Broken Arrow is the year’s biggest RTS, hitting 31,000 players even before its official release

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Here we go! The long-awaited real-time strategy game from Steel Balalaika, Broken Arrow, has officially launched in early access before the full release on June 19th. It seems that many have already purchased the Vanguard Edition, despite its apparent fear of missing out (FOMO) strategies. Early Steam reviews are generally positive, but a perfect victory isn’t guaranteed just yet.

Broken Arrow’s launch – Strong numbers, weak campaign

On the first day itself, the game titled “Broken Arrow” attracted approximately 31,000 concurrent players, even before its official release. With the upcoming standard edition launching in a few days, that figure may well increase. Although some server problems and bugs were encountered initially, things appear to be running fairly smoothly at present.

Remember this point: Company of Heroes 3 also had approximately 36,000 players at its launch, and we all recall what transpired afterward. Many people pre-ordered the game, yet they soon discovered how flawed the game was in reality. Most of them shared the same sentiment: it seemed like selling early access under the guise of a complete game.

Currently, Broken Arrow appears to be well-received based on Steam ratings. However, upon closer inspection, there are signs that not everything is flawless. The “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews might shift towards “Mixed” in the near future.

If you’ve purchased Broken Arrow for its single-player content, be prepared for disappointment. The mission editor seems to be malfunctioning, and some missions don’t load correctly. Beyond a few with awkward dialogue, the single-player experience is sparse. It’s all quite uneventful. To add insult to injury, there’s currently no option for one-on-one skirmishes against AI (although it’s promised in a future free update). Consequently, there’s little here for solo players at the moment.

It seems that many players are praising Broken Arrow, but it appears most have received the game for its multiplayer aspect, which functions well. However, the main concern lies with the singleplayer content, which is crucial in any good RTS game. Interestingly, there was even a singleplayer mission during beta testing, suggesting that the game wasn’t marketed as multiplayer-exclusive. For me, I usually spend the first 10 hours of an RTS game exploring its campaign. If that’s almost non-existent, it becomes a significant issue, particularly when the game is being sold at full price.

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2025-06-17 12:32