$9.99Original War Every soldier is a person
Lead a small crew through two time-travel campaigns where each soldier has a name, a job and one life.
Is Original War worth it?
Original War is worth it if…
- you like strategy games where every unit matters and losses actually hurt
- you want a story-driven campaign you can play from both sides
- you enjoy a real challenge and do not mind replaying a mission to survive it
- you have a friend up for co-op or some PvP in an old-school RTS
Screenshots
Soldiers you cannot replace
Most strategy games let you print more troops. Original War gives you a fixed crew, and that changes everything. Suddenly you care about the guy driving the truck.
Each person works in one of four professions: workers build and haul crates, soldiers fight and can crawl, engineers build and repair vehicles, researchers heal, study and tame the local apemen. Skills grow with use and carry over between missions, and at the end of each mission you choose where to focus someone's training. Lose your best mechanic in mission eleven and you feel it in mission twenty.
Time travel with a straight face
The setup is gloriously absurd, and the game knows it. An American expedition hunting oil in Siberia finds siberite instead, a mineral that matches the fuel of the EON, an alien time machine dug up near the Tunguska explosion site in 1919. The plan: go back two million years, mine every last gram, and rebury it on American soil. Then the Russians find out and send their own expedition, calling the same mineral alaskite.
Two full campaigns let you play both sides of the same war, and the story branches along the way. The tone swings between Cold War satire and genuine drama, with diary sketches on one side and a Soviet computer spitting out video as text characters on the other. The plot is ridiculous in the best way, if you accept the premise and let it run.
Playing against friends
The campaigns are the heart of the game, but the war does not have to stay against the computer. Original War has online multiplayer with both co-op and PvP, so you can team up in a lobby with a friend or face off across the prehistoric steppe.
Because soldiers are scarce and every loss is permanent, matches reward coordination over raw speed: deciding who guards the crate spawns, who pushes for oil, who keeps the researchers alive. And if the built-in maps run dry, the game is moddable, with an active modding community that has kept making content for it for years.
What should you know before playing?
Can you play it solo?
Yes, the two long campaigns are singleplayer and that is where most of the game lives. There is also online multiplayer with co-op and PvP if you want to bring a friend or an opponent.
How hard is it?
Hard, and honestly so. Even on the easier settings, a careless mistake can cost you a soldier you will never get back, and some mid-campaign missions are brutal. Real-time with pause helps you think, but the game rewards planning ahead over reacting fast.
How long does it take?
Long. There are two large campaigns, and players report spending dozens of hours on a single playthrough, well over a hundred to see everything. Branching missions and both factions give you reasons to come back.
Do the old graphics hold up?
They are simple 2D visuals from 2001, and they age well: clean, readable and atmospheric rather than dated. The music and voice acting are strong points, and the game has received updates over the years.
Can you change what your soldiers do?
Yes. Anyone can switch professions in the right building, so a worker can become a soldier or a researcher, and skills improve with the work they do. Vehicles are built and customized too, from machine-gun buggies to heavy tracked machines.
