There are a lot of games I’m excited about in 2025, but the three I’m most hyped about are Burden of Command, Task Force Admiral, and Broken Arrow. Now, having finally played a bit of all three, I can confidently say that 2025 is shaping up to be one of the best years in strategy gaming.
Broken Arrow is a wargame masking itself as a large-scale RTS, very much in the vein of similar titles like the Wargame series, Regiments, WARNO, and Steel Division. Massive maps, with hundreds of units, fighting long-distance engagements using combined arms warfare to achieve tactical superiority. I’m sure most of you guys have played one of those titles, or have at least heard of them. While, for years, I have wanted to enjoy the aforementioned games, and to some extent, I have enjoyed some of them, with Steel Division: Normandy 44′, and WARNO standing proudly as the ones I have the most fun with. The first was because it was set in my favourite World War 2 setting, western Europe, and the latter because it significantly slowed the pace of the gameplay, something that the Wargame series of titles never did.
So, from this early preview, how does Broken Arrow stack up against its competition? Well, if this sneak peek is anything to go by, Broken Arrow might actually turn out to be an interesting competitor, especially if you’re looking for a 2025 version of what Wargame was supposed to be. I also think there’s a hint of World in Conflict here, which is lovely.
I had access to a very limited slice of the game, comprised of two missions. A tutorial, where you drive a military contractor around a base and show him the capabilities of the American arsenal. It’s a nice way of contextualizing a tutorial, but it won’t do you much good if you’re not already familiar with the way these games play out. The second mission is one where we finally get hands-on. Our task is to clear the way for a coming military column on its way to Kaliningrad. There are several Russian outposts and defensive positions along the highway and the surrounding countryside, and they must be eliminated. After you’re done with clearing that stretch of road, the Russians counterattack and it’s now your job to defend the flanks, for the armoured column to go by undamaged, to retain its unity integrity and fighting power. It’s a basic, but entertaining mission that allows for some tactical freedom of approach. And the employment of several types of units to achieve tactical superiority. The highway is on a sunken lane, so controlling the high ground on both sides should be of vital importance. And it was, which leads me to the Broken Arrow’s main difference from its competitors.
Wargame and Regiments maps are very flat for the most part, with little variation in terrain height. In Broken Arrow, these crevices on the terrain are much more noticeable, a lot more pronounced, and hopefully, more common. Building density is something that’s going to have a massive impact on gameplay, with the number of buildings available being much larger than its counterparts. This was something I was hoping would translate into a more infantry-focused combat experience, but this doesn’t seem like it’s going to be the case.
The lack of more granular infantry mechanics like cover is something that I feel like it’s a massive missed opportunity, given that this was exactly the same kind of field where Broken Arrow’s main competitors were also lacking. What I would love to see, is the dynamic cover system from something like Company of Heroes (different scales, I know), applied to Broken Arrow. This would make infantry combat a lot more nuanced, allow for an almost limitless number of tactical opportunities to employ your little fighting men, making them a lot more impactful, giving them more survivability, and making them feel a lot more useful, other than simply being good for garrisoning vehicles and ambushing unsuspecting APCs. If there’s something the Russian invasion of Ukraine showed every military analyst out there is that infantry is still king on the battlefield, and more often than not, they’re able to go toe-to-toe with their more armoured counterparts, especially when properly positioned and supported.
Presentation-wise it’s undeniable that Broken Arrow looks impressive. The massive maps are detailed, with high resolution textures and models. The unit animations are great, with tanks recoiling back and forth while firing, mortar units loading individual shells, and individual weapon systems in the vehicles all moving independently and in a way that it makes sense. The weapon effects are voluptuous, kicking up dust and smoke clouds with every weapon fired. Explosions are equally large and satisfying to watch. The sound is also very well made. Guns sound hefty and bassy, engines roar properly, bullets wizz and bombs shriek. The unit barks are also equally good and informative.
Is Broken Arrow the game I was hoping for? Well, to be 100% honest with you, I don’t know. What I wanted from Broken Arrow was a slower-paced game, with a lot more emphasis on infantry mechanics. If the first playable mission showed that, this one made me feel like I was playing an updated version of Wargame, where infantry mechanics still feel a bit too shallow. However, I was able to deal with the pace of the game much better than other games in this sub-genre, which is a good indicator that Broken Arrow might have hit a sweet spot between boringly-slow gameplay, or schizo-frantic map-hoping and order micro. As a single-player focused player, I’m very excited to play its campaign, as it’s currently giving me the feeling that’s going to follow a very World In Conflict narrative approach, and I think we need a lot more of that in strategy games. The last thing I want to say is that if you love Wargame, Regiments and WARNO, you’ll feel right at home in Broken Arrow.
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