All Quiet in the Trenches

If you want a casual game, don't buy it. It's fun and enjoyable in the beginning, great experience fighting in the trenches but the game is designed to punish the player to a degree that is unwarranted. The first two or so hours will be fun. Thereafter, as mentioned, the game will needlessly punish you for playing it. 1 June 2026 - Updated further down. The ambience is nice, artwork is pleasant and the overall atmosphere does immerse you. That's without the RPG element, which is excellent. The purpose is to keep your men alive in a hellish environment where death or maiming seem a certainty - extremely realistic. The loss of my first man hit me as hard as Jools dying in Cannon Fodder did in 1994. All Quiet in the Trenches looks like a war game or a survival game but having played it its feels that neither truly reflect the game. It's a strange experience, perhaps unique or extremely close in feel to This War of Mine. It's a harsh unforgiving depiction of the reality of war. Whatever you do, you're probably going to get everyone killed, wounded or mentally scarred. Possibly the best 2 hours gaming I have had in years - writing this in the evening, disappointed at not buying this game earlier in the day or even 2 years ago. Update (03/06/2026 - 13.5hr) I got to mid 1917 and completed the game - all that is currently available. I managed to do it without a man dying; plenty of desertions, though. Therein the is the one achilles heel of the game. The game punishes the player too much when out of the trenches - to the point where it became unenjoyable. The sense of relief of troops being behind the lines is not present. I understand the need for realism and difficulty, but the out of the trench experience is too repetitive and too harsh. It is a time for recuperation and work. This game just gives you frustration. It is a shame. A much better approach would have been to make the trench experience harder and the out of the line experience much easier - like it would have been. The battles are great, the fear of men being struck is good. The fear of losing a man being ever-present. That is if you have a man. Too often the needless difficulty of tasks behind the lines strips you of men; if you're lucky to have a full compliment, they will likely be strained and not perform their best. The hospital side of things needs reworking. From a British Army perspective, casualties went to a first aid post, casualty clearing station, base hospital, etc. Moderately wounded men were struck from the strength of their platoon/company - it was possible to return to their unit but not a given. In this game even the most seriously wounded of men remain in camp, you're unable to remove them from your compliment of men. This exacerbates the points made above to the out of the trenches experience. Lice is an interesting addition but it is an absolute nuisance given the aforementioned experience. Overall it is a good game that captures the reality of trench warfare quite well. I feel like I had my monies worth. I'm a minority, however. I studied First World War history at a high level. Therefore, I think it reasonable to say that I gave this game more attention than a regular gamer would have. For a new player, a casual player, it's not fun and it's certainly not a fair challenge. The game is out to punish you when it has no need to. That is a conscious decision by the devs and not a good one. If you have a love for First World War history, buy it - if not, please do not.

By the time when you've actually built your squad up, it can be fun. But then it just goes down hill, constant jobs when everyone is ill, suffering from illness. Even if you've only got 2 men that semi okayish, whilst every one else is in the field hospital. The lieutenant gives you a job for 3 people, which you won't be able to complete since everyone is nearly dead or not ready to do jobs and then you lose standing with the lieutenant. Honestly, either the game difficulty needs lowering a tad, reduce the job load or increase the amount of soliders you can have under your command. I take back what i said just don't like Kummerbaunt.

There are a lot of good things going for it. Like: atmosphere, the camp system, meeting your squads physical and mental needs. Resource management and so on. Thing that don't work: -Combat I have no idea how combat really works there are no stats, only danger levels that sometimes don't work. I flanked enemy squad on low danger level and got 2/3 of my squad dead or wounded. No idea how effective suppressive fire actually is. Grenades are very weak. throw one directly to enemy trench and it injures on of them. - movement It is hard to plan ahead when you can only see one to two movement locations ahead and sometimes places that you thought were accessible turns out to be blocked -friendly AI sucks during combat they block your advancement and don't support you in combat. It would be nice if they could suppress enemies while you advance or vise versa. -morale officer yelling when company gets defeated and its supposed to be your fault that your guys got injured/dead while defending. Things just spiral out of control while officer just keeps piling more work for you while half of them saw their mates blown up and are demoralized. I get it that it's supposed to be real but even the stupidest officer can see that combat ineffective squads due to casualties can't do anything. things just get out of hand real fast with no way to bounce back. There are also too few ways to bring back morale. Need more dedicated activities to bring back squad morale. Now your guys just keep deserting and officers are unhappy. Morale should improve on vacations. One month off the battlefield should make wonders to soldiers fighting spirit instead of them being as depressed as before the leave. - your character missing Now you are a squad leader without being a squad leader. Game would so much interesting and intimate if you yours self were part of the squad. -UI everything is light brown. Graphics, text boxes, objective etc. little more variations makes the game more visually appealing and easier observe what's what.

Its a fun enough game to play and I especially like the battle levels but the commanding officer is too much. Constantly giving tasks so your soldiers get zero rest which means they do even worse on their tasks. This makes the officer upset so he gives you even more tasks, causing an unstoppable downwards spiral. I can only get to mid 1916 before everything falls apart and my soldiers die because they are overworked and no one can be spared to watch over them in the field hospital. Its just too much and makes the game impossible to play.

spend months getting close to your soldiers just to see each of them traumatizingly die one after another cool game

Not really interesting

Totally accurate representation of SNCO responsibilities within the military. An annoying officer trying to bolster his own representation by making forcing all the blame onto his underlings who have to work their men to the bone in order to keep up with unrealistic expectations. Also, Ive had only a month off in 4 years quit complaining Herr Kaiser let me go home. Great Game.

This game is impossible to advance in. That LT. is a straight up ♥♥♥♥♥, the model for a bad officer. Nothing you do is ever good enough. You move thru a couple of battles, complete the tasks assigned then he tells you that your performance was lacking and you are sacked. I hope in the future some balance is added as far as the LT. goes.

I love this game. I've played it all the way through almost since it first came out, then again as they keep making great updates. It's a unique game with the best approach to WWI in a video game that I've seen. It might seem hard at first, but keep playing and it gets easier. Remember that you can load older saves to, the RNG changes so sometimes if something bad happens you can reload and it won't happen. Or play it all the way through to whenever it naturally ends and then play it again. I get a serious "just one more turn" addiction going each time I play. It's on version 0.12 now and it's already amazing, I can't wait to keep playing it as it continues development, I expect the final game to be absolutely incredible, and still unique.

Let me set the scene, Fall of 1916(no idea what difficulty I'm on, or if there is one, my first playthrough) My contingent of 6 men are cream of the regular crop. Medics, melee and firearms trained and proficient. With a camaraderie to match the elites of old. Over the last two years, lotze was lost during a risky assault to suppress and neutralize a MG nest. To add, he was more than avenged. And penderson? Something of the like, deserted the men. Never liked him, and his replacement was certainly an upgrade. But otherwise the men have maintained cohesion. It has been hard, they have seen a lot. But they have endured. And their feats are quite the tale. They've taken over a dozen prisoners after subduing them, killed and wounded closer to a dozen and a half more. Taken multiple mg nests and rooted out and charged, beaten back many french contingents. They've completed every objective set out by the lieutenant on the Field despite the risks. And save for the first engagement we retreated from and the first failed counterattack(we did our part by the way) We haven't lost since. We are the lieutenants crack troops and he respects us. The unterofficier, an interesting fellow. Values camaraderie, an empathetic sort, but also remains dutiful, firm and just. Protective of his men and will defend them from the lieutenant. But will hold them accountable for conduct in camp and In battle. This game is brilliant. It feels so grounded in many ways and despite a few bugs. I love it. I can imagine this group, including the unterofficier actually existing. The game isn't especially hard, unless I'm playing on easy or normal or something. But it does require proper planning, and is optimized for a certain way of thinking. You can help others, it's good to do so and it's beneficial. But besides the battle objective and the readiness and willingness of your men. Do not concern yourself with winning the war. You have an objective in battle, do it and let the test of the company do theirs. If they fail, it has no impact on your standing. You did your job. Take opportunities, scavenge, charge, chase and consolidate. Just think it through and weight the risks. Most likely one of the best games I've played in long time. Well done