Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa

Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa is the third installment of a series of turn-based strategy games, launched in 2010, in which we play out the key military operations of World War II. Traditionally published by the Matrix/Slitherine duo, the title was developed by the creators of the series from the Franco-Dutch studio VR Designs in collaboration with the well-known designer Cameron Harris. Like the previous parts of the series, the game was released only on PCs.

Story

As the title suggests, the action of the next installment of Decisive Campaigns is based around the famous German operation Barbarossa, described as the largest and most important operation of Axis troops during World War II. The German aggression against the USSR, planned by Hitler as early as December 1940 and carried out half a year later, finally ended in the defeat of the German army and significantly contributed to the final defeat of the Third Reich. The fighting on the eastern front were one of the most brutal and destructive battles of the entire war.

Mechanics

The general objectives of Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa remain unchanged. We are dealing with an extensive turn-based strategy game, which in an extremely realistic way recreates a number of aspects of both the battles themselves and the accompanying strategy, such as logistics and support for the fighting troops. The whole thing is based on classic solutions of the genre, i.e. maps divided into hexagonal grids and extensive, but at the same time easy to use interface. While having fun we can stand on both sides of the conflict and try to fight on both the German and Soviet side.

Compared to previous installment of the series, however, the devs at VR Designs introduced a number of completely new gameplay solutions. Among them we should first of all distinguish a dynamic, semi-automatic decision-making system, which enables us to focus on the most important aspects of the game, while leaving less important decisions in the hands of the AI. Another noticeable change is the extended model of army and unit management, which introduced RPG-like elements to the game.

Game modes

Like previous Decisive Campaigns titles, the game allows for both one-person competition with AI-controlled opponent and fun with a living player using the typical PBEM++ system used in Matrix/Slitherine productions.

Technical aspects

Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa is powered by a proprietary engine created for previous editions of the series. However, the game was slightly modified by the creators, both in terms of graphics and mechanics - taking into account the new solutions introduced in this part of the game.

Last updated on March 1, 2020