The Cold War Era isn’t over, it’s just beginning
Military might, stealthy spies, blatant propaganda, and high-tech Space Race marvels are all at war game lovers’ fingertips when they choose to play as the U.S.A. or the U.S.S.R. and rewrite history in The Cold War Era.
TCWE is a single player RTS strategy game based on the epic conflict between the Americans and the Soviets spanning the 1950s through the 1990s. Within one hour of gameplay players will course through four decades of contention, paranoia, secrecy, and the overarching the “us vs. them” mentality.
Game Features
– Immerse yourself in a realistic atmosphere that recreates the true Cold War.
– Choose your side and play as either the Americans or the Soviets to rewrite Cold War history.
– Install military units to prop up the local Allied government or transform rebels into revolutionaries in Opposing countries.
– Establish spy networks to support government propaganda campaigns or shake loose the Opposition’s stronghold.
– Launch rockets, satellites and astronauts into space to shock and amaze the world and win their alliances.
– Devise your own strategies and tactics, forcing your opponent to play by your rules.
– Initiate pro-government parades or incite riots to plunge countries into chaos.
– Use time to your advantage — each Cold War Era matchup only takes 1 hour to play, start to finish.
– Keep on top of the game’s goings-on by watching TCWE’s unique in-game TV stream ( free video mod dlc ). This TV stream consists of real-life news footage shot during the Cold War era, edited to represent the players’ in-game activities.
Relying on a clean and simple map-based game interface, TCWE is easy to play for gamers of all age and skill levels. Easy-to-read menus tell players about…
-The point and click — easy-to-understand map and menus guide you through the gameplay.
-The players’ Influence in each country and worldwide.
-Their Opponent’s Influence in Influenced, Neutral and Opposing countries.
-The number of military units stationed in each country.
-The spy network status and propaganda campaign success.
-The remaining budget, which determines what initiatives can be launched.
-The Space Race Milestone achievements, which help win global Influence.
-Each country’s score value, which is used to calculate a player’s Budget.
-Their Total Score as game events unfold.
Game Discussion
Steam User 29
This game is interesting. It is extreamly simple but has a lot going on under the hood. There is no tutorial but one would be unnecessary. click on a country, add US/Soviet support, military or spies and then move on. Its simplicity is however, its downfall. There is no real complextiy, but for a simple game about the cold war, you could do a lot worse
Steam User 5
If you have an itch for a Cold War themed game, this might scratch the surface. And by that I mean it's not a complex, grand-scale type of game, but a rather simple, yet fun and engaging little battle of world dominance which can be played in a single session. In fact it doesn't even have a save feature, so if you want to go all the way make sure you have an hour or two to spare. It plays sort of like a board game, you start with an equal score in January 1950 as either side (US or USSR) and you have to manage and juggle your resources and instruments (like spies) to influence and obtain new countries which add to your score. The game ends in 2000 when the side with the higher score wins.
It's not going to win any awards, but I find it enjoyable with some ambient music in the background (you can turn off the in-game soundtrack). Also, you can fortunately take actions while the game is paused, as sometimes things can get a little hectic and the game doesn't quite make it easy to follow all the events. You do get a news-feed and a country flag popping-up on the top-right of the screen when the AI does things in certain regions, but I found that this can be delayed and not very clear, although after a couple of sessions you'll probably get the hang of it. An event timeline would've been more handy here, but all in all for an indie title like this, it does the job well enough.
I can see why this won't appeal to anyone, it's a niche game, but if you have an affinity for these types of games you could give it a try. It's fair priced and offers enough replayability to make it worth it. Bonus points for the Steam Achievements, nice touch there! :)
Steam User 3
I played this game at first and was unimpressed by the frantic clickfest and stress inducing slog that the game was. But after reading the manual carefully, coming up with a few strategies and going into the game with those in mind, the game was incredibly enjoyable.
The game is essentially about managing your attention, your finances and carefully deciding how much you are willing to invest to defend a country from communist encroachment or send your freedom fighters to overthrow a forgeign government. You will feel the cost, those troops you send cost money, money that could be used to influence others, to defend more important allies or simply to sit in your countrys GDP to grow your economy better for future conflicts/influence.
If you like games where you have to carefully manage your scarce resources in a environment of the cold war superpowers, this is a good little gem. If you hate the idea of frantically looking around for 'reds under the beds' in various hotspots around the globe, or hate the idea of having to bite your lip trying desperately to decide between economic growth, military incursions and gaining influence through space achievements, this probably isnt for you.
I would say, look past the dated GUI, accept the fact you will be forced to direct your attention to important places and not be everywhere all at once, and give this game a go. Behind its aging exterior, lies a pretty good game of difficult decisions and crisis management.
Some have criticised the game as too hard on the easiest difficulty and of 'having to be everywhere'. To those people I would say, you havent learned to manage your attention, you cant be everywhere and the ai isnt either. You have to pick and choose carefully where to start a conflict, where to join one and how vigorously to defend an ally. If you think carefully and dont overextend yourself, the easy difficulty is pretty easy. The medium difficulty is a step up and will provide a greater challenge.
Some have said this is a 'click fest' and I agree. There is soo much to do soo much of the time and the most efficient way to play the game would be to hire a machine to run from country to country at light speed clicking buttons, but thats not a negative in my view. It is aggrivating, rightly so, but it is a contraining factor against you, you have to overcome your limited attention and focus on specific areas of interest and carefully marshal your GDP, your influence and your forces.
Give it a try, its a cheap enough game. The sequel I have tried briefly and many parts have been improved upon; its less of a 'clickfest' the military warfare model is more deep and the game is generally more polished. But its £15 for all and its dlc, this is under £5 if I remember correctly and i would argue both are worth their pricing point.
Steam User 7
I enjoyed this game very much! Most of paradox games are very long and this game is perfect if you plan to play short game because of lack of time. I wish this game would have a bit more game options though.
This like a chess game. Easy and simple. Hope that is growing up new competitor with paradox in face Alina DG in future. Joifule ant raise to you guys.
But with multiplayer this game much better.
Steam User 7
Pretty basic gameplay, but its a captivating time sink none the less. Definitely worth a fiver.
Read the manual before playing, it's simple to pick up if you've done that.
Steam User 9
has lots of potential, but isn't very user friendly. But if you like stragety/ cold war games this is a great one!
Steam User 1
its a good game, kind of hard to understand at first though