We Love It's Guide to…
Join a 40v40 NATO–Warsaw Pact battle in 1983, coordinating squad pushes, vehicles and fire missions to capture objectives.
Released 23 Apr 2026
Fight 40v40 Battles
Capture Squad Objectives
Call In Fire Missions
'83 is a 40v40 squad based, objective focused online tactical first person shooter set in a Cold-War-Gone-Hot scenario. It's designed with 'accessible realism' for the most enjoyable, but still hardcore experience that gets you to the action fast, without losing the lethality of war.
Developed by Blue Dot Games · Published by Blue Dot Games
Set in an alternate 1983 where Cold War tensions erupt into war across Europe, '83 puts you on the NATO or Warsaw Pact side of online battles. You fight as an infantry soldier in large team matches.
Work with a squad to capture and defend objectives using flanks, diversions and coordinated attacks. Matches are designed to last 30–40 minutes, with infantry fighting alongside tanks and transport vehicles; commanders can direct the team and call in fire missions.
Choose a predefined class and customize its loadout within role-based limits. Weapons and equipment reflect the era, with handling details such as recoil, suppression, overheating barrels and deployed machine guns. The game includes Territories and Supremacy modes.
Players who enjoyed '83 often praise its gunplay and its brisk, tactical firefights, which they see as a middle ground between arcade shooters and slower military simulations. Some also enjoy coordinating around objectives and fighting alongside vehicles. These positive impressions are often qualified by the difficulty many reviewers report finding populated matches, along with concerns about the game's early state.
It's 1983. The tensions between NATO and the USSR have reached their breaking point, and the Cold War has quickly turned into an all-out conflict across Europe. Take the side of NATO or Warsaw Pact forces in an authentic, realistic, yet accessible online first person tactical shooter. Welcome to '83!
🪖 40 vs 40 large scale battles with infantry, vehicles, tanks and fire missions
🪖 30 to 40 minute matches that take you straight to action
🪖 Objective focused, squad-based team gameplay
🪖 Team Commanders guide their faction to victory in an RTS-style metagame
🪖 Era authentic weapons and equipment with realistic handling and lethality
🪖 Spiritual successor to Rising Storm 2 Vietnam
Need to know more? Let's go! 👇
When we say that '83 is a spiritual successor to the Rising Storm series, it's not only the accessible realism approach that makes '83 worth that title. Members of our team have worked on all previous Rising Storm titles, and also on the Red Orchestra franchise. Some of us have been in the biz of developing accessible realism games for the past 15 years.
It's just what we do best.
Games in the tactical/mil-sim shooter genre are usually a huge time sink. Everybody loves Tarkov and Arma but... not everyone can game 100 hours a week, or afford to prep for a match for XYZ minutes - only to die instantly!
'83 is mindful of your time. It skips the dull parts commonly present in realistic games, takes you to action fast, but does not neglect the lethality of war.
You can absolutely still die fast, but should that happen, you're back in business within a minute or two. You might want to avoid the dying though, your squad needs you and every death matters, as the matches are only 30-40 minutes long!
The tactical aspect of '83 lies in the objective focused flow of every match that simply requires teamwork to win. Clutch situations when capturing key objectives on the map can be solved with smart flanks, diversions, or well-timed fire missions, all coordinated across multiple squads within a team.
As with any tactical shooter, the selection of gear matters and can make a difference in '83. However, the point is not to experience gear fear. You can customize your loadout, but there are predefined classes (including a team commander!) that set some boundaries in order to strike a balance across factions.
There is a large selection of weapons and other gadgets, each meticulously designed and animated according to their real life counterpart. Also, the weapons behave in a realistic way: the barrels and suppressors overheat when rapid firing, machineguns are better deployed on a stable surface, and bullets don't magically teleport in between magazines when you reload a half-empty one.
Sounds like a game you want to play? Great!
Please add '83 to your Steam wishlist, and let's stay in touch!
| Platforms | Windows |
|---|---|
| Age ratings |
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| Controller required | No |
| DRM / EULA |
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| Content notices |
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| Website | Official website |
