Blue Dot

After years of silence, the realistic military simulation shooter is finally back thanks to a publishing deal

Forget about long waits and frustrating deaths: ’83 seeks to redefine the military genre with fast-paced gameplay and plenty of action.

Gabriel Huerta

Update: Jun 16th, 2025 19:29 CEST

For first-person shooter lovers looking for a challenging and realistic experience—but without falling into the frustration of spending more time on the “respawn” screen than on the battlefield—comes a proposal that seems to offer the ideal middle ground: ’83. This title, originally announced in 2019, has resumed development thanks to a new publishing deal and promises to be the bridge between an accessible shooter and a pure military simulation.

The team behind ’83 is no stranger to this type of experience: it is made up of former developers of the acclaimed Rising Storm and Red Orchestra series. This already gives us an idea of the level of authenticity and attention to detail we can expect in aspects such as gun handling, bullet physics, and that “boots in the mud” aesthetic that so appeals to fans of the military genre.

Strategy and action, without missing a beat

The production of ’83 is now in the hands of Blue Dot. The game places us in an alternate history in which the Cold War intensified on the eastern front. It is a military simulation FPS with massive 40 vs. 40 player combat, focused on tactical objectives. Beyond the realistic weapons and expansive scenarios, the twist is in its Commander system: a player can manage the team’s strategy from an overview, in the style of a real-time strategy game, organizing units, tanks, and vehicles, while each game lasts just 30 to 40 minutes.

Blue Dot sums it up this way: “Everybody loves Tarkov and Arma, but not everyone can game 100 hours a week, or afford to prep for a match for XYZ minutes, only to die instantly. ’83 is mindful of your time. It skips the dull parts commonly present in realistic games, takes you to action fast, but does not neglect the lethality of war."

For now, there is no release date, but the team expects it to hit Steam Early Access within a year. In the meantime, you can add ’83 to your wish list on Steam.