Rogue Waters
Rogue Waters
Game
Game2026
Nightmare Frontier
Developer Ice Code Games
Behold! The first-ever Tactical Extraction Looter where you pit your courage and leadership against fears made manifest: the Dreadweavers. Lead a band of Scavengers into a devastated West Coast City of the alternative 1900s. Get in, face the monsters, grab the loot you can carry and get out. Alive. From the Steam store page
139 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Oct 29, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
77
LovedLoved
90 positive · 27 negative
95% range 69–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 90 | 27 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
97 of 126 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
At a glance
Nightmare Frontier is a 2026 indie strategy video game, from Ice Code Games.
- 138 people have posted about this game on Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy
- posts span Jun 6, 2024 to Oct 29, 2026
- 77% of 117 Steam reviewers recommend it (their own thumbs)
- Steam reviewers had played a median of 5 h when they wrote
Assembled from TMDB, Wikidata and Steam fields and our own counts, nothing written by a model. Method
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Nightmare Frontier sits at 77% positive across 117 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 139 · most liked firstVery fun game, but they recently added a launcher that just presents you ads for other games and that seems to be it's only purpose. It's an ad and the play button to actually launch the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game's biggest innovation is its extraction mechanic. Instead of clearing every encounter, you're constantly weighing whether to push forward for more valuable loot or retreat before your squad is overwhelmed. As the Nightmare Level rises, enemies become increasingly dangerous, but the rewards improve accordingly. This creates meaningful tension rarely seen in turn-based strategy games. Every decision carries weight, making successful extractions feel genuinely rewarding. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What started off as a fun little turn based game quickly became revealed as a poorly designed, tedious grind-fest with significant balance issues. Each run starts to feel like work and it takes a lot of runs to feel like you're making any meaningful progress and every battle starts to feel the same and rapidly descends into boredom. Squad and inventory management is a pain and there are no skills or abilities for you to use on your characters outside of some very rudimentary abilities granted…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fantasy wild west themed tactics game with "extraction" elements built on the skeleton of their previous fantasy pirate themed roguelite tactics game Rogue Waters. The combat feels quite similar but with a larger focus on ranged attacks. The melee however is still of the variety where most attacks pushes both your character and the enemy they attack forward leading to some fun ways to hurt multiple enemies while also moving around without using up your movement points. One new…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, I've been diving into Nightmare Frontier, and overall, it's a pretty enjoyable experience in the crowded turn-based horror/roguelike space. It doesn't try to completely reinvent the wheel, but it does enough things well to keep you hooked. Here’s what stood out for me, both good and not-so-good: What I Liked: * Freedom of Pace: This might be my favorite part. The game lets you choose how you want to approach it. Want a slower, almost meditative experience focused on exploration and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On the positive side: I did like the art style, the way the story is told and, for some time, the battles. But the battles becomes very repetitive very fast and the gain for each run is very minimal. The last bit of enthusiasm was killed by a bug that prevented me from interacting with the generator - when I went back to menu and reloaded the save state, the game spawned 6-8 new enemies that killed my 30 minute run instantly. I really hate loosing playtime by bugs, so the thumb finally goes…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy new week! I was appointed Fear Ambassador for Nightmare Frontier. I am your Fear Queen. Come and check out version 1 of the game with me 😈 #ad ❄ twitch.tv/2dkiri
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm 40 hours in and its been fun. Its a tactical puzzler, with combos, chain attacks and gear progression. The graphics, sound and terrain art is stunning and slick. There is a lot that could be done to make the game better: Bigger more tactical maps where movement and cover mean something - the current small maps mean most monsters can move anywhere on the map and spank you, and vice versa. More granularity in the nightmare progression. Its scales up fast to being deadly in a few turns with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game devs lie about AI Generated content being in the game claiming it "isn't true anymore" despite multiple callouts. They just lock the threads about it. Game devs also will misread and lock threads on the discussions then claim it was to "protect users from steam moderators" when in reality they just don't want threads up where people criticize their actions. Refunded it because the early story writing is awful (I didn't get very far beyond it) and instead of actually letting the player…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →More of a puzzle than a tactical game. Maps are too small. Controls are unreliable for some reason.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It just feels like a reskin of rogue Water. It keeps all the mechanics from the original game and barely innovates, sadly. They took away the class specificity and the fun ship battles from Rogue Water and the only difference between classes is their main weapon now. Add a super grindy progression where you are forced to click on every character you own to know which specific item they might drop for you to farm more. Unlucky on the specific character? Too bad, just farm more until you get…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nightmare Frontier Ice Code Games. Steam disclosure -y
neutral · AI labelView post →I was honestly surprised at how fun this was, and also surprised this game hasn't gotten more attention. Reminds me a lot of Rogue Waters which I also thoroughly enjoyed, but this feels different enough that I didn't feel like I was playing a reskin by any means. The beginning starts a bit simple but it gets much better as soon as you start getting into some of the green-tier items which isn't long. Its early access to its a liiiiittle barebones feeling, but still far more fleshed out than I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is enjoyable but I'm a little confused that it's version 1.0 with the bugs I've encountered so far. I enjoyed my time with Rogue waters and like the spin this game makes. But when I'm deep in a run and encounter a bug that doesn't let me progress, it is pretty frustrating. Maybe I'll come back if I see some patches but until then I'd steer clear
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dont buy this. Its just bad and repetative game. its a demo which was promoted to release through unholly purgatory.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Video gamers! My friends at Ice Code Games (I co-wrote Hard West 2 with them) just launched their latest game into Early Access on Steam. Go check out Nightmare Frontier! store.steampowered.com/app/3310950/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Wonderful game, I really enjoyed it. It definitely satisfies Tactical-Extraction-Looter. I have 22 hours of playing this game--I've made it to floor 103+, and it honestly gets pretty repetitive starting after around 50-60 floors/rooms. Haven't played it in about a month because of a bug or glitch that doesn't allow me to extract/return to city/end my run, and since I still haven't gotten any response from anyone on their discord. Overall, great game (will probably play again once they iron out…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There was a point Rom was kicking my butt, so I switched to the Nightmare Frontier as a change of pace. All the vitality I dropped levels into save my butt here because, woo, this #Bloodborne fight was a mess of flailing limbs, both their's and mine! Oh, and lasers. So many lasers. 😬
neutral · AI labelView post →Unfortunately, I have updated my review after a few more hours in. The game is too repetitive and grindy without objective. To be honest I felt myself just pushing though and redoing the same turn 1 kills over and over again to no true end goal other than my own sense of pushing through. There is no real incentive. Original review: It has many visual bugs that should be present in a final release of the game (objects clipping, the clothes on the gunslinger behaving weirdly, hand movement of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Y'know, I'm not sure if the AI thing was declared back at EA launch, or if I simply wasn't diligent enough in looking into things, but frankly it's a no-go for me. I'd refund if I could. I understand that clarifications have been made on the role and prominence of generative AI in development, and they are insufficient to sway my sentiments. Anything less than complete rejection of Silicon Valley's latest crime against humanity is unacceptable to me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a great game! It’s a bit challenging at first, but once you get the hang of it and start planning a few moves ahead, everything begins to flow beautifully. I really enjoy the abilities, the environmental interactions, and that sweet tension when you find something valuable, but you're not sure if you'll make it back in one piece! 😅 Definitely recommend this one, and I’ll be coming back for more!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nightmare Frontier: Official Reveal Trailer. This game might actually take place on the East coast of America and not the Wild West, I can't really tell. It's close though. > Developer Ice Code Games (Hard West II, Rogue Waters) have announced Nightmare Frontier, a tactical turn-based strategy game that's also an extraction looter. Think "XCOM meets Hunt: Showdown with a dash of Cthulhu thrown in." https://store.steampowered.com/app/3310950/Nightmare_Frontier/
neutral · AI labelView post →A unique tactical shooter that will immerse us in the gloomy atmosphere of a ruined city from the alternative 1900s and test our fears that have become reality. As the leader of a band of marauders, we have to embark on risky raids and encounter unusual enemies and anomalies, the sources of which clearly go beyond the boundaries of the familiar world, and the creatures that come our way - the Weavers of Fear - the embodiment and creation of our most terrifying fantasies. The gameplay of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love it! Dynamics of the game are amazing. Can’t wait to see when it’s fully finished. Definitely scratches the XCOM itch with even deeper type of gameplay. My only negative is that it can get a bit repetitive, especially when you have very powered up guns and there are lots of monsters. Wish there was an option to allow for automatic combos with guns that go through walls so you don’t have to keep clicking and killing them all the same way.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sunday at 2pm - Nightmares on the Frontier returns for the Ten Cent Legion's next job. A handsome guitar playing werewolf has hired the crew for their most dangerous mission yet... It's time to venture out into the Nightmare Frontier This game plays in support of @wck.org #ttrpg #actualplay
neutral · AI labelView post →The gear is bugged and not giving you damage bonuses....should not be fully released with such blatantly terrible, game breaking bugs
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd rather play Rogue Waters again, or Rogue Waters 2. This one seems strange and pointless. Also, unfunny jokes.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played since early access and the full release is awesome. Once I saw i had 20 hrs (time flies when having fun) I had to review it. Gameplay loop is you take characters into a raid, branching paths to get loot,buffs, other survivors. If a survivor dies in raid you lose them and their items. you can upgrade weapons and gear and you eventually build your own "settlement" to unlock meta perks. If you enjoy tactical rpg's ,rogue likes,and other games from this publisher then you will most likely…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I adore tactics as puzzle games, like Rogue Waters and the like, so this scratches my very specific itch. It is not perfect, but it gets a lot of things right. I do wish they'd remove the launcher (ugh!) and improve the performance on the Steam Deck (the loading times really don't need to be that long, guys!) but other than that I really don't have a lot of gripes. The game just sucks you in and suddenly the hours are just... gone!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This weekend, tried three video games that I absolutely see myself diving deeper into: 9 Kings (roguelike deckbuilding autobattler), Sultan’s Game (card-based narrative strategy game) and Nightmare Frontier (tactical RPG extraction roguelike from the Rogue Waters folks). Games are good, gang.
positive · AI labelView post →The best game they have made yet ... ok maybe not the best maybe equal to hard west 1 & 2 but those where REALLY good. I got to admit when I started the pirate one I thought I didn't like it but after I while I got quite addicted to it. This one takes the good ideas from that and does them better. Need to be able to save mid run & better descriptions of how diffrent character types are diffrent.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to love this game but it is absolutely terrible. Combat is boring and linear, the monsters are 1000% cooler than the "survivors" or whatever they are supposed to be. The "story" is just huge blobs of boring unintelligible exposition with nothing interesting going on and as far as I can tell the only progression is through looting. This takes all the worst parts of an xcom style game, amps them to 11 and adds a very lazy Slay the Spire progression system. The characters look like…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Today we are reviewing a new roguelike. Nightmare Frontier. Will we do good, who knows. However let's find out together. www.twitch.tv/inerull #ENVtuber
neutral · AI labelView post →Surprise key day! We are checking out Nightmare Frontier! A eldritch horror meets western tactical strategy game! Big thanks to @keymailer.bsky.social and @icecodegames.com for the key! #youtube #twitch #NightmareFrontier youtube.com/live/4u6hokU... twitch.tv/lordrostenl
neutral · AI labelView post →🔴 LIVE TONIGHT @ 8PM EST! MORE bloodborne goodness: - exploring Nightmare Frontier - finding/beating the boss in NF - returning BACK to Yahar'gul, Unseen Village - AND MORE! ✨ we are OFFICIALLY at the beginning of END GAME! 🥰 www.twitch.tv/xocrummy see ya there ~ 💜
neutral · AI labelView post →Constant issues- pink screen, blacked out characters that you couldnt see, or items. Missions not advancing, and stuck in combat. Awful experience, cannot recommend this game. It had potential, I hope the devs fix it up, and never launch a game in this state
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not sure how this ended up on my wishlist but I bought it and played for the weekend bc why not. IT IS a mobile game turned manual, the entire time you're wishing you could just press Auto Play. Fun time figuring it out but as soon as you do it's just a load screen generator. The difficulty options are pointless, just make the base game have all of the affixes the enemies can have as you go up the floors. It's not like the higher you get on the extractions it became all purple gear. It just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mixed / Neutral Nightmare Frontier combines turn-based tactics with extraction-shooter tension, and the concept works on paper — pushing one more node deeper, backpack full, Nightmare Level climbing, deciding when to cut losses and extract. Positioning and courage/dread management have some depth to them. But the grind is real and hard to ignore. The 4 Districts get reused constantly, and map layouts, enemy patterns, and loot nodes start blurring together fast — "infinite and randomly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The entire map was broken and only showed bright pink immediately after I hit start. Did not play after that
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Slay the Spire, but with tactical combat
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My fav' is also spider Patches. It's mostly because he was the first Patches I encountered. I like the way he moves, there is something eery about the head on the spiders body in movement. > Heh heh heh heh...Oh Amygdala, oh Amygdala... Have mercy on the poor bastard...Hah hah hah! My favorite voice line from Bloodborne's Patche's. It's mostly William Vanderpuye pronunciation. Bloodborne's Patche's also breaks the space-time continuum: if you kill him in the Lecture Building, he is still…
neutral · AI labelView post →+ Atmospheric western-gothic visuals, smooth mechanics, fantastic creature design + Solid amount of content for an EA game (20 hrs of main story so far, demo included) + Looter turn-based tactics: a novel format for me, personally, and very fun/addictive + Very customizable experience (difficulty, pace, team comp, etc) I basically burned through all the content by playing continuously as soon as I bought it; can't wait to see what the devs have planned next! :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nightmare Frontier is a tactical extraction-looter RPG where you lead a ragtag squad into a nightmarish boom town overrun by fear-made-creatures called Dreadweavers. Each raid is a tense dance of looting, fighting, and managing the escalating dread that amplifies the threats. Between missions, you upgrade gear, balance supplies, and decide if you’re ready to go deeper—or live to fight another day. Pros ✔ Smart tactical design — Pushing, trick shots, chain kills—when it clicks, planning your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is definitely a recommend, but there are some points of constructive criticism I want to levy at it. It's still in early access, so maybe some of them will be addressed. tl;dr - it needs tighter resource management. When I first started out, it was a pretty tight challenge. That changed pretty quickly as I picked up loot and made a few upgrades. So far, I've made it to Chinatown on the Challenging difficulty, but between all the possible combos you can execute with different…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The RX 590 tends to run quite hot (around 70–80°C). Not the best choice if you’re worried about temps. In other games 40-60°C.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →OMFG this is a great idea enhancing the XCOM-like genre. I'm speechless. This is just such a cool design. If you liked the other game(Rogue Waters), they have similar looting mechanics, chances are you'd like this one too! The game has more content in development. I'm impatiently waiting for more content!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Today's #SteamNextFest demo sees me take a look at Nightmare Frontier, a tactics extraction game from @icecodegames.com #indiegames youtu.be/jEFncyiZRFk
neutral · AI labelView post →Pretty fun game. It plays like a hybrid of Hard West 2 and Rogue Waters. The game is a bit grindy but is fun overall. I just wish the story was more interesting like in Hard West 2.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worse than Rogue Waters.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why wouldn't you make it like the amazing hard west 2 game? this is complete garbage and I wish I could get my money back. its like that horrible rogue waters game. team needs a shake complete and utter garbage, tried to play again there, christ it's boring. expectations were far far too high, its like a never ending grind, imagine a game were you just constantly do the same things. horrible , an hour in is more than enough.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Nightmare Frontier in Bloodborne can kiss the fattest part of my ass Souls game in "poison swamp area sucks shit" shocker
neutral · AI labelView post →Surprisingly atmospheric, smooth, and tactical. Nightmare Frontier really nails the tension of creeping through a ruined, creature-infested city with your party — you never quite feel safe, but you always feel in control. The node-based map system (like Slay the Spire or Darkest Dungeon) makes every decision feel meaningful: fight, loot, recruit, or rest — but choose wrong and you risk losing everything. Combat is tight and well-balanced, with just enough challenge to stay engaging without…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I do recommend this game as I like the alternate setting and I also like some of the mechanics lol. I am not very good at these types of games but I am trying to learn. So far I'm having a good old time, here is my First Impressions video for Nightmare Frontier: https://youtu.be/EjLnNd6jazY
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →really good game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really happy they brought Overcoming back, that system is such a banger. Makes every run feel way more intense, especially when you're deep in the nightmare 😅 Gameplay loop is tight, progression feels rewarding, and I haven’t gotten bored. If you're into that one more run kind of vibe, give this one a go.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nightmare Frontier delivers quite unique and innovative roguelike experience - it’s not without its rough edges, but the core gameplay and mechanics are fine enough for good Early Access. Pros - The gameplay is genuinely interesting, introducing several new ideas to the roguelike formula. While some balancing tweaks would make it even better, the overall experience is pretty good. - The movement system, especially the "advance" feature and traits related to movement, feels fresh. Neutrals -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quick, tactical fun. Rogue Waters already had the melee pushing & repositioning down pat but the addition of a souped up Bravado from Hard West 2 (here called Overcoming) just supercharges the whole thing. The 'Undo' button is a godsend so this game can be played like a tactical puzzle.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →When the Nightmare spreads on the battleground, the stakes rise for everyone #screenshotsaturday Game: Nightmare Frontier (wishlist on Steam ❤️)
neutral · AI labelView post →🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 If this game were a person they would be a Dungeon-Master with a doctorate in the same from Harvard or better yet Oxford or a Wordsmith at the Royal Academy of Arts & Sciences with another doctorate in Female Pleasure studies from Cambridge or Harvard. A must buy if not for you then for the pizza you never bought your dog or cat or for the seed you never fed those always starving wild birds. Wordlow Oliver…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rough around the edges, and quite a few incomplete things, but, it's early access. I'm enjoying the heck out of it, so far.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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