John Kooistra and his development studio Cat in a Box Games have just dropped the price of their excellent real-time strategy title Red Conquest! [Link] to free for a limited time. Red Conquest! ties the stories of Kooistra’s previous Blue Defense! [$1.99] and Blue Attack! [$1.99] titles together, and is one of the more full-featured RTS titles available on the App Store. We originally reviewed Red Conquest! last December when it was released, and while we thought it was easily one of the most robust RTS experiences we had seen, it was mired by a confusing tutorial and frustrating difficulty curve. Those who stuck with it and learned the intricacies of the game, however, were rewarded with a superb game.

Thankfully this past year has been kind to Red Conquest! in the way of substantial updates. Practically any problem we had with the original release has since been addressed, and then some. A new tutorial offered a much easier way for RTS newbies to grasp the controls and gameplay, and the difficulty was balanced more appropriately. Beyond these tweaks to the existing content, an entirely new faction, the green faction, was added in addition to the red and blue factions. Also, internet multiplayer with a chat functionality was added, and most recently the game was updated with Retina Display support.

Red Conquest! saw a 50% price drop during this past Summer, but it has never been available for free. It goes without question that everyone should download and give the game a try during this promotion. If you aren’t really an RTS expert and find yourself having trouble grasping onto the play mechanics, a very dedicated group of players in our forums have put together some excellent resources for you: a visual diagram of all the unit types, an in-depth tutorial on all aspects of the game interface, a level walkthrough video from John Kooistra himself, and an additional thread where players can swap strategies or ask for assistance.