Broken Arrow

This is by far the biggest release yet from UK-based strategy games publisher Slitherine: Broken Arrow, from Steel Balalaika. This real-time modern warfare tactics game has already sold over 150,000 copies during the Advanced Access period.

Slitherine's success with Broken Arrow was evident from the outset, with successful pre-launch beta tests and over half a million registered players. The game, which topped more than one million wishlists on Steam, also entered the Top 50 Global Best-Selling Games before its official launch. The Vanguard Edition (Advanced Access), released on 16 June 2025, sold over 150,000 copies within the first three days. The standard launch followed on 19 June, with a peak of 38,753 concurrent users the following weekend. The previous concurrent user (CCU) peak holder from Slitherine was Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War, developed by German Proxy Studios, with 11,136 concurrent users; however, that was part of a 'Free to Keep' promotion.

Broken Arrow is a large-scale tactical real-time strategy game that plunges players into a modern-day conflict between the US and Russia in the Baltic region. Given the current conflicts, this is a deeply frightening scenario, despite the fact that development of the game began prior to the war in Ukraine in 2020. The developer, Steel Balalaika, is an international business, and not all of its developers are based in Russia. Since 2021, the development team has been working with the UK-based publisher Slitherine.

In Broken Arrow, players take on the role of commander of either US or Russian forces, commanding a vast arsenal of over 300 modern military units and advanced weapon systems. There is no base building. The focus is on strategy, timing and precision, as well as the tactical combination of infantry, armour, artillery, helicopters and jets. "Players must read the battlefield, identify the best routes to outflank enemy positions, probe for weaknesses, and craft a winning plan tailored to the moment," the publisher emphasised.

The single-player campaign consists of 19 missions and can be played as either the United States or Russia. As it is a dynamic campaign, players can decide the order in which they complete missions. The campaign is designed to help players familiarise themselves with the extensive and tactically deep game, which places a lot of value on realistic combat, damage and physics simulation. However, it is unfortunate that there is currently no save function for the sometimes lengthy missions. For such a complex game, the tutorial is too short and superficial, and new players could have been guided more effectively - especially since Slitherine explicitly states that the game is suitable for beginners. At least there is a pause or slow-motion in single player.

Besides the campaign, there are a skirmish mode, scenarios on pre-existing maps that have been created using a scenario editor (user-generated content via the Steam Workshop) and multiplayer battles, with options for 1v1 up to 5v5 in custom lobbies or ranked 5v5 (currently no ranked 1v1). Initially, only 5v5 battles were available in skirmish mode, but a hotfix patch has now enabled 1v1 and 2v2 battles against AI opponents. However, it is not yet possible to play with an AI against AI enemies. The developers wrote: "It was a deliberate design choice to initially disable 1vAI and 2vAI because the currently available maps are not designed for less than 3 players per team. The AI will also be improved as it is currently a bit passive on certain maps. The developers will keep working on the Skirmish mode until it becomes a complete mode and a thoroughly fun experience, with a wider selection of balanced maps available and also allowing for bots as teammates." Currently, however, the game is geared more towards multiplayer and less towards solo users, especially as there is still room for technical improvement (AI, crashes, more game modes).

The game is reminiscent of World in Conflict, RUSE, Warno and Wargame, but it is designed for modern warfare and large-scale battles. Félix Habert, Creative Director at Steel Balalaika, describes it as a combination of World in Conflict and a wargame. A post by Slitherine states this: "World in Conflict released 16 years ago in 2007 is a big inspiration in terms of atmosphere for us. We have the feeling that no game since WiC has managed to reach that level of immersion without sacrificing the scale of the battle. But World in Conflict's gameplay was too simplistic in our view with its limited number of units and clear counters. We wanted something different that would feel more like a wargame with a huge number of units with statistics inspired by their real-life characteristics and the gameplay adapted around this constraint and not the other way around. Another downside of World in Conflict was that the size of the battlefield that was too small to make planes controllable. The size of our battlefield was dictated by the fact we wanted controllable aircrafts."

Broken Arrow also features a system for determining the composition of the army, essentially a deck system, which uses the game's Specialty system to allocate equipment to forces. This is similar to the class system found in role-playing games. These define the playstyle, available units, and strategic options. There are ten specialisations, with five per party. For example, on the US side there is the Marine Corps or Airborne Infantry, and on the Russian side there is motorised infantry or coastal troops for naval operations. Each deck can consist of two specialisations. It is also possible to modify weapons, payloads, protection levels, sensors, and more.

For Steel Balalaika and Slitherine, Broken Arrow is a long-term project and a constantly evolving platform. They have already planned to expand the game by adding new factions, units, specialisations and theatres.