Kiloton

Kiloton is an abstracted real-time strategy game about nationalism and military buildup during the Cold War. A possibly fascist computer terminal tasks you with achieving “victory,” but leaves the means and outcome largely up to you. Diplomacy is possible, though the terminal may push against a peaceful resolution. The game sets the isolation of a control room against the stakes of nuclear war, where annihilation is the only final end to a balance of power. Its approach to strategy avoids micro-management and is designed to be more approachable for players less familiar with the genre.

Strategy and warfare

You direct operations across four areas: ground battles, air battles, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs), and economic support and proxy wars. The game’s campaign is single-player and lasts 2 to 4 hours. Enemies have their own complex personalities and goals, and multiplayer supports up to five players through peer-to-peer play.

Cities and resources

Instead of managing money, you manage cities. They grow or shrink according to the strength of your economy, which depends on your population relative to your spending. Population lives in destructible, pixel-based cities on the map; you can capture or destroy enemy population centers to limit their ability to wage war.

Research and development

You choose your nation’s research focus across four disciplines, each with five progress tiers: ground combat, air defense, aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Progress strengthens related assets in areas such as range, damage, health and speed. You can invest in missile defense to protect cities, strengthen your army to capture enemy cities, or build missile silos.

Scenarios and replayability

A procedural generation system creates scenarios, and a custom scenario editor lets you make levels of your own. The Cold War research and development system traces the arms race from the 1960s through the 1980s.