It was only a matter of time. Men of War, 1C’s hardcore World War II RPG-RTS , occupied developer Best Way for a long time, but they’ve always wanted to do their own project. Today, they announced the Stalker-RPG hybrid Nuclear Union. And we’re all very excited about it.
Nuclear Union is the game Best Way has always wanted to make. Set in an alternate 2012, it’s building on the expertise they’ve developed whilst working on Men of War in creating fucked-up landscapes and emergent horror. The point at which it spits from our universe is 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis. In our universe, the leaders of USSR and USA saw mutually-assured destruction coming and balkedat the last minute. In theirs…
The remaining Russian populace emigrated underground and has been living there for the last fifty years. Across the continent of Asia, the Soviet Empire survives, controlled from its new subterranean capital Pobedograd. Above, the world is a wasteland, inhabited only by the sort of beasties that only crop up in the nightmares of concept artists. Mainly Russian concept artists.
You play the part of a pilot, once tasked with bombing the USA (which places your age at 68, at minimum, I’d guess, given that you’ve spend 50 years – extremely old for a non-RPG game protagonist), now… well, we don’t know. They’ve revealed very little.You’ll be spending most of your time above the surface, in the areas of Moscow that survived the apocalypse, as well as some time in Pobedograd.
Combat sounds like its going to be similar to Mass Effect; you can only have two other people in your team, and you can command them tactically in active-pause. The team has described the futuristic Soviet weaponry available; a three-barreled submachine gun, a Soviet UZI, and a bullpup assault rifle. Given their technical nous from Men of War, and given the robot tank in the picture above, we’ll be seeing a lot more bizarre weaponry, both realistic and science fictive.
Alternate history? Russians versus mutants? Cold War science in a ruined world? Role-playing as a knackered old test pilot? Pocket nukes? Yes, please. Now we can’t wait to find out what Assault Squad creators Digital mindsoft are doing…