting of a number of engagements between two opposing fleets of ships. While sometimes assumed to be a real-time strategy (RTS) game based on screenshots, actual gameplay focuses on the setup prior to the battle, making it play more like a tower defense game.

A custom made game engine was produced for the 2D game. Gratuitous Space Battles generally received favourable reviews upon release. Most reviews praised the detailed graphics with some finding the gameplay a little confusing, at least initially.