Crisis in the Kremlin: The Cold War

This is my first time reviewing a game, and hopefully this brings the attention towards this game to other strategy/political sim gamers. This game is certainly an improvement over the first CITK, also taking good concepts from both Ostalgie and Mao's Legacy. The good part: 1. complexity of indicators 2. better explanation on how the indicator works 3. budgets do matter compared to CITK 1 which usually spams civil tech, state budget, other techs and weapons 4. income is calculated by GDP 5. trade aspects do matter the bad part: 1. balancing in laws. Some laws are certainly better over another. Being harsh on labor laws, 3 price control, private prisons, Kadarism/Titoism path and labor punishment are the best way to go to ensure your budget is maximum. Balance between liberal media and art laws are good to give civil liberties but also to stop postmodernism. It needs a considerable balancing to ensure that Authoritarian path and full Liberal path could be viable. 2. GDP cap, based on indicators x laws. GDP caps should be able to be adjusted based on the number of population, or infrastructure to ensure that investing in economy remains relevant if someone is able to obtain several techs that increased monthly indicators of the economy. 3. Population is not really relevant. There are no considerable difference in income between few millions of people. Population should be multiplier of GDP income not only based on tax, but also based on economic indicators. In the game, if population isn't positively relevant, then paid migration is the only law to be used for economic importance. Either, that would destroy indicators such as availability of education, health and other aspects. 4. In case population isn't relevant, absorbing Warsaw Pact members into SSRs also unprofitable. Trade, with relevant laws are considerably more profitable than absorbing WP countries into SSRs. Correct me if i am wrong about this. But i recommend this game, so that Nostalgames can gain more revenue and create better Political Simulation/Strategy games in the future. Correction: for beginners it is better to use Birdcage (not moving to lower or upper tier of this law), as Birdcage has moderate increase in income without any malus to another income. Use Kadarism or Titoism if you are confident in certain segment of your economy.

Quite possibly the greatest (political) simulator of the late era USSR and cold war! While it serves as a remake of the original game from 2017, serving the same basic premise of trying to save the union from it's real life fate. But alongside a far more legible and less janky UI and game-play feel it expands upon the concept tenfold, with far more player involvement in the outcome of the cold war and the involvement of the politics of the party, alongside nearly everything else you could imagine. It would be no exaggeration to say that for the price this is the best game of it's type, and like other games by this team will likely get future updates. I urge you, please support the wonderful developers and play this game, or at the very least try it's demo for no cost! Мечта прекрасная, ещё не ясная, Уже зовёт тебя вперёд!

I was a big fan of the team's previous CitK game (of which this is remake/reimagining), but it was one of those games I couldn't recommend to anyone. The systems were way too opaque, the English translation lacking, you had to put a good deal of effort to appreciate it fully. Thankfully, the team learned and iterated well. This game is so much more approachable without actually giving up on complexity, it allows the player to peer under the hood and make decisions appropriately. I imagine it will look a bit daunting if you've never played a sim like this before, but the tutorial is decent and will give you everything you need. A great game for all Cold War nerds out there, looking forward to many replays and the inevitable Yugoslavia DLC.

The game you love, but with a clean, easy to use UI, I expected the UI from Ostalgie/Mao, but this is leagues improved, scrollable, beautiful, accessible and drowning in immersive elements. Every aspect of the experience is improved. The translation isn't 100% perfect but with context tooltips and visual information you always can work it out with ease. If you don't know this franchise, it's a strategy/simulation game using the interface of an interactive story. You guide the USSR through the period that historically saw it fall, and see where you can take it.

Only thing I could recommend is if mouse hovering gave a breakdown of what contributes to each positive and negative stat.

It's a great game now and it looks like it will have a lot of potential to be even better with time and modding

Great game, good balance of challenge and fun. One thing I would recommend fixing is the ability to raise the maximum for secret service points as the 100 limit makes it irritating due to how easily depleted the service points are from events and trying to win wars. If you are a fan of previous games by Kremlin/nostal games you will love this, and its also a big advancement in english translation from past games. The tutorial is also really helpful, and theres a lot of depth in the game mechanics.

I have found this game to be deeply confusing and unintuitive. I will readily concede that this could very well be a skill issue on my part, but the consistent trouble i have navigating the economy and politics of my nation makes me, at best, confused, and at worst, angry. I do not know how to keep my economy from crashing, or to keep the army from couping me every other month. They never succeed but they keep trying. I'll adjust my budget into the green, and the next month it's back in the negatives and i get constant events about needing to put money into light or heavy industry or consumer goods. I keep funding these in budget, but the total lack of resources or tooltips or concise guidance on economic management or a UI that scales to fit my screen makes this game an exercise in futility. I cannot fault the direction or the effort or the people who have made this game, a lot of historical research has clearly gone into this. I look forward to seeing this game update occasionally, i will play it again in a year probably.

Great game, looks way better than the original - think the ui at the top of the screen should be slightly larger, the same with the ui for the icons/writing in stats, budget, etc I also miss the comfy office... perhaps a mod could add it back in

Was skeptical because of the launch issues, but yes, this is a definitive improvement over the first game. It's a shame that you can't play beyond 2000, but there's still plenty to do between the timeframe of 1985-2000, and the various mechanics are reworked to be both more realistic and more enjoyable for the player. Enthusiastic recommend for the price.

Historically Accuracy: If you are looking to go down any path other than the historic path (which failed), REMOVE GORBACHEV AT YOUR EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY!

Great Remake of the old Game .. sme issue need to be resolved though ... espacialy if you focus on economy the game severly struggles great economy = hyper inflation also you can´t relebantly increase production of essential ressorces

The game is amazing and I love it. You will not find a game of equal quality about the Cold War anywhere else, on or off steam. There is an incredible amount of detail dedicated to the political system of the USSR and even more detail in the various reforms you can make to it. Something which especially stands out is the level of flavour text and miscellaneous details which add so much to your experience as General Secretary. The only flaw I can point out is that currently the economic system seems to be broken or bugged, with the economy plateau'ing in the midgame as you maximises the economic indicators, leaving you unable to grow the economy any further. I'm sure though that this will be fixed soon.

It's a unique game. Very rarely do we ever get a cold war game, especially one this great. Thank you developers. I am excited for future content.

The game is not ready yet. It is buggy, fundamental game mechanics are unexplained and confusing, the UX is bad. It's just really hard to tell what's going on. Basic things like being thrown into an event where you have to choose you economic policy, but not having any way to know what the economic policy options are besides their name are a core flaw for a decision based game. Probably another year of bug fixes and improvements are necessary before this game should be purchased.

Nostalgames have outdone themselves with this one, it feels like their magnum opus! I must admit that, even as a seasoned player of their previous titles, it took me a few hours and one Guide here on Steam to get properly acquainted with this game, but only because this has so much content! It really seems like they have combined the best of all their previous games in this one. It is much more transparent and there is so much to do, so many effects and decisions to manage ~w~ (It even seems like they plan to add other playable countries in this very detailed game, since there is a "Yugoslavia" button on the bottom right) I see this becoming one of my favourite games tbh <3<3<3<3<3

Absolutely amazing game, by far the best in it's category. Brilliant economic simulator especially.

One of the best political and geopolitical simulators there is on this platform. If they eventually add other countries in expansions this is gonna be one of the best Grand Strategy games out there. However it is also one of the worst economy simulators there are on the platform as well. Your economy will collapse without warning in the span of a single year around 1995 and the game will not give you any feedback on why this is happening (therefore meaning you can't do anything about it) For me personally the positives definitely outweigh the negatives but I still find them important to mention in the review

A masterful rework of a great niche strategy series, CitK: The Cold War is one of the most comprehensive and interesting political games I've played, no game comes quite close to the balance of complexity and simplicity this game and its predecessors have struck. From Paradox-Style Budgetary screens, decisions, and events, the massive amount of reforms available to select, and the introduction of individual politicians and party positions, this game simulated the USSR's politics in a way no other game has. had some hiccups before release but genuinely a great game especially for the low price (Proletarian Devs).

If you ever wanted to build fully automated gay luxury space communism, this is the game for you.

This is a really excellent game. All the political aspects and indicators are really well done and make a lot of sense. It feels as if, if you made those decisions in real life, the reaction would have been mostly exactly as they state it would have been. The only issue I have is the economy. I found that year on year my economy would randomly grow or tank without context. Sometimes, I could gather that this was due to an oil crisis. But when an industry or something else tanked, there is no indication as to why. I assumed it was related to investment in that industry, but it doesn't seem to be. There needs to be some market indicator. Some sort of world (and domestic) supply and demand curve, so you can see what oil (and other) markets are doing. Overall, I just think measurable market dynamics need to be incorporated into the supply chains of he industries, for example. This needs improvement. Other than that, I'm enjoying it a lot.

A geo-political simulator game, a succesor to NostalGames' 2017 title of the same game, which in itself is a spiritual successor to another such game from the 90s. The game really has several main features: First, the world map, where the player can intect with foreign countries. Second, the events which are quite frequent, allowing the player to make decisions on how to handle recently relevant domestic and foreign matters. Third, the doctrines and decisions, allowing the player to make affect the policies and legislation of the USSR. Fourth, the budget, allowing the player to change the distribution of the government's purse. All of this is balanced by a parade of values the player has to track - from the monetary income, to the relation with major foreign powers, to the strength and loyalty the armed forces, intelligence agencies and various other groups, to the societal approval of the government, to the player's own political capital. Oh, and all of that, while the other politicians scheme away to try and further their own interests. You'll have to manage all that and more besides to handle the game. In general, this one is improved in every way to the 2017 title, with a greatly improved interface and mechanics. The usual jank that comes with some of Nostalgames' earlier titles is gone. The interface actually feels nice to use and refined. Events and decisions are now much more clear as to why certain options are or aren't available. A massive improvement over the previous entry in the series. The game also borrows a book from "China: Mao's Legacy" in that it adds a political character dynamic. While nowhere near as in-dept as something like crusader kings, it blows the one from the aforementioned game out of the water. The characters, all based in history, are now adequately explained, each with their own traits, factions and portrait. The game also features a tutorial, and a sandbox mode, and a "last hero mode" (which is not explained and turns out to be an ironman mode, allowing only one save slot per game). The game has its difficulty though, and it's perfectly possible to lose even in the sandbox. You'll probably replay it a few times before you get the hang of it. As always, the game features plenty of alt-history scenarios, mostly, but not entirely driven by the player. The player is generally relatively unconstrained, and allowed to be as much of a reformer, Stalinist, or even neo-monarchist as he or she desires. However, it should be noted that the game has a de facto Overton's window mechanic in the shape of the various parties/factions. You'll have to ensure that certain factions are dominant before you're allowed to enact certain reforms. Many of them can also only be enacted sequentially, ergo you have to manouver your way into position to set yourself up for future changes. This is exactly how a political game should play and it's implemented very well. The factions are not static, either, as they tie into the character system. There is even a secret loyalties mechanic, where politicians can mask their affiliation to concal a loyalty to a faction or party the player has chosen to ban. These factions can occupy most of the political compass, with a spectrum of radicalism between them. Still, a few criticisms - certain events, especially related to a 'crisis' in a given economic sector or separatism in the republics, can begin to spam under certain conditions. Nostalgames should add an option to 'remember my decision' and continually apply a certain solution, for as long as that solution is available or until the player cancels it. A few modifiers, such as the "wars" modifier on the special services strength also need further clarification. Also, the economic sliders in some budgetary areas exist on a massive scale. A slight move of the slider could easily x20 or x100 the given line item and bankrupt the country or devalue the currency. Some way, for example slider scaling, should be done so that this doesn't happen. I've generally avoided using the sliders and only dared use the + and - buttons for this reason. In general, a must-play for anyone that enjoys political simulators. Not wargames, though, as this is definitely NOT a wargame, though it does have conflicts you can intervene in. This is pure, unadultarated politics. What you think of the game depends on how much, or little, you enjoy that. As far as the execution - this is by far Nostalgames' best title to date and it shows. It's fun to play and you don't feel like you're fighting the interface. You feel like you're in charge, but you're not a diety. You're a person in power, who could lose that power, should they lead the country to failure or fail themselves at managing the competing interests fighting a constant tug-of-war over the country's future. Great job! Recommended.

A difficult game to get a grasp on but extremely fun and rewarding once you do and probably the best game that Nostalgames has made so far. If you choose to pick it up then I highly recommend that you be prepared to fail a few times before the mechanics fully click & also not to be afraid to experiment with different strategies. There is no one way to win the game and being willing to try different things will help you learn what works and give you the knowledge to try your hand at some of the more difficult achievements and challenges.

First game but with most of the problems fixed and a whole lot of more things to do. All the guess work with badly translated options are now more clear and if you still can't understand text hovering over an option shows what it will exactly do in terms of stats and numbers. There is brand new decisions mechanic that allows you to have more control over how your country functions. Most of the stuff that in the first game that were one time events, in which if you couldn't pick ideal option you would lose the chance forever are now decisions you can take later while in a better situation.

Wanted to play a game to completion and a victory (even though it's open-ended) and see how it plays. It's obviously superior in every way to the past concepts of Crisis in the Kremlin. Music is very good, well selected. The UI is that kind of garish kind I love a lot, clunky but lovable. I do feel like it does suffer from the problem of failing to remind the player of some actions that are monthly, but it is nonetheless very good if this is what you're looking for, in my opinion, notable is the "country selection" which only shows the USSR - it looks like they're going to add more countries. something to look forward to.

Best game in the niche of modern political sims. What is good: detailed atmosphere, historical characters and events, tuned economy and society simulation without too much complexity. What might be better: technology still seems to easy to rush, allows nobrainer win as USSR even on realism.

Good iteration on the previous title. The interface is quite good, and the effect of decisions are much better communicated to the player. There is still room for improvement in translation and making certain aspects of game-mechanics more transparent, but overall it is a very fun and polished title, highly recomend you like political and economy sims

Pretty good game. Has a lot of fun internal and external larp as well great underrated schizos. Fuck you for making me wait 7 months to play it, But the game is alright I guess.

As with all of their games, it is a delight to play. Buy it, sink in your hours, do it as it should be or go down another path. Hugely improved UI, translation, and mechanics from the older games (even though I love them all). No regrets, one of my favorite games from my favorite dev company. Enjoy!

I get to restore Stalinism and crush peaceful protesters with tanks. Absolute certified W of game, ☭/10 In all seriousness though, this game is much better than the previous one. Compared to CITK1 (which was hard to navigate, a bit buggy, and also hard to understand what was going on in the game in general), this is a much needed improvement. Better UI, a pretty map, tooltips that tell me what each action does to the various variables in the game, and more. Overall, please get this game if you love cold war politics like I do. This is one of the best in the political sim genre. (also, don't mind some the grammar mistakes in the game. The devs are Russian [so they have a hard time with grammar sometimes] and the mistakes add to the charm of the game in my opinion. You'll get used to it.0

Отличная визуальная новелла с элементами экономики, экономии, но без аниме

based and heccin game i feel like a million mao bucks playing this i need mor eof this gamae i just awnat mor ei need to fulfil my fantasies i need more beter than paradox hoi iv and suzerian praise be nostalkagaem

An improvement over CITK 2019 in every conceivable way and probably Nostalgames' best offering yet. The menus are actually easy to use, readable, and tell you about what's happening and why in the USSR. The UI is great, far better than any Nostalgames game up to this point. There's loads of content to explore and paths to take. I like how you aren't just limited to communism, but rather are limited to maintaining the existence of the union. The flexible world map that includes political and geographic changes (like the Aral Sea drying up) is great and makes for new achievements and goals for the world. Honestly, the flexibility is the best part. Nation names (even the USSR's) and flags change, too. The game has loads of problems, too. A particularly big one for me is that, in one of the screenshots on the store page, it implies that you can change the starting date like CITK 2019. This isn't true. Your only starting date is 1985. Another big issue is that inflation is COMPLETELY BUSTED and the game doesn't tell you what causes it at all. I had to find out for myself that it stems from investing in too many things in the budget at once. Up to that point, literally every single one of my runs was being destroyed by inflation rising up to an amount that overflowed. When you hover over inflation, it only tells you how much it's increasing or decreasing each month; no explanation for how and why it happens. Most importantly, when inflation starts, it's impossible to stop. There are more things that the game doesn't tell you but make huge issues for your runs. For example, the game will claim that your military is being hampered by "diminishing returns impulse," and then proceeds to not tell you why it happens and how to fix it. There are also different outcomes in events, like one decision can have three outcomes, and some outcomes are good while others are devastating. The game doesn't tell you how to get that outcome or why that outcome happened in the context of your statistics. Being a Nostalgames production, there are a few errors in grammar and word usage in the English translation. There aren't as many like you'd see in Collapse or Ostalgie, and they weren't really experience-ruining or barring, but just be aware of that if you're planning on playing. All in all, CITK 2025 is pretty good and enjoyable and the developers are active at the moment constantly updating the game and fixing bugs. It's addicting and kind of simple when you get past all of the menus, but complex in content and the possibilities of what you can do in each run. But there are some problems you should know before buying.

Very fun! Major upgrade over the original version definitely recommend.

Rehabilitated Stalin Purged revisionists Built an automated socialist centrally planned economy with no taxes and 30 hour work week Built a soviet democracy Built the Palace of the Soviets Expanded and centralized the USSR Built soviet colonies on the Moon and set foot on Mars Defeated imperialism and brought about the world revolution 10/10 The devs should be awarded the Hero of Socialist Labour medal for their service.

You know its a banger when you can became imperial communist with one of the Romanov as its emperor.

Sending the army to restore socialism. something about birdcages?

1:1 a massive improvement over the old Crisis in the Kremlin. Very happy to see it!

Demo was great, this is even better. Worth the wait. Nice-sized update within the first week. Overall, solid game. Personally for me it's a bit too hard to even get to 1990(I never managed to get to 1990). If you want to use inflation: don't. The economy isn't realistic and you won't get extra tax money. Keep it at -2 projected inflation or as close as you can get above it(for example -3 or -4). Anything closer to 0 or above it and you'll get inflation and lose money. Highly recommend, just make sure you have 100+ political power on january or you will lose on the spot.

Good game, a bit rough around the edges but I'm sure it'll get better as you move on. Some minor suggestions and pet peeves: 1.Some UI QoL changes would be greatly appreciated - like, having the ability to actually observe the effects of a certain doctrine when the event offers you an opportunity to fire it. Some of the modifiers and statistics could be more transparent in their nature as to how are they impacted - especially relating to outcome events, which seem to be highly based on hidden modifiers that you can only guess through multiple sessions of trial and error. 2. Slightly revise the conspiracies system. Politicians tend to conspire a lot and in 99% of the cases it's the same old stale "HEY BUDDY, RETIRE THIS GUY OR ELSE" event which just keeps draining you of political power no matter the way you swing. 3. Add in some randomness and variety to the AI behaviour. US always seems to go for the same line of research, so in advance, some of your own research is set in stone (Like getting the domestic internet, genetic research etc). I think research in general is too one-faced and could potentially be expanded upon with sub-research, more mutually exclusive decisions to not be a simple game of "this or that".

great game! if you're unfamiliar with the developer, don't go in expecting something extremely slick & polished. this is easily the most polished & intuitive of their games, but it still has some jank & opaque mechanics. that said, if you are interested at all in political sims and cold war/soviet history, definitely give it a shot, it's very good stuff.

Far more user-friendly interface and description than in the first game, recommended to jump straight into this one if you're new to Nostalgames. In my opinion it could be further improved in making economic modifiers' explanation clearer so players can see where did their budgeting or specific doctrine laws go wrong exactly.

Absolutely insane game. Its both a challenging, deep, and compelling late Soviet political simulator and a schizo sandbox at the same time. Its a bit janky and rough around the edges, but considering the games only 8 bucks Id say its a steal. Only complaints are that theres no way to upload custom leader portraits (despite being a feature in the demo) and theres no solid user guide yet, and the economy mechanics are a bit opaque and unintuitive. Otherwise though its a ton of fun

Great game, massive improvement to the older version especially at this price. Works well on pc as well as steamdeck.

It is amazingly complex like all the games by this team are. However they had made amazing improvements in UX, and communication of information to the player. You can now know what do you need to perform certain actions, something that in previous games was literally either unknown or ambigous.

very fun and influential game. I think with this as opposed to their previous creations, Nostalgames has the potential to skyrocket themselves into the light of being one of the more well-known political simulators. It rivals Democracy in the context of a different choice for the Soviet Union circa 1985.

It is a definitive gameplay improvement from the the previous games of the publisher. great to scratch an itch. There are still some rough areas but with time it should improve and demonstrate it self as a great game. I am awaiting eagerly for more updates as well as for the dlc's adding even more content.

Very good game! detailed and immersive with high replayability.

9/10 All around great game. Takes all the aspects from the previous Crisis in the Kremlin game and improves upon it. There are a few instances that are buggy, but I'm sure they will be worked out in time. Honestly my only complaint is that the game ends in 2000. Obviously content runs out by that point, but I say that because the previous game let you continue endlessly. Regardless, I'm looking forward to any dlcs that might be on the way. Knowing all the delays (7 total) it took just to release the base game, we might be waiting a year or two, but it would be worth the wait.

Great game so far, very in depth, my economy keeps collapsing during the oil crisis