Strategy and Wargaming

The global crisis reaches all corners of the map. No one is safe from the ambitions and appetites of empire builders. Defend Southeast Asia from growing threats in Hearts of Iron IV: Thunder At Our Gates, a new Theater Pack for Paradox Interactive’s best-selling strategy wargame about the years around World War II. Coming on 11 June, Thunder At Our Gates adds new national focus trees for key nations in Asia and the South Pacific, including Australia, Siam and the Dutch East Indies. Use your resources to turn your minor powers into mighty fortresses, able to hold off distant but hungry nations or carve out your own empire. This pack also includes two new ways to organize and empower your military forces.

Hearts of Iron IV: Thunder at Our Gates Official Announcement Trailer

Features of Hearts of Iron IV: Thunder At Our Gates include:

New Australian Content:

• Balance the domestic needs of a nation still reeling from the Great Depression against the demands of a British alliance still valued by much of the population.
• Influence the course of elections to deal with current priorities.
• Navigate treacherous political waters following the Canberra Air Disaster.
• Face the challenges presented by a small and scattered population while at war.
• Develop Australia’s rich natural resources.
• Follow alternate historical paths of Australia First nationalism or anti-war Communism.

New Siamese Focus Tree:

• Balance or choose between civilian and military domination of the government, pushing for constitutional safeguards or a military coup.
• Industrialize Siam, expanding national teak and rubber reserves while developing road and rail infrastructure.
• Submit to foreign domination, saving strength for a later date, or resist the imperial powers.
• Prospect for new resources to fuel your developing nation.
• Conquer your neighbors and embrace the traditional path of the old Rattanakosin Kingdom of your ancestors.

New Dutch East Indian Content:

• Develop a wartime economy based on rich and valuable rubber and oil reserves to overcome your lack of factories.
• Pursue autonomy from the Netherlands following the Soetardjo Petition or stay loyal to the Dutch crown.
• Explore special military focus trees to demonstrate co-operation between Dutch and East Indian forces.
• If Occupied, take advantage of Japanese decline and seize the initiative to pursue revolution and independence.

Ship Captains:

• Divisional commanders are now available for the naval game in the form of Ship Captains. Award them medals to improve their performance, and promote them to Admirals to lead your fleets to victory.

Army Headquarters:

• Deploy Generals to the field to greatly enhance the performance of nearby units, but with the risk of capture in the field. Imprisoned generals can be liberated through a new Raid option.

This Theater Pack will be accompanied by a free update that includes many game changes, including the Regimental Support feature, introducing new ways to attach support units to your divisions, including several new regimental support companies. Hearts of Iron IV: Thunder At Our Gates will be available on 11 June 2026 on Steam for the suggested retail price of $19.99/£16.75 /€19.99.

Slitherine has fully reworked the game’s AI. This is a fundamental overhaul, heavily driven by community feedback and incorporating many player-suggested tactics and improvements.

The new AI is more strategic, adaptive, and less predictable in its behavior. Depending on the selected difficulty, it creates constant pressure and makes the world feel truly “alive”, with territories frequently changing hands through ongoing regional conflicts.

It now handles diplomacy, conventional warfare, and nuclear escalation in a far more balanced and coherent way. Conflicts can evolve naturally over time – from early conventional engagements, through limited nuclear use, and ultimately into high-stakes, full-scale nuclear endgame scenarios.

In addition to these gameplay improvements, the update also delivers significant performance optimizations, resulting in a smoother and more consistent overall experience.

S.N.A.R.E. Campaign free content and discounts

Additionally, we are releasing the S.N.A.R.E. campaign for free. A series of five missions set across the decades (1960, 1980, 2000, 2020 and 2040), focused on heavy nuclear warfare.

To celebrate, the entire ICBM series is available at a discount for a limited time. Don’t miss the chance to enter this nuclear world or complete your collection.

ICBM: Escalation is also available for 20% off until May 25th on Steam.

Fresh off the heels of its April release, the acclaimed real-time strategy title sets its sights on quality-of-life update, Co-op Mode, DLC, and the Scenario Editor

Following its successful global launch on April 23, Sudden Strike 5 continues to gain momentum, and the battlefield is far from quiet. Today, Kalypso Media and Kite Games announced that a lineup of new content and game improvements are already in motion, reinforcing the team’s long-term commitment to evolving the Sudden Strike experience shaped by both developer vision and player input.

The first addition arriving to the game will be a quality-of-life update that will incorporate player feedback and requests from the community to include overall gameplay experience improvements and bug fixes. Following this, Co-op Mode will be introduced. Its addition will open the door for players and their favorite strategy-gaming plus one, to coordinate battlefield tactics across the entire campaign together as a fortified RTS team.

Next, a DLC will bring forth an exciting and currently classified six-mission campaign. Complete details of the upcoming DLC campaign, its release date and price will be revealed soon. Lastly, the Scenario Editor will round out the content additions outlined in the roadmap, offering players the ability to create and engage in player-generated content.

An exciting year is underway for Sudden Strike 5! Stay tuned to Kalypso Media channels as more details on each of these additions will be revealed in the coming months. Sudden Strike 5 is available now on Steam, the Epic Games Store and the Kalypso Media Store.

Heir to the Caesars and bastion of the faith, the Eastern Roman Empire of the late medieval world is at a crossroads. Decades of decline and retreat mean that only a strong hand can reverse the fate of a fading empire. In Fate of the Phoenix, the throne is yours. Rise from the ashes of failure and renew the fortunes of Byzantium.

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix is the first immersion pack for Paradox Interactive’s best-selling historical grand strategy game about the late medieval and early modern era. Focused on the Byzantine Empire, Fate of the Phoenix adds more historical content to the heirs of Rome, including a new disaster and unique color that brings the challenges of the time to life as you write new histories of this fading giant.

Release trailer for Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix is now available on Steam for the suggested retail price of $9.99/£8.49/€9.99. It is also available as a part of the Europa Universalis V: Premium Edition.

Fulqrum Publishing has officially announced Theatre of War: Rearmed for PC, bringing the complete Theatre of War series together in one definitive package, unified on the latest version of its original engine, created by a solo developer. The game’s first public playtest will begin on May 7 during Steam’s World War 2 Sale, a themed event focused on WWII games.

Theatre of War Rearmed – Announcement and Playtest Teaser

Theatre of War: Rearmed combines the full legacy of the series into a single experience, including Theatre of War with LEHR and Liberation Belarus, Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943 with Centauro, Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 with Battle for Caen and Theatre of War 3: Korea.

The war, rearmed
With Theatre of War: Rearmed, Fulqrum Publishing is bringing the entire series onto the latest version of its original engine, creating a shared technical foundation across gameplay, controls and interface. Almost every game mechanic has been revised and improved, with better performance and stability, refreshed visuals and effects, redesigned high-resolution UI support and refined controls and camera behavior for modern systems.

Rather than replacing the original identity of the series, Theatre of War: Rearmed preserves its tactical depth while refining it into a more cohesive modern package. The core experience remains focused on realistic battlefield systems, including detailed ballistics, armor penetration, damage simulation, terrain-influenced vehicle behavior and infantry reacting dynamically to combat conditions.

A complete battlefield experience
Spanning Europe, North Africa, and Korea, Theatre of War: Rearmed presents the full scope of the franchise as one connected experience. The game includes over 100 missions across multiple campaigns and a dynamic strategic mode, giving players the freedom to approach the battlefield through long-form operations or shorter tactical engagements based on their preferred style of play.

The game also preserves and expands the systems that made the series enduringly replayable, including multiplayer, mission editing, modding support and open resources. Steam achievements are also part of the updated package, adding another layer of progression for returning players and newcomers alike.

Playtest invitation
The first public playtest for Theatre of War: Rearmed begins on May 7 during Steam’s World War 2 Sale. Players are invited to visit the game’s Steam page and request access to the playtest to be among the first to experience the rebirth of classic tactical strategy series.

The playtest version offers a focused slice of the full game, including 11 missions across three campaigns, 2 standalone scenarios and 9 tutorial missions introducing the core systems and mechanics. Multiplayer will also be available, with 11 maps designed for both competitive and cooperative tactical battles. This setup gives players an early chance to experience the updated controls, technical improvements and battlefield systems ahead of release.

Key features

• Complete Theatre of War series unified on the latest version of its original engine
• Over 100 missions across multiple campaigns and a dynamic strategic mode
• Realistic tactical combat with advanced ballistics and damage systems
• Improved AI across infantry, vehicles, artillery and aircraft
• Expanded gameplay systems including engineering, towing and repairs
• 64-bit upgrade with major performance and stability improvements
• Enhanced 3D models, textures, visuals, lighting, shaders and effects
• Redesigned UI with full high-resolution support
• New and updated sound effects. New music
• Large multiplayer component with maps for up to 8 players
• Mission generator for additional replayability
• Full modding support with editor and open resources
• Steam achievements

Join the playtest and wishlist the game on Steam.

Transmission from the Pacific #1

Tora!, Tora!, Tora!

The Theater of War

The Pacific War encompassed the largest area of any episode of World War II. It was full of violent strikes, twists and turns, and the heroism of all the fighting soldiers. It was also a campaign where fleets clashed on one side, and on the other, jungle warfare requiring soldier action took place. Radio Commander Pacific ’41 takes us back to the struggle for islands in the Pacific from 1941 to 1945. The Pacific Theater featured vast distances, the need to capture individual islands, a fierce and often fanatical defense, the need for landings, the use of naval artillery, and more.

Player Role

The player takes on the immersive role of a commander during a conflict in which radio communication was crucial. Using only the radio voice communication, you must understand a situation and build the picture on your own, based solely on what your units are reporting. You don’t have a magic click moving tokens for you. You have to do it yourself. You don’t have automatic graphics and animations to make your work easier, as you might often see in other games. It’s just you, the map, and the radio. Use a radio to be a commander.

And based on the situational awareness you’ve built, you must communicate your intentions to your subordinate units, also via radio. You must independently make calculations, such as losses, the location of your own units, their situation, time to arrival, and ammunition levels. You must anticipate and react to enemy actions.

Create a battle plan, implement it, and act on changing enemy actions. Provide support to your units. All this is done exclusively via voice radio communication. Commands and reports are standardized, allowing for faster communication with your subordinates. You have a range of units at your disposal, from infantry to airplanes.

But the battle plan is in the commander’s head… in your head.

Wishlist the game on Steam and Slitherine.

Four intense missions and new deadly tactical challenges await in the second DLC

Publisher Kalypso Media and in-house developer Claymore Game Studios Today release “No Man Left Behind”, the second DLC for Commandos: Origins, available on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox on PC, and PlayStation®4|5.

Commandos: Origins – No Man Left Behind Release Trailer

Set in the Auvergne region of occupied France, the DLC expands the main campaign with four new missions. Following the capture of the Green Beret during a failed operation, players take command of Thomas “the Sapper” Hancock, Francis T. “the Sniper” Woolridge, and Rene “the Spy” Duchamp to rescue their comrade.

Players navigate through hostile terrain – spanning night time forest operations and heavily guarded military structures scattered across the mountainous countryside. Beyond simple infiltration, objectives evolve: to sabotage the prototype of a new dangerous German superweapon, the Commandos must uncover crucial information and clues on the ground.

The introduction of the Radio Operator adds a fresh tactical challenge. Enemy communications can escalate situations instantly, forcing players to prioritize disruption over direct confrontation. Cutting signal chains is now essential to maintain control across enemy territory.

Betrayed by former allies to the west and besieged by rising powers to the east, the Byzantine Empire has been reduced to its Greek and Thracian heartlands. Centuries of intrigue and invasion have meant a steady decline in the fortunes of Constantinople. But, under your guidance, the heirs of the Caesars and stalwarts of the Orthodox faith can find their greatness once again. On 06 May 2026, you can determine the Fate of the Phoenix. Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix is the first immersion pack for Paradox Interactive’s best-selling historical grand strategy game about the late medieval and early modern era. Focused on the Byzantine Empire, Fate of the Phoenix adds more historical content to the heirs of Rome, including a new disaster and unique color that brings the challenges of the time to life as you write new histories of this fading giant.

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix Story Trailer

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix includes:

• Byzantine Bureaucracies: Unique content for the new Bureaucracy system designed for larger imperial powers. Choose to keep the old ways in hopes of restoring the empire or take the risk of discarding centuries of ambition to follow a more modest course.
• Latinitas vs Romanismos: A unique Societal Value for the empire, choosing between a reconciliation with the Latin powers of the west or entrenching Roman heritage.
• Fate of the Phoenix Disaster: Work to reverse the crumbling fortunes of the empire before it gets too late to stop the decline. Choose a clear path, expand quickly, and reform so you can stabilize the ship of state.
• More Orthodox Content: Interact with the Ecumenical Patriarchs, restore the Pentarchy to strengthen the Eastern Church, expand Orthodoxy to Rome and Mend the Schism.
• Hellenism: Revive belief in the old pagan gods, seeking their favor through the invocation of omens.
• Latin Culture: Embrace a total return to the old Roman roots, taking up the old ways.
• New Art: New portraits, illustrations, city models and unit models for the Eastern Mediterranean inspired by Byzantine history.
• New Flavor Content: New events, military units, character-related actions, subjects, and more!

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix will be available on 06 May 2026 for the suggested retail price of $9.99/£8.49/€9.99. It is also available as a part of the Europa Universalis V: Premium Edition.

More information is available on the Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix webpage. You can wishlist the add-on via Steam.

Publisher Kalypso Media and Developer Kite Games are proud to announce the official launch of Sudden Strike 5, marking a triumphant return for the beloved real-time strategy franchise. Sudden Strike 5 sets a new benchmark for tactical WWII gameplay with greater complexity, larger battlefields, and more ways to achieve victory with sandbox gameplay.

The game is out now for PC, Xbox on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation®5 in Standard Edition (€49.99 / $49.99 / £44.99) and Deluxe Edition (€59.99 / $59.99 /£54.99) with a 10% launch discount available for the first 7 days on Steam, the Epic Games Store and the Kalypso Media Store.

Step into the commander’s seat, where every decision shapes the fight in the official Sudden Strike 5 launch trailer.

Sudden Strike 5 unleashes a slew of new features and quality-of-life upgrades over its predecessor, designed to give commanders more control and tactical choice. Players can construct bridges over rivers to open new routes to catch enemy forces by surprise, call-in reinforcements via sea or railroad, and coordinate large-scale maneuvers with improved visibility and streamlined unit management, allowing for the deployment of overwhelming force!

Take control of the battlefield in one of three major factions: the Western Allies, Soviet, or Axis forces, across an expansive 25-mission campaign. From the frozen landscapes of the Eastern Front to the harsh deserts of North Africa, each battlefield presents unique challenges demanding careful planning, adaptability, and tactical mastery.

New Hearts of Iron IV Focus Pack Offers Fresh Challenge

The hungry eyes of autocratic neighbors have turned to a small Central European democracy. Not even 20 years old, the Republic of Czechoslovakia has uncertain alliances in this dangerous world. Can you resist the tides of history and survive the crisis of the late 1930s? In Peace for Our Time, a Focus Pack for Hearts of Iron IV, you will face a new test of your skills as the enemy is close and time is short.

Hearts of Iron IV: Peace For Our Time Official Release Trailer

Available now, Peace for Our Time is designed in collaboration with veteran modders Logan ‘Spicy Alfredo’ Calkins, Abbus Fung and Marijn ‘marijn211’ Vroegh. This pack includes new National Focus Trees and unique mechanics, inspired by the difficult situation of pre-war Czechoslovakia, as it faces external aggression, internal division, and an unpredictable diplomatic climate.

The Hearts of Iron IV: Peace for Our Time Focus Pack is available now on Steam for the suggested retail price of $5.99 / £4.99 / €5.99.