Original War on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
Quick menu
An American geological expedition, under a UN mandate, assesses the natural resources in a distant part of Siberia, deep in the trackless steppes of Eastern Russia. But instead of oil, they discover a deposit of a hitherto unknown mineral.
Original War is a strategy, rts and sci-fi game
developed by Altar Games
and published by Bohemia Interactive.
Released on January 27th 2014 is available only on Windows
in 9 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Czech, Russian, Japanese and Polish.
It has received 2,030 reviews of which 1,928 were positive and 102 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified Original War into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Original War through various videos and screenshots.
Load More
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Pentium® III - 900MHz
- Memory: 256 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.1 compatible with alteast 64 MB of VRAM
- Storage: 1 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Original War, developed by Altar Games and published by Bohemia Interactive, stands as a fascinating relic of early 2000s strategy game design that dared to break from the genre's conventions. Unlike many real-time strategy games of its era that relied on resource-gathering loops and expendable armies, Original War introduced an ambitious blend of tactical warfare, role-playing mechanics, and narrative-driven gameplay set in an alternate history shaped by time travel. While it’s visually dated by modern standards, its core gameplay ideas remain remarkably bold and distinctive, making it a compelling title even decades after its initial release. The game takes place in a divergent timeline where a mysterious alien substance called Siberite (or Alaskite, depending on the faction) is discovered—one with the potential to revolutionize energy as we know it. The twist, however, is that it’s only found in present-day Siberia but is theorized to exist in abundance in prehistoric Alaska. With the help of an alien artifact called the EON, capable of enabling time travel, both the United States and Soviet Russia launch covert missions to the distant past in a race to control this powerful resource and, by extension, the future of the world. The result is a narrative that balances speculative science fiction with geopolitical tension, offering multiple perspectives through two primary campaigns—one from the American side and one from the Soviet side. Original War's gameplay diverges sharply from traditional RTS norms. Instead of infinite unit production or replaceable troops, every character under your control is a finite and valuable asset. Soldiers, engineers, scientists, and mechanics all have unique abilities and skill trees, and the death of a skilled unit can have long-lasting consequences. This imbues every mission with a sense of tension, forcing the player to weigh each decision carefully. You can't simply throw wave after wave of troops at a problem—you must use cunning, terrain, and smart planning to overcome your challenges. The RPG elements further deepen this by allowing characters to improve over time, becoming more proficient in their roles and more vital to your success. These characters can even carry over between missions, encouraging players to keep them alive not just for tactical reasons, but for emotional ones as well. The missions themselves are varied and often complex. Objectives range from straightforward combat operations to intricate scenarios involving escorting convoys, capturing enemy technology, or navigating hostile terrain filled with prehistoric threats. The environment itself plays an active role in the strategy, with wildlife occasionally interfering and natural obstacles influencing movement and base placement. Players must also manage resources like fuel and supplies, which aren’t gathered endlessly but are instead salvaged from the environment or recovered from the enemy. These limitations make the strategy feel grounded and force the player to think several steps ahead. Despite its ambition, Original War does show its age, particularly in its presentation. The graphics are functional but clearly rooted in early 2000s design, with relatively simple sprite work and limited animation. The voice acting varies wildly in quality, with some performances veering into awkward or overly dramatic territory. Pathfinding issues can also be a persistent annoyance, especially in larger, more complex maps where unit micro-management becomes essential. However, these flaws are largely superficial when compared to the depth of the systems at play, and many long-time fans argue that they add to the game’s charm rather than detract from it. One of the game’s most innovative features is how narrative and gameplay are interwoven. Dialogue choices and mission outcomes can influence the direction of the story, including character relationships and campaign branches. There are multiple endings based on the player's actions, adding replay value and reinforcing the game's emphasis on consequence. Characters may desert you, grow hostile, or make sacrifices depending on your decisions, creating a storyline that feels reactive rather than scripted. This level of narrative integration was uncommon at the time and still feels unique within the strategy genre. Over the years, Original War has maintained a dedicated cult following, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. The game’s Steam release and ongoing community support have helped preserve its legacy, with fan patches, mods, and balance tweaks keeping it alive on modern systems. It may not have achieved mainstream success in its time, but its influence and reputation have only grown, especially among players who appreciate games that challenge the norms of their genres. In hindsight, Original War can be seen as a game ahead of its time. Its blend of strategy, narrative, and role-playing mechanics creates a uniquely personal experience where each unit matters, every choice counts, and the stakes are more than just territory on a map. While it lacks the graphical polish and quality-of-life features of modern RTS titles, its ambitious design and richly imagined setting make it well worth revisiting. For those willing to look past its rough edges, Original War offers one of the most original and rewarding strategy experiences of its era. Rating: 9/10
Expand the review
My childhood. Great game. Remaster would be good.. or the Original War 2.
Expand the review
Original War is an interesting game. At its core it is a strategy game with base building and ressource gathering. But unlike most such games where soldiers are endlessly reproducable, here soldiers are your most valuable ressource. You have a fixed number of them and almost everything needs soldiers. Constructing buildings and gathering ressources is done by them. If you want to research upgrades soldiers need to be tasked with research; you need tanks, someone needs to build them. And drive them. Some tasks can be automated later in a game but all automated options tend to be less efficient than using soldiers. So it remains a constant balancing issue. Pretty cool, imo. The story campaigns have a quirky little time travel gimmick of fighting in prehistoric siberia but beyond that is pretty generic. A miracle mineral has been found in siberia and an aggressive russian regime convinces the American government to use a ludicrous plan. They dig up an alien time machine from Area 51 and send an expedition on a one-way trip 2 million years into the past where their job is to mine all of the mineral, transport it to modern American soil und rebury all of it there. An alternate timeline happens, Russians learn of american time travel shenanegans and this time they have the time machine and send an army to stop the american mission to keep the mineral. War happens. On the technical level the game was clearly low-budget but most of the issues that caused have been fixed over the years by owsupport, a dedicated fan group that took over support for the game. The game's graphics are simple but timeless which works in its favor. The only thing that really remains is the dialogues. While the voice actors are not bad, at times the dialogue sounds weird, clearly bad direction. Also the occasional difference between what is said and what subtitles say is said. A special mention to the english voice acting: for cost reasons the developers used european voice actors which leads to several fake american accents, which can be bothersome to some.
Expand the review
One of the most unique RTS games with interesting game mechanics and perfect story. You either never heard of this game or you're life long fan and it's one of your favorite games - there's no between.
Expand the review
Both GoG and Steam versions are missing the audio files for the original Czech dubbing, even though there's settings for different localisations. [url=https://original-war.net/files.php?c=18]You can download the missing files here and just drop them into the install folder. As for the game itself, it might come off as a Red Alert copycat, but that's way off the mark. With the typical eurojank ambition to outdo every possible competition in gamedesign it ends up being one of the most complex strategy games I've ever played. Over the years the jank parts of it also got ironed out and it's a higly polished, moddable game now (with workshop support!!!), with modernized graphics options, new interface, modern controls... What makes this one of the most autistic strategy games? [*]complex damage system instead of just HP for every unit [*]every unit is a named unique unit with stats for physical and engineering ability [*]you can level up all of them, making every single soldier like a warcraft 3 hero [*]highground vision advantage, bushes and crawling like in Commandos [*]you get RPG choices and branching in the campaign mode [*]the more soldiers you keep alive the more veterans you'll have for the final mission [*]1st mission, game is already trying to play mind tricks on you [*]story is both americans and soviets going back in time 2 million years to cancel the 21st century Yep, this game is absolute cinema.
Expand the review
Similar games
View all
Earth 2140
The year is 2140. After numerous wars and several environmental disasters, only two world powers remain; the United Civilized States (»UCS«), covering the American continent, Western Europe and North Africa, and the Eurasian Dynasty (»ED«) covering the coherent landmasses of Eastern Europe and Asia.
Supreme Commander
For a thousand years, three opposing forces have waged war for what they believe is true. There can be no room for compromise: their way is the only way. Dubbed The Infinite War, this devastating conflict has taken its toll on a once-peaceful galaxy and has only served to deepen the hatred between the factions.
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
The last days of man are at hand.. Two years after the Infinite War the once great warring nations now lie in ruins, and humanity’s hope for a brighter future is nothing but a bitter memory. A new, seemingly unstoppable enemy, supported by the zealots of The Order, now seeks to eradicate mankind: UEF, Aeon Loyalist, and Cybran alike.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
A ground-based RTS prequel to the classic Homeworld games. Assemble your fleet and lead them to victory on the shifting sands of Kharak in this compelling strategy game for PC from Blackbird Interactive.
There Came an Echo
There Came an Echo is a real-time strategy game in which the player assumes command of a small squadron, using an advanced voice recognition system to issue orders. It features a character-driven sci-fi narrative that stars Wil Wheaton, Ashly Burch, Laura Bailey, Yuri Lowenthal, and more!
Iron Marines
Real-time strategy battles in amazing sci-fi worlds! Command brave soldiers, mighty mechas and powerful aliens to face the greatest challenges in hostile alien worlds. The galaxy needs you!
Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal
Creeper World 3 is what happens when cellular automata takes over a strategy simulation. Instead of discrete units that attack your base, a fluid-like substance spreads over the terraformable terrain. Your base, your weapons, your strategy... you must adapt them all.
Earth 2150 Trilogy
Your heroes and your armies will need strong leadership to take them on a spellbinding odyssey that has everything a gamer’s heart could wish for breathtaking worlds in space, battles against cunning enemies and even downright treason from your own government faction - are you up to it?
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition is the ultimate Dawn of War experience, featuring the original Dawn of War and all its expansions, along with enhanced visuals, an improved camera, and 64-bit platform support.
STAR WARS™ Empire at War - Gold Pack
Command or corrupt an entire galaxy in the definitive Star Wars strategy collection. It is a time of galactic civil war. Will you take up the reins of the Rebellion, assume control of the Empire, or rule the Star Wars Underworld?
Supreme Commander 2
Includes 47 Steam achievements, leaderboards, and stats!
The Red Solstice
2280 A.D. The last few survivors of a ruined Earth seek a new home: Mars, a planet whose inhabitants didn't take too kindly to outsiders. The Red Solstice is a tense, tactical, squad-based action game. Fight to survive with up to 8 players in co-op, or lead your own squad in single-player mode.
Frequently Asked Questions
Original War is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam.
Original War is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 9.99€ on Steam.
Original War received 1,928 positive votes out of a total of 2,030 achieving an impressive rating of 9.04.
😍
Original War was developed by Altar Games and published by Bohemia Interactive.
Original War is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Original War is not playable on MacOS.
Original War is not playable on Linux.
Original War offers both single-player and multi-player modes.
Original War offers both Co-op and PvP modes.
Original War does not currently offer any DLC.
Original War is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.
Original War does not support Steam Remote Play.
Original War is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Original War.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 19 January 2026 22:02 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 27 January 2026 19:51 |
| Steam price | 29 January 2026 20:50 |
| Steam reviews | 28 January 2026 06:02 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Original War, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Original War
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Original War concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Original War compatibility
Game modes
Multiplayer
Features
Online players
16
Developer
Altar Games
Publisher
Bohemia Interactive
Release
27 Jan 2014
Platforms
Clicking and buying through these links helps us earn a commission to maintain our services.