Burden of Command™

Game mechanics are applied in illogical situations, you can fail a morale requirement for a mortar which is in full cover and completely safe to fire on an enemy, with the mortar having no suppression. No to mention that when a unit can be ordered to move, and then be fired on with opportunity fire by the same enemy unit multiple times without you having the chance to intervene. This is without mentioning the horrible save system where you can't name your saves and they're all named in basically the same way which makes it an infuriating mess to try and load back a couple rounds or just find a save at the point you want to go back to ever. Paired with how horribly optimized the game is that loading saves takes longer than taking your turn does and that every time you do you get met with the same in black fifteen second or so long mission name and time which you cannot hit escape to head back to main menu during. You can't even load your saves from the mission, you have to suffer through loading back to main menu(another ten second process at least for something that other games do just about instantly). While I do find the game mechanics frustrating(such as getting opfired on by three enemy units in the same move or getting lightly peppered by any enemy squad preventing me from completing an assault order that I already passed the morale check for) I think it's reasonable as the game is supposed to be challenging. What isn't reasonable is that if you make one single bad move and want to load back to the start of the turn not only are you sometimes just unable to because of the poor save system but it becomes a multiple minute adventure so much so that I just don't enjoy it anymore ten hours in.

First game I've played that managed to really capture the spirit of a war epic. The mix of text based narration with top down strategy creates a lot of neat emergent storytelling (although this is often more scripted than it first appears). That said, the writing does not manage to communicate anything new about WWII beyond what has already been done hundreds of times elsewhere. While it is neat to play out the (pleasantly) exhausting scope of the war, I think the format they managed has room to move beyond Band of Brothers' cliches. With so many recent incredible text heavy indie games like Disco Elysium or Perfect Tides: Station to Station, Burden of Command's storytelling left me wanting.

Simple, People whine and whine (My old gamer self included) for something truly different, engaging, and challenging.... and with old school immersion, depth and fun.... this might just be it! I am really enjoying the tutorial and early campaigns, I don't love linear campaigns, but the designer give you a lot of impactful freedom here, and truly open ended outcomes. You are living a story, a rich, old school, honourable story, that will captivate you if you were ever into World War 2. Don´t ignore the cutscenes and text, the reading, its all high quality, and it all delivers if you commit your mind to letting yourself immerse in this great and orignal game. There is something brilliant about this game, as differently paced as it is, the pacing captures war and gives immersion, ¨long periods of waiting followed by nightmare seconds of dread that seem like years." Bravo, and well done! Highly recommend.

This is a wonderful game, unlike any I've ever played. It's turn-based, and a real pleasure. It's well-balanced, challenging without being frustrating, and a brilliant combination of tactics and RPG. The tactical situations are challenging and fun, but what gives the game depth is the role-playing element: you can't help taking your responsibility for your men seriously, and that weights every decision in a way typical games don't. And as the story develops there are, of course, surprises -- as in any good story -- which adds drama in the best sense. The beauty of this game is how it makes you think and even feel as a commander of men in battle -- men about whose fates you are made to care. It's not about blowing things up, it's about the human experience of combat, of trying to take care of your men while completing the mission as determined by the higher-ups and required by the war effort. Processing all that is what the game is about, and because it's turn-based, the implications of each decision have time to sink in, while the evolving plot throws plenty of surprises punches that keep it interesting. Keep it coming!

awesome combat system (former squad leader)love the tactics and the story line. I do think the game maybe evolving so I may update my review. My only dislike at this point is that a tank and infantry should a allowed in the same hex and and infantry units be allowed to pass through a tank or other units(a very common infantry tactic) I feel this game/system may be on the verge of becoming amazing with tweaking things in the future

In a gaming scene convoluted in shooting and explosions it is so refreshing to find one instead focusing on the human beings in conflict and how they managed themselves through it, as well as the tactics required to succeed. You have to make tough decisions, not only on the battlefield but off it too. How the men see you as a leader depends on your actions, your words and behaviours. You have to think like a leader, and constantly have to juggle the tension of protecting your men vs serving the mission and getting this damned war over with for them. Im early into my campaign at the moment, but I can already feel the weight of it and its got me totally gripped! Equally the game itself finely balances fun gameplay with realism of conflict and real life tactics. There is endless potential for campaigns and storytelling given the medium of WW2 and so im hopeful the developers can produce more content than I can possibly cope with!! Well done to Luke and the team. Big thumbs up. highly recommended.

very immersive game, despite some flaws and a few bugs. if you like board games/ ww2 games, xcom like games, chaos gate anything like that. This game may be for you. its a combination of two well made systems, the combat ruleset in the game is great, it features a YOU GO, I GO system for each platoon leader, creating many thorough decisions of who do you activate first/last etc. Its like bolt-action but better for anyone familiar with that ww2 game. The narrative segments are well done by a few different writers. (After finishing this game i plan to read other stuff they have written I feel they have done such a good job!) And this part of the game I think they could have easily messed up and the writing could have felt cliché or like a Clint east wood ww2 movie, however the writing feels authentic. As you play the game also shows lots of photos and documents from the specific operations/ theater that your battalion in real life was involved with and it really helps add to the genuine immersion and difficult decisions you have to make as you play through a campaign. My hours are wrong I played through a whole campaign through the high seas before purchasing it.(if you know you know) one warning though this game is ironman at its core its designed around it you can not go back to anything you do. even miss clicking which happened to me a few times can literally be attributed to battlefield confusion lol. BUT far into my second campaign I did something foolish and exited the game in a loading screen through ctrl ALT delete and my campaign save file became corrupted/glitched. Because of this every few missions I would recommend just copying the save game file location which you can easily find in the main folder of the game through steam browse. I doubt many people have had hard file crashes like me but it has happened to some so its worth noting that I really recommend backing your game up now and again. Other then that like most wargames in this subset genre for ww2 their are some weird bugs, like sometimes the LOS tool just breaks I have to quickly restart to main menu etc. But really despite all of this, I HAVE TRULY fallen in love with this game. I had to support this studio, I am excited to try their dlc next and I really hope they continue to make dlc for the game. TLDR: this game has some rough spots, but the core gameplay and the combination of the highly involved narrative means if your a ww2 autist like me you really should do yourself a favor and try this game, no other game I have ever played has really made me feel like a commander.

I love how this game actually leaned into the realism side of things, even if that can't be perfectly replicated 100% in a video game, especially since the arcade-y route has been done to death a million times over in the WW2 genre. The subject matter was treated with the utmost respect, while at the same time, doesn't shy away from dark subject matter, which is difficult to pull off successfully. It also features a couple genuinely surprising moments that can hit pretty hard. Fans of the John Tiller games will find themselves well at home with the gameplay, though it's far less punishing and obviously more focused on storytelling. It doesn't take long to figure out the basic gameplay loop. Strategizing the best way to suppress and ultimately flank the enemy is what players will spend most of their time doing outside of the narrative. Locating enemy positions without getting filled with lead in the process is also key, which makes the "Creep" order meaningful. There's definitely a satisfying sense of accomplishment when you're able to roll up an enemy's defensive line after identifying and penetrating a weak point. Using the Mindset perks and deciding when to employ the Captain's extra orders before passing the round will also make the player think about the order in which they do things, which is pretty engaging. As for cons, I think the difficulty could have been upped a bit more, since you usually have plenty of time to meet objectives. I was able to achieve Major/Minor victories for both the missions and the men on my first blind playthrough. Some of the stats and how they affect narrative choices could also be explained a bit better, like Directness, Verbosity, Realism, etc. They didn't seem crucial to a particular gameplay build but are rather there just for flavor and roleplay. Overall, I'm glad I bought it and thought it was a breath of fresh air. I'm excited for what else this developer could do in the WW2 genre once some of the rough edges are ironed out.

This game is an excellent choice if you wish to play not only tactical WWII warfare but also make the hard choices that an officer would have had to make during the war, which is the games main premise. While tactical games you can find(although this one is way more detailed and realistic than most others I've seen), the choice-making concept is unique to this game. I believe it is definitely worth buying if you are in for a deeper warfare experience.

This game checkls a lot of the boxes I've looked for in games. The immersion is second to none: every decision I make really has a cause and effect, something that make it more than just a game, it becomes a real RPG. It took a bit of a learning curve for me. I'm not too familiar with hexbased games, but the tutorial/boot camp is so detailed and immersive in itself that I really felt like I was training with the guys. This definitely has high replayability and look forward to seething this through.