Steel Division: Normandy 44

Steel Division Normandy 44 succeeds in offering to players an interesting and fun WW2 based combat mechanic topping it with high production values and an astounding AI. Recommended across the board.

Disappointing campaign aside, Steel Division: Normandy 44 is a compelling and challenging real-time wargame.

Steel Division: Normandy '44 succeeds both at being an entertaining real-time tactics game and a compelling simulation of historical combat, which is a remarkable combination. Not to get ahead of things, but playing this excellent World War II game makes it hard not to get excited about the potential of Steel Division: Stalingrad '42 or Rome '43. Future games or expansions might even smooth out Normandy ‘44’s small drawbacks, specifically its occasionally overwhelming amount of detail and lack of context to its huge number of options, but its successes wildly outweigh its failures.

Steel Division: Normandy 44 will challenge players in a way that’s not achieved by other titles. It might not have the brightest AI or the most balanced multiplayer, but it’s more than enough to reveal an important fact. We haven’t been playing strategy games before; they were just some hollow mock-ups.

Quotation forthcoming.

It’s hard to remember the last time an RTS game gave me both the challenge of careful planning and the thrill of execution at the same time. Those only interested in a single-player affair might come away a little disappointed, but the package itself is very well-rounded and breathes some much-needed life into the genre.

Steel Division: Normandy 44 is one of the most compelling strategy game of the recent years, single player campaigns apart.

Steel Division: Normandy '44 is a great strategy game that recreate the WWII with an epic scale. An interesting mix of tabletop wargames and RTS with an addictive multiplayer.

Steel Division: Normandy 44 is one of the most interesting games about IIWW. Eugen Systems has created a really complex mix of tabletop wargames and RTS.

Quotation forthcoming.

Steel Division: Normandy 44 is an excellent old-school RTS, probably one of the best historical videogames of the past few years: it's complex, engaging, with a deep gameplay, truthful to the events of the WWII, and an excellent multiplayer component.

While the gameplay can feel rushed sometimes, Steel Division nevertheless is a great game that authentically recreates the World War II conflict and brings some new ideas to the RTS genre.

A highly detailed look at a period of history that still manages to fascinate gamers after all these years. [Issue#264, p.69]

Although it’s a real-time strategy, in this game you rely on your strategy and wisdom, rather than reflexes. Experience deep tactical game with authentic historical units of the era wrapped in some interesting and refreshing gameplay mechanics.

Steel Division: Normandy ‘44 is a deep and complex wargame, enriched with many details and set in some of the most beautiful maps ever seen in an RTS.

Pinning down enemies with suppressing fire is a blast. So, too, is a well-executed offensive that cracks and divides enemy front lines. The adrenaline of pulling together a coordinated attack is priceless, and Steel Division is all about chaining these moments together, directed as they are by an aggressive tie to historical realism. If there's one failing here, it's that the game doesn't offer many chances to explore that rich field on your own before jumping into multiplayer matches. But when it all comes together in the perfect match, Steel Division's magic is undeniable.

With its innovative map system and engaging battle mechanics, Steel Division: Normandy 44 stands out in the crowd despite a lacking single player campaign.

Steel Division: Normandy 44 stole dozens of hours from my life and this trend will continue. It's a pretty good strategy game. The entry threshold is high, difficulty level is even higher and all these frustrations... But you forget about all that because online matches are so damn exciting that you want to play another and another, and another! Eugen Systems succeeded in creating a very good tactical RTS aimed at online gampelay.

While there’s a distinct appeal to Steel Division: Normandy 44, this is a game that caters to a particular niche audience of hardcore strategy fans. Its depiction of the Second World War focuses on realism, with a reliance on ambushes and weight of fire in infantry combat and a surprising fragility to the tanks, but this difficult to master game won’t be for everyone. There’s some clever ideas in the shifting front lines, the fog of war and Battlegroups, but there’s problems with the presentation and some elements that feel unbalanced.

Despite its visual similarities with Wargame series, Steel Division Normandy 44 is nothing like it gameplay-wise. “If a bunch of tanks couldn’t take care of a problem, just send more next time” way of thinking doesn’t work here: two infantry platoons, a reconnaissance unit and a properly placed AT gun can lay waste to a whole battalion. And if you throw some machineguns and a mortar into that mix, enemy’d be hard-pressed to crack this nut without some serious artillery support. [Issue#222, p.52]

Steel Division delivers with long, dynamic and challenging battles as well as loads of troop micro management. Mission design and AI need improvement, though.

When you launch Steel Division, you should be aware of what you’re dealing with. There’s a lot of old school strategy depth here – so much that many may simply drown in it. [08/2017, p.68]