"The best Real-Time Strategy (RTS) of 2025": New modern wargame breaks into Steam's top charts with v1.0 launch

After a long and involved beta period, Broken Arrow officially received its 1.0 build on June 19, 2025, ending early access and delivering a full modern-warfare RTS experience for Windows on Steam.

Created by Steel Balalaika Studio and published by Slitherine Ltd., Broken Arrow mixes large-scale tactical battles with joint-force strategy, featuring over 300 real-world units and 19 missions set in the Baltic region. Players can command both U.S. and Russian factions through narrative-driven single-player campaigns, PvP multiplayer including 5v5 battles, and co-op or AI matches via skirmish modes.

User reception has been pretty solid: 78% "Mostly Positive" across more than 5,000 reviews, with community praise for its responsive controls and tactical depth. Gameplay outlets have already dubbed it one of the best modern-warfare RTS games of the year, especially its middle ground between accessibility and realism.

Gameplay & features

Campaign & mechanics: Spanning 19 scripted missions, the campaign is played from both sides of the conflict, putting combined arms tactics and terrain control front and center.

Unit Variety & customization: Players can choose from 300+ units across six roles (infantry, recon, armor, support, helicopters, aircraft). They can also customize decks and tweak loadouts for tailored strategies.

Skirmish & multiplayer: Includes PvE skirmish and PvP modes, although the initial release limited AI skirmish to teams of 3+ players. The developer swiftly updated it post-launch to support 1v1 and 2v2 modes.

Scenario editor & Steam workshop: Built-in tools allow custom mission creation with dialogue and cutscenes. The community can share these through Steam Workshop.

The game runs on Unity with high-fidelity unit models, detailed destruction effects, and large-scale maps. Early feedback praised the visual polish and performance tweaks, though full settings need a mid-range rig to maintain stable framerates. 

Early feedback & developer response

By launch, player count peaked over 27,000. Community review threads talk highly about the depth and detail, but criticize restrictions on AI skirmish play. As mentioned earlier, Steel Balalaika swiftly rolled out an update to enable 1v1 and 2v2 skirmishes and address early AI/team complaints. Reviewers from Strategy & Wargaming also gave Broken Arrow an 8.5/10, calling it "the best RTS game of 2025".

In the Steam Community, developers have promised ongoing support with new factions, expanded theaters, deeper AI & multiplayer tools, and console support still under discussion.

Broken Arrow is definitely a strong pick for strategic players looking for an accessible yet detailed military RTS. Its full launch on June 19 should be promising for a game that already looked impressive in early access.

Check out the game trailer below, and the Steam Store page for Broken Arrow here.