Terminal Conflict Reviews

The game greatly improved since the initial release. At the moment it is the best Cold War game available, it is way better than Twilight Struggle.

This is a thoughtful simulation of the Cold War. The logic and mechanics of the game take a bit of getting used to, which is due to the game's rather novel take on some things, but it seems to have a lot of depth and gives an engaging gaming experience that should appeal to strategy gamers. The developers are very enthusiastic, responsive, and active on Discord. My earlier criticism concerning lack of multiplayer saving capability (see my original review below) was resolved in less than two weeks of me making the complaint on Discord and here. The game has its quirks, and some features are not well documented, but I recommend it for anyone looking for an intelligent take on this subject. Previous review: If you are buying this game primarily to play multiplayer, as I did, then I can't currently recommend it since it is not possible to save a multiplayer game. It would take many hours to complete a full multiplayer game, especially if you are new to it, and you'd have to do it in one session. This is an unreasonable expectation, and really should be disclosed somewhere. When I raised this with the developers they said it is on their to do list. I'll happily revisit this review if it is ever implemented.

TLDR: Game is unfinished and resembles a started status, stay away. Game is unfinished. I liked the idea but the execution is not very good. There are spelling errors in the flavor text and the tutorial video the devs suggest to watch is outdated, the game has changed since then. I will keep trying to learn the game but that is only because I dropped money on it. At this moment the game is only a handful of tutorial scenarios which do not allow for free play, a verses mode with the AI and a 1v1 mode against people. No custom games with drawbacks or unit restrictions, no limiting the campaign to certain regions of the map.

Not intuitive. From the start already bugs/graphical glitches: Uses >5 GB of Ram and growing, until it crashes back to desktop. Later on random crashes. When it works, it does not feel 'fun' at all: - Unfinished, half-cooked at best. - Spelling errors and hard to understand concepts. - Usability is bad. - Misses not only proper testing but grand plan/structured design approach. All in all it showcases lack of developer experience (?). Not recommended & Refunded.

This could be a great game with some polish. It would benefit from a more detailed tutorial, as a lot of the mechanics are not explained that well and the objectives are sometimes a bit vague. Also, the game needs a better way to save and load games that are in progress. There aren't a lot of video games set in the Cold War so it's nice that somebody at least tried to make this, I think it just needs a bit more work.

In this Cold War strategy game, you assume command of either the USA or the USSR. You compete with the enemy by influencing regions, recruiting historical leaders to your cause, sometimes outright engaging the enemy forces in combat as well. Both factions have unique events, decisions and leaders. Literally every singleplayer playthrough can result in a different conclusion as the AI is dynamic and provides a challenge on its own, although its still no match for an experienced player. One thing to note though, the game is more focused on the political machinations of the Cold War, rather than military. Funding, spying, sometimes even assassinating your way to victory. Despite this, of course, military units still play a large part in the game. Being one of my favorite eras to study in history, the Cold War era is severely underappreciated in video games. Terminal Conflict is worth a play just for that reason, as it tries to accomplish something new in a niche market. Granted, there is still a lot of room for development. But the game is as playable as it gets in its current form. Devs are awesome, they are continually adding and unveiling new features. Those who are interested can check out the developer diaries. They are also very quick to respond to whatever questions you may have. In short, I absolutely recommend this game. It still has a lot of room for development, and for sure we will be seeing a lot more content get added into the game. If you like the idea of recruiting Castro and Che to wreak havoc in the Americas, while subverting the Middle East with pro-Soviet pan-Arabic policies, and not trying to fall too much behind the USA in the Space Race all the while, this game is for you.

The game is definitely unique and is one of the rare grand strategy games set in the Cold War era. The problem for me was that it is conceptually too silly, and uses a rock paper scissors warfare design which is too simplistic. Just not the game that it could be.

Don't buy unless it's really low priced. Ok, so the interface is awesome if you like the old terminal view and the sound effects are really on the spot. Where it's less good is the whole gameplay and understanding of the whole situation. This is a combination of a risk game wanting to be a geopolitical simulator. The fact is that you have no real say in the decisions, and the MIRVIN system is joking all the time, it's just plain stupid. - Like choose your side, either you are serious with this or this is a complete joke. Don't buy unless it's really low priced. Create a serious version, without MIRVIN jokes and trying to be funny and all, and you might have a solid game - i say might because even then, the game is really not that fun with all that you have to learn just to endure the stupid remarks and jokes. - Bought it for the interface, never completed a game, was bored before the end.

Good UI, terrible balance and gameplay decisions. Game is not ready at all yet, but the devs are making new DLC. This is definitely not as playable as Arms Race: Cold War Era or Ostalgie. Too many bugs, not implemented things.

Verdict: Recommended, but only as a promising work in progress. I have been looking all my gaming life, nearly three decades now, for an excellent Cold War game. This isn't it. But, it has potential to be a good one. Its greatest strengths are in its core concepts, mechanics and historical depth. To be able to say this of a game still in early development is to be able to say quite a lot. Many strategic simulations never achieve any of these things, let alone all of them. As a professional historian and someone who has played wargames since the days of mapsheets and cardboard, I have standards and expectations that are demanding, and plenty of experience with games that fail to meet them in these essential regards. The game manages, with a great deal of elegant simplicity imposed upon a wealth of historical understanding of political, economic, social and strategic information and realities, to capture both the macro scale imperatives of maintaining domestic stability, security, growth and prosperity against the contant demand to manage and execute military, political, economic, intelligence and economic policies and decisions on a global playing field. If that is a mouthfull, it is because it is a daunting and difficult thing to do. The developer deserves great credit for having already achieved this in the game's early stages, and done so better than many a finished project by much larger companies with far more resources. Unfortunately, all these strengths are shackled and thwarted from reaching their full potential by some very basic weaknesses and failures of the game in its current state. Most frustrating is the almost completely non-intuitive layout of the GUI at every level. It is not at all evident, even beyond a much more than a glance, what is going on, what things mean, how to operate the game and what you are supposed to do to play. There is no tutorial that explains these things. In fact, there really isn't a tutorial. There are a series of little mini-scenarios that lack context and thorough explanation, and while showing you how to do a few things, fail completely to help you understand much about when and why you would want to do them, and how they work in relation to the objectives and goals of the game. The end result is that you are left understanding basically what it takes to win, but having no actual idea of how to get there through the mechanics of gameplay. To make matters worse, it is very difficult to figure out from the information provided to understand how the various options and choices at your command actually work and what they do. You are often making choices and not seeing anything change appreciably, and when changes do take place, it's often difficult to impossible to understand what they mean and how they are affecting the larger goal. Furthermore, there is no clear and distinct turn structure, or way to control the flow of play. Turns progress in stages, but out of your control and in no discernable system or pattern. You can't (as far as I can tell) pause or slow the game, nor is their any notification of a phase or turn's end, nor is there even a choice to advance to the next turn. Nothing explains to you the flow of a turn, the structure of phases, the progress of play. Another weakness is the lack of a complete human vs. AI game in which you try to figure these things out. You can get started, but quickly run into roadblocks beyond which you can not progress. The main game at the moment seems to be playing vs. another human player online. However, here the lack of understanding about the flow of play and the lack of clear control over the game itself is frustrating. If your opponent is dawdling, or overwhelmed and confused, or has quit out of frustration, you're simply left wondering what the heck is going on. In the end, you're left simply to quit / surrender as your only option. Graphically, the game is very simple, evoking the asthetics of early 1980's computer tech. In fact, the game leans very heavily on motifs and themes inspired by the movie Wargames. This works well enough, to an extent. However, the homage goes to far and is constantly woven through everything with heavy-handed and, at least to me, somewhat cheesy and annoying storyline involving an AI created to manage the terrible complexities and responsibilities of Cold War strategic, operational and tactical decisions, and its enigmatic and presumed dead designer. Sound familiar? Shall we play a (Early Access) game? Some may find it entertaining and cute; to me it is simply irritating, unnecessary and adds another layer of barriers and delays between you and figuring out what the heck is going on. Until these issues are addressed, the game is unlikely to reach full potential, and may prove too overwhelming and confusing for most players. After a few hours battering away at it, making some discoveries but mostly running into walls sooner or later, I'm setting the game aside. I'll come back to it after a few updates, but for now, it is more an exercise in frustration than anything else. An exercise even more frustrating because of the good stuff that is trapped in there, wanting to come out and play. This could be a very, very good Cold War simulation, one with tremendous replayability and a lot of nail-biting decision making and challenging fun. I'm very much hoping the developer will keep at it and find the solutions to the problems I've mentioned. I'm hoping he will, for the potential here is high. But right now, it's more potential than actual, lurking behind an Iron Curtain and waiting for a chance to break out.