Thermonuclear is a sci-fi roguelike strategy game from publisher Ratalaika Games and developer Meridian4. In the distant future, “Thermonuclear,” is the most advanced military cyborg weapon technology ever created. As a member of a mega-corporation, use this ultimate weapon to defeat your opponentsc and end the Third World War. The game features a turn based grid system with procedurally generated levels. It’s similar to X-Com.
I recommend starting with the tutorial, as the controls can be a bit unintuitive and the tutorial will help you grasp the basics. Once you clear a map, you’ll have the option to choose a different map within the current mission. The mission concludes when you meet the objective, which could involve clearing all maps, finding a specific item, or achieving a certain percentage of map completion, among other goals.
In each mission, you’ll face a diverse array of enemies, from soldiers to mutants. The game uses a grid system, allowing you to choose your starting square. As you progress, your cyborg will develop various abilities, including close-range combat, ranged combat, and skills like healing, boosting damage or defense, and enhancing movement.
Once a mission is completed, your mech will return to the main hub. Here, you can enhance your cyborg in various ways: upgrade exploration bonuses, increase base damage and base HP, and acquire new skills. You can equip up to four skills at a time: one close-range attack, one ranged attack, one attack ability, and one support ability.
From the hub, you can access the world map to choose your next mission. Missions vary in difficulty from Easy to Very Hard and in length from Short to Long. Some missions feature special events that can significantly increase the challenge, such as enemies inflicting ailments more frequently or poisonous blocks scattered across the board. During mission selection, you can also equip up to two artifacts found in previous missions and purchase healing items for use during the mission.
The ultimate objective in each world level is to confront a hive, which remains very challenging even on the first level. You’ll need to complete numerous missions and significantly upgrade your cyborg before taking on a hive, as they are notably difficult.
If you enjoy turn-based strategy games, this one might appeal to you. However, I found the game’s difficulty to be inconsistent. The super weapon robot is quite fragile, and healing is challenging since healing items only restore about 1-2 HP at a time. Additionally, the levels felt repetitive and somewhat frustrating. I managed to earn 910 out of the 1,000 Gamerscore on Xbox in under an hour.
Thermonuclear is out now and available on Xbox, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. A review copy was provided by Ratalaika Games and played on an Xbox Series X.
