Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2023
SGS NATO's Nightmare
Developer Strategy Game Studio
What if the Warsaw Pact had attacked NATO in the mid-1980s. Or the other way around? Study this titanic conflict, within its most emblematic theater, Germany and Central Europe. Will you be able to achieve your goals without escalating into an uncontrollable nuclear conflict? From the Steam store page
51 reactions from 1 source (Steam reviews) · newest May 11, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
73
Fresh
37 positive · 14 negative
95% range 59–83%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 37 | 14 | 0 |
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
85 of 119 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
51 of 51 · most liked firstNATO's Nightmare is an incredibly addictive and exciting strategy game that takes players back to a time that could have changed the course of history. Inspired by the 1983 NATO military exercise Able Archer, this game was developed by Strategy Game Studio and published by Avalon Digital and makes an excellent addition to their collection of beautifully designed strategy games on Steam. The attention to detail in NATO's Nightmare is truly remarkable, and the game does an excellent job of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SGS Lands Another Hit! I have slowly been getting into SGS games lately because they often look at "forgotten wars" or smaller conflicts and they really do a good job of representing the time period and sparks my interest to read further into these histories. SGS Nato's Nightmare is a Cold War gone hot game and focuses on a what-if scenario in which the Warsaw Pact invades NATO territory in Germany/Northern Europe. First, and most importantly, this is a BIG game. The "advanced" scenario…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well can't say we can give SGS NATO'S Nightmare a thumbs up at this point. Been playing computer wargames since the 80s and this one is failing to deliver on a variety of fronts. As a veteran gamer I expect 1) game documentation which explains the basic gaming systems for starters and none exists, which makes it very difficult to get going and enjoy. I understand the designers are keeping components in the abstract, but with no understanding of how supply works in the game, what units…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is truly an SGS game "on steroids," and please pardon for using that cliché, but there is no other way to describe this release. In this reviewer's experience with several SGS games, The Korean War was a "big" game release - and the campaign is still being played to this day - but this one is simply spectacular. The previous SGS "Wars Across the World" series remain enjoyable mini-games usually at attractive pricing, but this one is a totally different animal. It should list-price for far…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Imagine finding a large, complex cold war board game that looks really cool at a garage sale, but it comes without a manual. That's the best way I can describe this game. The scenario, learning curve and complexity all appeal to me... but my god what am I supposed to do without instructions? The tutorial videos provided merely scratch the surface and don't explain any of the in-depth mechanics. I watched them all, jumped into the game and promptly had no idea what was going on. You can tell…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Terrible. There is no manual for this monstrosity, just a web site for a bunch of other SGS products. The interface is horrible. The cards are a chaotic mess. And the game seems to brag about being a "monster wargame" with many of counters; I can't imagine playing this game with more counters given how poor the experience is. I'd refund it if I could.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Card System is just absolutely Amazing! The rest of the game is a basic WArgame with your classic units you would expect from a Cold War game, though that it overs Basic and Advanced/Detailed level really makes alot easier to find the complexity level you want. But the card system is just adding the right amount of flexibility, story telling, randomness and replayability. What if in the next game Nato doesnt modernise at the beginning? What if Pact goes all in economy wise and uses nukes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Like a lot of SGS games it looks cool on first impression, then you realize it's not actually finished - glitches, imbalanced mechanics, lack of documentation, major campaign bugs, lack of scenarios, etc. It really should be EA. Take the positive reviews here with a grain of salt & note the number of hours those writers have played it - most are very early impressions. You won't find many w/high hour counts. The main designer typically pops up occasionally w/meandering posts promising major…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →EDIT:: the summer update flagged the developer got around to writing a manual for the game and implementing bug fix, but in the same patch he added thousands of new units and cards and several new mechanics. he flagged that probably means there are more bugs - so i'd wait until the patch comes out that fixes the bugs they just introduced. there is a good game underneath all the jank, but unfortunately it's not there yet. wait until it's finished. * there are PDFs describing each scenario,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a not yet, rather than a no. Main pros and cons: Pros: - Bold attempt to convert and update the monster board game Next War into a computer game - Many meaningful choices and trade-offs - Tense and engaging game-play Cons: - Too many undocumented features undermine meaningful choices - Some important bugs appear to have been around for months (e.g. VP counter) - Usability issues, e.g. card hand management; the way air return phase and air stacking is implemented makes establish CAP…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The store description features prominently 4 shorter scenarios that were supposed to be included a month after initial release. The game relased in May of 2023. Only one of those scenarios is available as of September 2025, and you'd have to search through multiple news posts about updates for *different games* and read all the changelogs to get that info from what the developer is providing on the Steam page. IMHO, this constitutes false advertising and that alone is reason enough to give this…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is my first time diving into an SGS game, and there's a lot to unpack here... Personally, there's a rather large amount of things that I wish this game did better or different, but in the end, I'm still having a rather good time with this game, although I was skeptical in the first two hours. I'm not a big fan of the UI, with the rounded corners and partially shaded symbols everywhere, it looks rather arcade-y, and it doesn't bring across the feeling of a serious strategy combat…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a huge fan of WW3 games in general, this one is an absolute gem. So much research and thought went into this one and the card playing mechanic is fabulous--adding so much replayability and suspense. My only critique so far is that I wish a feature was added to take tactical chem/nuke cards out of the respective decks before play, allowing the player to simulate a completely conventional war (i.e., the governments of both sides decide that using such weapons is too risky). Otherwise, in my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First, understand that this is a Monster Game at its heart. There are smaller scenarios, but the Basic Game is just enormous. Trying to coordinate a single turn can take hours (or longer). But the depth is amazing. As usual the developers did their homework. This is an excellent tribute to all those SPI games that imagined a war in Europe in the second half of the Twentieth Century. But this game is fun, and playable! (I used to get those SPI games, try to slog through the opaque rules, and if…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SGS NATO's Nightmare When I was younger I used to play similar games on paper with different unit tokens, and the SGS series is a wonderful spiritual successor of such games. SGS NATO's Nightmare is a great game that balances realism and simplicity to make the game understandable to any player. The AI is very good and gives the player a hefty challenge, while the PBEM system is simple and works well, thus playing with others is not a problem. The card system allows for amazing replayability…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a Monster Game where a turn can be as long as 2 hours
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been wargaming "Cold War gone hot" type of scenarios for the better part of the last decade - this is one of the finest experiences I have had. SGS games have their quirks but what sets NATO apart from other titles is the sheer amount of different flavor and content you are going to get throughout each gameplay. During one playthrough you might see the Polish state crumble and their combat units become ineffective, because they have mobilized for the war effort which creates economic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was 14 in 1985 and utterly scared out of my wits because of Ronald Raygun, a dotard evangelist with nukes, and the Ruskies, a nation of unempathetic, paranoid, aggressive alcoholics...who also had an ass-load of nukes. Well anyone who knows anything knows that Ronnie and Mikey truly wanted to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles and we're lucky that their hearts were in the right place, if not their heads all of the time. As far as the game itself? Yes, it has all of the planning and tedium…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Deep and Deeper. That's one way to describe this game. There are basic and advanced versions of the scenarios. The differences are pretty much how many individual units the player has to deal with. By that I mean, the OOBs are the same, but they're represented differently on the map. Also the naval aspect is simplified in the basic game. I figure grognards are going to gravitate towards the advanced scenario versions, but they'll also enjoy the basic to get started. The depth is the same…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A gem I have been waiting 30 years to play something like this it brings me back to the board game of the 80's ( red storm rising Tac air NATO) without the 4 hours preparation! My only request is what about the naval battle in the north Atlantic?? will it be part of an extension?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a fun in depth cold war gone hot turn based strategy game. it takes a little getting used to the mechanics, and turn cycles, but its a lot of fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Solid recreation of the war that never happened.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quickly has become one of my all time favorite wargames. Not much else out there that is on PC that allows for this level of detail at the corps/division level for a cold war gone hot scenario. I have really enjoyed both the design and system SGS delivers with this one. Highly recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very enjoyable; I particularly like the combat system in the SGS series; using cards adds a bit of chance that can swing a battle one way or the other. This keeps the game exciting, especially in big battles where multiple cards can be played. No two play-throughs are exactly the same, which increases replayability.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A truly monster game. It will be helpful to have a OOBs for land, naval, and air units.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too many times I have looked at an SGS game and thought...nah. I love good strategy but this game from the outside looking in looked to be too much chaos. Tried watching a few youtubes because there was so many positive reviews. And I did think it was vastly overpriced....was I wrong!! Purchased during the Steam summer sale and with only 90 minutes in realize that this one could be the ultimate war game. I still need to learn the mechanics but very much enjoying the process. Got to go watch…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game, but with a lot of unnecessary and bad game interface solutions. A detailed manual is missing for new players.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is unplayable do to bugs
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GORBY NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Soundtrack alone is worth it. Also the game. But they come together.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SGS just has some fun games...no issues! But I cannot stop headbanging to the soundtrack...that is my only issue!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The mechanics of this game are so different from the mechanics of other games of this type that it virtually requires a an in game tutorial which it completely lacks.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →interesting on the surface, but i quickly realized this is a hot mess of bugs and janky UI. after a few hours, when the sound FX started repeating themselves in an endless loop i gave up..
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a Cold War veteran with the RAF Civilian Service, this game is so detailed and has many options that give a different outcome each time. very addictive
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another quality SGS game with beautiful artworks and more enjoyable music compared to other games in the series, it also offers a large amount of content that is worth the money. However, the downside of this game is that it lacks a clear manual to explain the details of additional gameplay systems. Furthermore, it encounters common issues found in SGS games, such as confusion in post-battle results and UI bugs.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game with lots of little details, reminds me of Nato Commander from back in the day on crack. Cool game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game. Aside from some UI wonkiness this is good. The soundtrack is right on for the period and I would place it in the same category as the original for the first Command and Conquer that came out in the 90's-something that you could listen to for hours. All that's missing is Reagan saying “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” Game is huge and can get very busy. I would suggest…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the detail of the cards.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best games of the war that has never been.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disclaimer, I have been part of the beta test for SGS NATO's Nightmare. So 1) I have received the game for free and 2) I have seen it evolve from early on until now that it is officially published. NATO's Nightmare was long overdue, an operational level, turn based, turn based computer game of a Cold War gone hot in the mid 1980s. In this game you control either the Warsaw Pact or NATO's military forces, air, land and naval from Denmark in the North to Austria in the South. That is for the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great WWIII wargame. Excellent design. Thanks to a good friend who bought it for me!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't waste your money. This game turned out to be a massive disappointment. The mechanics are next to impossible to understand due to the lack of explanatory material, whether it be tutorials, manuals, or in-depth how-to videos on YT. Far worse is that while the dev keeps denying it, it really seems to be an abandoned game. He has dropped by only two or three times over the past 18 months promising that the large array of problems will be fixed, but nothing ever happens. I really wanted…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Massive lack of balance masquerading as "challenge", pointless "random chance" event cards that repeatedly end on the first turn, ludicrous AI doing what it wants that you can't such as a West German BGS unit capturing Prague on turn six when your four Warpac Army Groups are just across the border, and events that continue and repeat as the game goes on such as six invasions of Iran, Turkey surrendering three times, and nuclear war breaking out twice in ten turns. Grow up and finish the games…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gary Grigsby War in The East 3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very good game. Could only get some ui improvements. Game mechanics are amazing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game was released in 2023... And I'm still waiting for the promised scenarios: • FAR 1985: a 5-turns scenario exploring the Soviet invasion of Bavaria after the fall of Austria, and the reaction of NATO’s Force d’Action Rapide (FAR) • Fulda Gap: a 4-turns scenario covering the expected Soviet breakthrough through the Fulda gap towards the Rhine and Frankfurt • Austria Invasion: a 6-turns scenario dealing with the invasion of neutral Austria by the Pact • Fall of Denmark: a 6-turns scenario…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT BUY IT. This game as any others from this dev are not finished. You pay for an unfinished game packed with bugs, slow Ai thinking, and without correction for latter decisions. For example, there's a mether related to tension on the battlefield that, if met, the war turns nuclear and gives you a game over. The dev latter did change the value, but not when the game over text is triggered; thus you get the game over screen text but the game keeps playing. Its a great concept but a terrible…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am kind of dissapointed with the clunky, confusing UI and the lack of rules detail for each particular game. I ve actually played the original SPI game "The next war" a couple of times and I think this PC game does it quite a disservice. I wish they had used the old AGEOD engine for the game that was by far more intuitive.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →theres a starman in the sky
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still in the early phases of learning, but I'm enjoying this game a ton. There's definitely a learning curve and a few oddball UI decisions, but it's not too bad once you get used to them. This game is HUGE but also comes at you fast. Each turn is meaningful and explosive with a ton to track if you play the advance rules. But it's also immersive. Playing as NATO and getting your stool kicked in feels desperate, as it should, but its also rewarding when you can dish it back. The soundtrack is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lots of good already, with more upside to come hopefully.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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