Burden of Command Announced

[Pete Dero]

Released on Steam   


7 p.m. CEST (= now)

1 p.m. Eastern US

[Tripoli]

Released on Steam   


7 p.m. CEST (= now)

1 p.m. Eastern US

Yep-We just had the (virtual) launch party and I got to see Luke press the button.   It's listing at $20 for the week. 

We also just received a 10/10 from https://strategyandwargaming.com/2025/04/08/burden-of-command-review-my-new-favourite-world-war-2-game/

FWIW, here is what I think the money quote from the above article:

"Burden of Command is for World War 2 videogames what Saving Private Ryan and Brothers in Arms were to Hollywood in the late 90s and early 2000s: A reference in storytelling. It's a unique, fascinating, intimate look at the experiences of the men who fought and died during World War 2 through the lenses of those who led them and saw- first-hand- and had to live with the consequences of their decisions. Burden of Command set out to be a leadership RPG and it absolutely nails it in every aspect, and a masterclass on how to create new mechanics and adapt them to the theme, story, and conflict you set your game in."

[Tripoli]

Also, a good review by "Gimpy Gamer". 

[DesertFox]

Haha dammit, I just bought Battlefield Commander WWII yesterday and now this comes out...

Welp, I'll let you guys know how I like it later tonight!   

[DesertFox]

OK for $19.99 (on sale from $24.99), this one is a complete no-brainer for me.  I've only played through the first 30-45 minutes of it but I already like the style.  Some of you may have already played the demo and so far the Boot Camp part of it is how the Campaign opens up.

I can't wait to get further into this and get my troops into action!

[Tripoli]

BoC is rated "Very Positive" on Steam 
With that said, I have a favor to ask all the Grogs who have purchased the game: If you've played it enough to get through the OPERATION TORCH/Morocco scenarios, can you post a review on Steam?  You have to get past the "Boot Camp"/training scenarios to really start getting into the RPG elements.  Some of the reviewers purchase the game, spend 40 minutes playing it, quit, refund and write a bad review.  They aren't getting the experience of the game.  Because the developer is an indie, who is trying to do something different, this hurts.  To be clear, I'm not asking for positive reviews if you don't like it.  I am asking for honest reviews after you've started to get into the "meat" of the game.

[DesertFox]

I will definitely write a review, Tripoli (and be honest in my feedback)!!  I just need to make it that far first, still going through training exercises.

[Tripoli]

I will definitely write a review, Tripoli (and be honest in my feedback)!!  I just need to make it that far first, still going through training exercises.

Thanks. The boot camp portion is a bit of a slog for wargamers, because BoC is trying to reach not just Grogs, but the RPG-audience.  We found in extensive testing that they had difficulty with infantry tactics, so we did a lot of hand-holding.  You can skip the videos by using the "ESC" button.  Unlike most tutorials, we did try to begin the RPG and emotional and "bonding with your men" aspect of the game in the boot camp portion, so any comments on how successful we were in that would be of interest.

[Tripoli]

Tallyhocorner just posted a follow up review on BoC:

https://tallyhocorner.com/2025/04/burden-of-command-review-part-2/

Here's a couple of "Money Quotes" from the article:

• "Constantly referencing Band of Brothers in early interviews and publicity material was a risky PR strategy, but, in the light of what I've experienced thus far, I now consider that name-checking wholly justified."
• "No computer game has ever communicated the brutality and mundanity of conflict this well before. No game has ever done a better job of illustrating the simultaneous solidification and enervation military units experience when exposed to combat for prolonged periods."
• "Over the last couple of weeks, Burden of Command has got under my skin and into my head in a way no wargame (or war game for that matter) has ever managed. Despite being an incorrigible campaign abandoner, it's inconceivable I'll turn my back on Nickel Company before VE Day."[/b]

[Jarhead0331]

Wow. That is really high praise. Congratulations for all the positive reviews.

It is on my list to dig into. I'm a little intimidated to be honest.

[Tripoli]

Wow. That is really high praise. Congratulations for all the positive reviews.

It is on my list to dig into. I'm a little intimidated to be honest.

I hear ya.  The game system really isn't that complicated.  However, it is unforgiving. Our scenario designers are both vets and experienced scenario designers and they know how to set up ambushes.  They also understand German tactics, and they will execute German tactics against you.  The scenarios are challenging.  Despite the on-line reviews about how long the tutorials are, we did it because the game is unforgiving, and like any good training, we wanted to get the player for the "real show" in Europe. We are, in fact, trying to simulate (to the extent possible) the experience of leading an infantry company in WWII.  Think through your plan, and carefully apply the key strokes you use to to execute it.  (that it one of the things I believe we will change: the key strokes are unforgiving, and sometimes you accidently shoot instead of assault like you want to.  The key to remember is that if the enemy hex is highlighted red, you are about to do an assault.  If it is yellow, you are about to shoot.)  The other thing to remember (which will be easy for anyone who has been through real boot camp) is that you select with the left mouse button, you execute with the right mouse button.  Left, right, left, right, left, right.  If you start singing jodies to the mouse clicks, you are beyond my help...

[al_infierno]

To be honest, I would appreciate an option to skip the tutorial... It's rather long, and for the most part not really introducing any wild wargaming concepts, as you mentioned.  Maybe add a "I'm a grognard, I'll figure my way around!" button at the start?  Or would that screw up the pacing somehow?

[Tripoli]

We are hearing that.  One of the issues we had in our playtesting was that when we had a shorter tutorial, players would make mistakes in the European scenarios and get frustrated because they hadn't fully grasped the mechanics in the skipped tutorials.  The other issue we had was that we are not just aiming BoC at wargamers, but also the RPG gamers, who frequently do not understand military tactics.  So we made the tutorials long to increase the chance of success in the main game. Some of the boot camp scenarios (beyond boot camp #3) are tactically challenging, so hopefully they won't be as boring.  We also have the game narrative begin in boot camp.  Without exposing too much, you will begin to suffer loss and bond to your men in boot camp, so when you hit the beaches of Morocco, you will actually already have begun the process of caring for them.*  IMHO, short circuiting the boot camp short circuits that process. 

With that said, here are some suggestions:

ESC will allow you to skip the videos

On subsequent playthroughs, you don't have to do the tutorials again.  You can skip them.  I would do the following:
At/near the end of the final tutorial, save your game as "Master BoC campaign" You can then start any subsequent campaign at that point, with the squad's being experienced.

*As an aside, do you hate the umpire in the boot camp scenarios yet?  If so, I've done my job...

[Redwolf]

I just realized that there are quite a few TacOps4 illuminati on the team. Good sign, that.

[al_infierno]

quite a few TacOps4 illuminati on the team