1943 Deadly Desert
1943 Deadly Desert
Game
Game2009
AI War: Fleet Command
Developer Arcen Games
AI War: Fleet Command is a real time strategy video game created by independent developer Arcen Games. The game was first released on the Arcen Games website and Impulse on June 2, 2009, before getting a Steam release on October 16, 2009, that coincided with the release of version 2.0. AI War blends the 4X, tower defense, and traditional RTS genre to create something that was hailed as unique but with a steep… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
193 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 16, 2026 · last updated Oct 16, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
115 positive · 52 negative
95% range 61–75%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 115 | 52 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 10 | 0 | 16 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,037 of 1,230 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
69% recommend · 119 yes, 54 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 173 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,326 of 1,611 positive).
Players describe it as a deep, unique strategy game with a steep learning curve. [1][2][3] Many note the AI is brutally difficult and the game is not for casual players. [4][5][6] Some reviewers complain about tiny text and UI scaling issues. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [9]
This is a 12 year old science fiction themed RTS/4X/Grand Stategy space game where you start with a single ship and can expand your way to controlling the galaxy. Great concept, so what went wrong? They didn't bother with UI scaling so if you own a PC made, well, any time since the game launched, really, the text is impossibly small and impossible to read, making the game impossible to play. With great sadness, a …
- [7]
Only reason I wouldn't recommend this is because everything is so freaking tiny (text and stuff) that it hurt my eyes. Being bigger might clog the screen, but I struggled through my hour of this. That, and it's really complicated! Would probably suit an RTS veteran, but just made my head hurt so not compelled to continue.
- [1]
Despite it's simple appearance this is a pretty deep strategy game. You don't start off against the enemy on even footing so it will take some level of strategy to survive while growing to a point at which you can take on the AI without getting completely crushed. There are a bunch of neat units and tons of things to do so you'll be quite busy managing it all. Mechanics seemed pretty solid and no significant bugs …
- [4]
This is a positive review but with the warning that all of the AI War game series are very niche products. These are intentionally super-difficult and frustrating tests of you versus a cheating AI with an incredibly difficult learning curve. Minimal graphics, hours of reading instructions and hours of practice later, you'll still be losing; until you get just the right balance of approach and solve the galaxy wide …
- [5]
This is not a game for the faint of heart. Think of it as a brutal game of chess, played against a sadist bent on causing you the HIGHEST amount of emotional pain. While you're in a volcano, while people around the lip of that volcano hurl rocks at you. The AI is brutal. The game is brutal. You will loose systems and watch hours of progress get swept away like cobwebs because you THOUGHT you could tank a …
Summarised from 34 of the 195 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
AI War: Fleet Command sits at 69% positive across 167 opinionated reactions from 2 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
AI War received generally favorable reviews and achieved an overall score of 80 on Metacritic. Some reviewers have criticized AI War for being too complex with too steep a learning curve, which contributed to it not being nominated for a 2009 Independent Games Festival award. AI War's more positive reviews said "AI War is a revolution in terms of how RTSs play," "[The first three AI War Expansions] are perfect examples of what an expansion should be," and "AI War breaks most of the genre's rules. Which is precisely why it's incredible." These same reviewers also noted "it's got a considerable learning curve," "The one thing [the first three expansions] have in common, however, is how much…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 193 · most liked firstFun game, old school. Nobody will read my review so I Will Eat 1 Tablespoon of ketchup For Every Like this gets.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is 'complete' already with multiple endings, but they're planning at least a year of early access. Plus, Arcen is famous for post-release support. The AI War games each got hundreds of updates and several expansions a piece. If this one sells (and I hope it does) it has ENDLESS potential.
positive · AI labelView post →Despite it's simple appearance this is a pretty deep strategy game. You don't start off against the enemy on even footing so it will take some level of strategy to survive while growing to a point at which you can take on the AI without getting completely crushed. There are a bunch of neat units and tons of things to do so you'll be quite busy managing it all. Mechanics seemed pretty solid and no significant bugs even though it's an older game. A great game for fans of space combat or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's no other game quite like it. And while it grew a TON in early access, I can see this one still expanding for another several years at least It's by (mostly solo) tiny team Arcen Games, and their previous release, AI War 2, is still getting major updates 7+ years from its early access debut
positive · AI labelView post →Heart of The Machine is an experimental strategy game from Arcen (the AI War series, The Last Federation, Starward Rogue) about being SKYNET, or at least some kind of emergent machine super-intelligence. Do you infiltrate, collaborate, overthrow or exterminate humanity? Seems like lots of options!
neutral · AI labelView post →Likes: - Epic space battles - aggression penalty - Tactical attacks Dislikes: - Fleet micromanagement is painful - Keeping extensive territory becomes tedious once enemy fleets exceed defences cap - Fleets die depressingly fast - Rebuilding is painfully slow - AI home bases have an invulnerable warp gate??? So annoying. It is better to attack both home bases simultaneously which is annoying. I really liked the early to mid game, you expand and strategically decide how to tackle targets. In…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AI War is like no other strategy game. In an RTS or 4X, you basically always fight opponents which are of about equal strength to you. In AI War, you fight a massively strong opponent. This opponent already owns basically the entire galaxy. But the AI does not perceive you as a strong threat, which is why it doesn't just attack you with everything. Apparently it is fighting something in a different universe, after having defeated you. You are fighting small scale guerilla warfare. There is no…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Short answer: B U Y the game and all DLCs Long answer: I played the game since I was like... 3 or 5 years old and I didn't know what I was doing. When I became 8, I started to get more into the game (Played with my brother and father). At 13 I kind of stopped playing the game At 16 I came back to it, did some LAN parties with my brother and father (again). We managed to beat level 7 in 2024. Now, 2025, I did a solo max ai difficulty and... the run ended (had 19/40 of the planets under my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Most of my time with this game have been offline. This is a GREAT and vast strategy game with lots of replayability. Be aware, there is a unique game mechanic where the more aggressive you are the AI threat raises and will become extremely hostile. The best way to overcome this is to scout and decide carefully which planets and tech you need to capture and hold. There are lots of options in the settings to alter the game mechanics and many different possible play styles and strategies to win.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Only reason I wouldn't recommend this is because everything is so freaking tiny (text and stuff) that it hurt my eyes. Being bigger might clog the screen, but I struggled through my hour of this. That, and it's really complicated! Would probably suit an RTS veteran, but just made my head hurt so not compelled to continue.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a positive review but with the warning that all of the AI War game series are very niche products. These are intentionally super-difficult and frustrating tests of you versus a cheating AI with an incredibly difficult learning curve. Minimal graphics, hours of reading instructions and hours of practice later, you'll still be losing; until you get just the right balance of approach and solve the galaxy wide test. If you ever wanted to turn a spreadsheet into an RTS wargame, this is the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tutorial: Look, we have a tough planet ahead where the enemy has an Ion Cannon superweapon which one-shots our ships. We should make 5 transport ships and make evasive maneuvers and skip to the next planet and take that one instead, because that planet is easier. After that, we will similarly island-hop into the enemy capital to finish things off. Me: Detonates a nuke in the Ion Cannon planet so that no defense turrets can stand in the way of my bigger nuke, which I send through the ashes and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tried getting into the game twice, once many years ago (2014 apparently). Now, it seems the game doesn't function properly. The game quite frequently just goes to a black screen and system cursor while music continues and the game keeps focus so alt-tab etc. don't work. In two different game attempts, i didn't make it to even attacking my first enemy before the game bricked and the only thing i could do to be able to use my pc for anything was task manager and kill the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →+20 SOCIAL CREDIT ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢁⠈⢻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⡀⠭⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠄⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣿⣷⣶⣶⡆⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⣼⣿⣿⠿⠶⠙⣿⡟⠡⣴⣿⣽⣿⣧⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣟⣭⣾⣿⣷⣶⣶⣴⣶⣿⣿⢄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣩⣿⣿⣿⡏⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣹⡋⠘⠷⣦⣀⣠⡶⠁⠈⠁⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣍⠃⣴⣶⡔⠒⠄⣠⢀⠄⠄⠄⡨⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡘⠿⣷⣿⠿⠟⠃⠄⠄⣠⡇⠈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⠋⢁⣷⣠⠄⠄⠄⠄⣀⣠⣾⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠉⠙⠻ ⡿⠟⠋⠁⠄⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⡯⢓⣴⣾⣿⣿⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⡟⣷⠄⠹⣿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ +1 WAIFU ⣿⣿⣿⣿⠛⠛⠉⠄⠁⠄⠄⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡟⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠄⠄⠄⠐⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠄⢀⡀⠠⠃⡐⡀⠠⣶⠄⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣶⠄⠰⣤⣕⣿⣾⡇⠄⢛⠃⠄⢈⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've tried to play this game at least twice over the years I've had it and never even managed to get past all three tutorials. I've never even seen the third tutorial because after playing through the first two I'm always so exhausted I need to take a break. By the time I've recovered enough to try to finish it, it's already been three years and I can't remember what I learned so I have to start all over again from the first tutorial. I think this game is very probably a good game, but it's a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game looks good (and probably is) but it's unplayable on a small screen because of the overabundance of details and the small everything. I'll edit when my machine overlord let's me buy a new screen. If I remember.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game truly feels like you are an underdog fighting an impossible battle. It manages to be one of the most emotional RTS games I've ever played, despite not really having much of a story at all. You feel the hope, desperation, and dread of your people, which makes victory infinitely satisfying. If you're someone who enjoys playing RTS games against AI opponents, especially if you prefer "turtling" in those games, then you will probably enjoy AI War.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This seems like an interesting game and is very detailed. I, however, am not smart enough to play it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a game for the faint of heart. Think of it as a brutal game of chess, played against a sadist bent on causing you the HIGHEST amount of emotional pain. While you're in a volcano, while people around the lip of that volcano hurl rocks at you. The AI is brutal. The game is brutal. You will loose systems and watch hours of progress get swept away like cobwebs because you THOUGHT you could tank a counter-attack. Play this game with the assumption that not only is there a very…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Error 404 While I do recommend this game I recommend AI War 2 even more as it's a vast improvement on what you see and get in this game. But this game has a bit more content due to the DLC list. If I had to describe this game it'd be zerg rush the game. Keep an eye on your resources, take over planets the AI holds, simple enough premise. But if you aren't careful the game can turn into tug of war, as the AI will escalate its own forces as it sees fit, and it doesn't take much to escalate.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →;( the only negative item: doesn't work on recent post-catalina macOS as it's 32bit app, and post-catalina is 64bit only ;( I wish I could get them to recompile or something
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tried but couldn't get to like it. Definitely for a niche audience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AI War is one of those games that describes its own arc of fanaticism. On first play, it's a graphically underwhelming, but mechanically overwhelming mess. You lose the game in a frustrating way. You know it's a good game, and maybe you stop playing it rather than dial down the difficulty, because that would harm your ego. On second play, you get the basics, the thrust of the game, and might walk away at this point, thinking you understand it. And you probably do. But you lose anyway, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Surprised I don't have more time in this game. Love a lot of the things Arcen Games makes, and this one still holds up for a solo player. Each game is a bit long, but with the expansions and stuff turned on, you can get whatever challenge level you like and a lot of different playstyles. Currently worked my way to a scenario where there's about 50,000 ships, probably 30,000 of which are active in the game at once. Sure, it's making my PC crawl, but holy cow you do not get this level of fun in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very nostalgic and the papers about how the AI worked almost lead me down a career in tech. Also the music is a bop
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AI War: Fleet Command, released in 2009, is a standout title in the real-time strategy (RTS) genre that offers a deeply complex and rewarding experience. However, it's not a game for the faint of heart. With one of the steepest learning curves I've encountered in a strategy game, getting into AI War can feel daunting—particularly because the in-game tutorial is lackluster. I found myself relying heavily on external guides to grasp the game's mechanics, which was a bit of a letdown. A more…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a 12 year old science fiction themed RTS/4X/Grand Stategy space game where you start with a single ship and can expand your way to controlling the galaxy. Great concept, so what went wrong? They didn't bother with UI scaling so if you own a PC made, well, any time since the game launched, really, the text is impossibly small and impossible to read, making the game impossible to play. With great sadness, a shoddy technical implementation has rendered what should be a must-play game…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is definitely not a casual game. This game will appeal to you if you enjoy a prolonged strategic game of attrition. You cannot win this game by brute force or fast expansion like in vast majority of 4X games because your opponent's (the Galactic Skynet) forces scale exponentially with your linear expansion. You cannot take every star system that you can attack. To win you'll have to devise a long-term plan and take only those systems that have very high strategic value (resources, position,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The most comprehensive, intergalactic strategy game on the market. Endless hours of challenging yet rewarding fun. Save humankind from an evil, out-of-control AI computer built by the humans, and retake the galaxy by wiping out AI orbital bases with your fleets. The AI can have up to 2 of many behaviour options that you choose to create unique enemy elements and mix and match AI teams with diverse chemistry combos and enable unique gameplay for each match. Behaviours affect things like how and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the very best RTS game i ever played
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →is there a player still playing this game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Holy Yes! Every time I play this game it rewards me with a scaling difficulty based on my direct actions, truly feels like playing vs an AI
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While Hooded Horse have signed a LOT of good stuff over the years, it's probably far more important that this is by Arcen Games, which is mostly just one guy - Chris Park. He's done a lot of ambitious things over the years. And his last game, AI War 2, left early access in 2019 and is still growing
neutral · AI labelView post →If I'm ever running Traveller and someone asks about in-game AI, I explain that it was banned after the 58th AI War.
neutral · AI labelView post →A good game which becomes a bit tedious in the later parts of the game. I would recommend the likes of Homeworld before this, smaller scope but better tactics and story for a low price on sale, but if you are looking for something larger scale and tactical about space ships in real time then this is a solid option.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like this, with all the stories about the insane AI in it. The best way to sum up the experience of this game is: ♥♥♥♥ out a million tiny units non-stop in a programmed loop; control "micro" comes down to positioning the units that move at different speeds; Rock, paper scissors to what beats what; Over-complicated "Kill this structure then do this and this, now attack that," gameplay loop. Maybe there's something I'm missing, but the game makes me feel empty and wondering…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game is a very unique take on the asynchron rts genre. perfectly worth the money and the DLCs rock!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems very promising but text is tiny like nothing I've ever seen, playing in 1080p on Linux. Looked at all the option tabs and didn't see any UI Scaling option as you'd find in literally any other commercial game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this a while ago, there might have been balance patches. My gripe was that I found an exploitable bug in the AI (as I thought was the idea) but the player is given an artificial cap on the numbers of units of each type - which was too low for my tactic to win before the AI aggro rose too high to compete with. It was something along the lines of using the limited stealth ships to remove certain turrets and then sending a cloaked engineer to build long-ranged turrets at the edges of the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is stupidly difficult. Even on the lowest difficulty level, expect the AIs to be able to field THOUSANDS of more ships than you can. And they do this in successive waves just minutes apart. ♥♥♥♥ this game. Go play something that doesn't make you want to stop gaming altogether.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, but stay away from part II
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AI War: Fleet Command is a far more superior product then Ai War 2. Get this one instead.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →how to say this... the point of the game is to defeat the galactic level AI that demolished 3/4 of the univers using whats left. So you're suppose to splinter cell it out, without being caught and kill the MF.... but how do you intend to slip by a GOD level AI WITH 200000 SHIPS FFS !!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Double also, if you ever catch the rts sicko bug, AI War: Fleet Command from 2009 Sicko game to the Nth degree, the AI mocks you while you lose, it's got massive spreadsheet syndrome, and every time someone beats the max difficulty, the devs /patch the game/ to remove that strategy
positive · AI labelView post →A pretty decent RTS game that does its own thing, and has surprising depth. I quite enjoyed it. If you are experiencing crashes when parking the game in the background, try toggle "settings->interface->disable pause on lost focus". You can still manually pause the game before you alt+tab away from the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yeah, it's alright.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →you think you have enough ships for the conquest of a system and it works out for the first three until your entire fleet gets destroyed in mere seconds by the AI on the fourth system and everything you had ever worked for in the past couple of hours for gets destroyed in the span of 5 minutes
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ion cannon op ai so silly hahahahaha
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Way back when, i did enjoy this game, it is still good. The problem is tedium. I mean sins has a problem with steam rolling, this game has a problem with attrition. You need about 60 to 80 systems in a playthrough to enable you to do what you need to win, as a rule.. By the 15th system its rinse and repeat grinding your forces to half or a quarter with each win, replace, wait, next system.. over and over... At least sins had the steam rolling so it didnt take even longer.. I dont like…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No UI scaling, unplayable at 4k
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →didnt understand it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For an older game and the genre, I had a lot of fun playing this. It has a sharp learning curve and you need to play thru at least once to get the hang of it, but it's a good game. Lots of depth and tons of different units you can get in different play-thrus.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You know of those 'one more turn' feeling in turn based game? now make it as an RTS game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →11/10 i believe me and my friend is stupid
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a challenge, the AI is not stupid. Stuck with it and it is worth every penny. This game takes a long time to master. The weak will just give up in frustration. It is that type of game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ahahaha - so, I'm playing a game called AI War about a rebellion against evil AI that's enslaved humanity and conquered the galaxy a key part of the game is destroying data centers this game is from 2009
neutral · AI labelView post →Today in #gameshistory: Indie RTS AI War - Fleet Command was released for PCs on the 14th of May, 2009. Besides feeling oddly topical, it was a wildly innovated game that forced players to only barely win.
neutral · AI labelView post →All things considered, Tech Bros cozy with Trump prefer we not call Iran the first AI War, as the results are as sloppy as a video game -- but with real people, bombs and leveled infrastructure. The evil geniuses are still mapping out diabolical plans, however, which we need to be aware of. #AI
neutral · AI labelView post →AI War: Fleet Command is another shining example of a "weird Indie thing", an asymmetric RTS that is almost as much puzzle as strategy game, since you have to very carefully pick out your targets rather than try to grab everything.
positive · AI labelView post →I can't play this after stellaris
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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