We’ve been keeping an eye on Broken Arrow, Slitherine’s next big RTS, for quite some time now. It’s being developed by Steel Balalaika, an indie studio that’s trying to make a deep, large-scale RTS wargame that pays equal attention to up-close action and large-scale operations. After playing through the most recent preview build, we’re thinking it could become one of 2025’s most exciting RTS games.
After missing the multiplayer open beta which took place last year, I was curious to learn how the game actually played. The main thing with many wargames and other tactical RTS titles is they’re often too complex for the more casual crowd, limiting their mainstream appeal. It’s safe to say military-themed tactical strategy enjoyers have been having fun with releases like WARNO recently, but what about a different approach to the general idea of a modern warfare tactics game?
In Broken Arrow’s latest demo (which admittedly felt very early), I was able to play and tinker with plenty of different units and tactics across a massive map plus one extensive tutorial scenario. From tanks with several action and movement options to artillery that has a scary range true to its real-life counterparts, no two units in the game feel similar. Whether it’s a matter of stats or actual ‘abilities’ that you activate when the situation at hand requires them, Broken Arrow’s surface-level simplicity and agility cloaks a pretty deep wargame that rewards patience and making good use of the tools at your disposal.
The main objective in the mission I was able to play was simple: Pushing enemy forces away from a chunk of territory a foreign power was trying to invade. The kilometres-wide map seemed simple at first glance: one long road with several intersections and small village-like checkpoints that went from south to north. Taking over the first two checkpoints was very easy, as little to no resistance was found and the starting armoured forces were more than enough to clear stragglers.
As I approached the third and fourth checkpoints, however, the enemy force wasn’t just limited to pushing back against my advances; small incursion parties put pressure in the outposts that were controlled by allied NPCs to the west and east. At that point, I could either try to focus all my efforts in finishing the main objective fast or wearing down the enemy slowly while diverting resources and units to defend my flanks; the attacks were small but frequent, and small on-foot squads taking cover in buildings couldn’t repel heavy attacks for much longer.
While the management of resources is kept to a minimum, like in other wargames and RTS classics, that complexity is replaced with constant decision-making of where and how to push with the firepower you’re given and the units you’re able to request after conquering the aforementioned key areas in the map. Reinforcements don’t spawn out of thin air either; they can only be ‘produced’ by certain checkpoints and take a while to reach the designated initial position. The process is straightforward though; making sure my flanks were well-defended only took a few clicks as I tried to make a beeline for the final area that needed to be cleared.
The actual challenge came from making sure that every squad and unit was positioned in the right way and using the exact actions to effectively deal with long-range attackers without sustaining much damage, as repairs generally take time and can only happen in the checkpoints that are captured and if you’ve deployed supply trucks. Eventually, the intensity of the action piles up and you’re often zooming away to get a clear picture of the entire map while also paying close attention how each tank is positioned and which units are going in first. Broken Arrow rewards smart use of units over producing a huge number of them and swamping the enemy territory.
When things are going well enough, you can also zoom in and get a surprisingly close view of the combat and the detailed vehicle models raining fire on the enemy. At this point, I’d also like to praise the sound work, which is punchy and brutal. If one of the goals behind the game was showing us how scary and menacing modern war machines can be, Steel Balalaika is definitely succeeding. Modern warfare may not be as bloody and up-close as the chaos of WW2, but it’s still a harrowing experience for anyone on the war front, and Broken Arrow’s grounded but serious approach to (fictional) modern conflicts is hard-hitting and could be hard to digest for players worried about everything happening in the world right now.
With the game’s Steam page promising more than 300 different military units based on American and Russian factions and the ability to customize them, it’s easy to imagine how the full thing could be a really meaty and refreshing take on the wargame genre. This demo, while rough and limited, boosted my personal interest in this RTS, and I can’t wait to experience online PVP and co-op in future tests. We’ll also have to wait until June 2025 to get our hands on the full release.
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