Recent reviews by Shadow Doctrine

Great game, never played the original due to work keeping me busy, but saw this one pop up in my recommended and added to the wishlist. After much procrastination, I finally caved and bought it, no regrets. It can be overwhelming at first, some of the commands can be a bit much but After a brief run through the tutorials I understood a little better but as a visual learner watching this short series by 'Example of Play' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILB_RGTIAso&list=PLujeLHPclRBPcbSkQzJ6VThdrUM271bM4 on YouTube much was much more helpful than reading through the text based tutorials.

Armored Brigade II lets you run proper combined arms manoeuvre using synchronised waypoints and timed orders. You can coordinate multi-pronged assaults, staggered advances, or fallback drills by setting delays between waypoints—simulating real-world command lag. Each faction has its own baseline delay, and the more complex your plan, the longer it takes to execute.

You can lock yourself into the HQ unit, meaning you only hear what that unit hears over radio or sees directly. No magic map view just what your command post would realistically know. Units outside radio range might not get orders at all, and even those inside range can misfire if comms are degraded.

Orders aren’t guaranteed. If a unit’s under fire, rattled, or taking casualties, it might delay, ignore, or botch your instructions. That’s combat stress modelled in real time, forcing you to plan with redundancy and keep overwatch in place.

The game supports layered manoeuvre across infantry, armour, recon, artillery, engineers, and air support. You can synchronise movement, fire missions, suppression zones, breaching operations, and air strikes with precision. Air assets like close air support and recon flights can be timed to coincide with ground pushes or used to soften up key positions. They’re not just cinematic they’re part of your tactical toolkit, subject to availability, timing, and enemy air defence. Engineers can breach or fortify, and support units play a real role in shaping the fight.

I've only experienced a few of these so far in my limited play time, but from what I have seen so far I'm looking forward to wasting countless more hours of my life in this one.

Yes, it's fun. I purchased this on 6/9/2025 and it's currently 8/9/2025 and I've already put 70+ hrs into it. It's challenging, but satisfying once you achieve a successful production line. The research tree is long and there are plenty of products to make, a lot of them interconnected within the production of other materials. As you progress through technology some of the older end-products become the baseline for new materials. It's a constant challenge at times especially in regard to the finite resources mined from the ground and/or pollution but overall I think they have kept it balanced well. As I mentioned I'm only about a week into it and the first 24hrs or so were learning from mistakes/restarting the first island but at the time of writing this I've just started to unlock tier 3 research I have about 1000 workers and I have only expanded across 1/3 of the starting Island. Still have a lot of research to cover and a whole lot more environment to destroy and exploit for profit lol. I give it a 9/10 I would probably do 10/10 if there was a way to make tunnels. I don't like that I have to dig through a mountain or build a ramp of dirt to access parts of the Island that are only blocked by a portion of raised terrain, even if it was a later research option, you can currently build bridges to go over pipes and belts but I would LOVE to see tunnels integrated as well eventually.

Fun game, would be better with more factions or atleast more options for the current ones, customisation is good but like the US tanks for example are a whole bunch of the same across all the decks and while they are good and have their pros and cons about them there could be more interesting variety in the decks with say an EU or China addition in the future, hint hint for devs.. I mean there's a lot of good options already but there could be more. There's more to the world than USA & Russia.

For what it has right now though, I still recommend it despite the on-going community issues I have fun playing with people or on my own against AI.. On that note though the Skirmish mode definitely needs friendly AI so that I can fill my team and play more than 1v2 sometimes, a core feature I expected to come with the game as most RTS titles would have. I don't care so much for the lack of a save feature as I couldn't care less about the campaign itself.. It's quite well done though admittedly, I don't really care for the storylines in games but this one is decent from what I have played of it.

3/5 if i'm being brutally honest, it's a good game but the lack of skirmish AI and alternate factions make it less interesting. Community is relatively toxic in terms of being entitled at times too, but that's not the dev's fault so can't fault them for that. Lots of people cry about balance but I think it's more their lack of education in regard to how US v Russian doctrinally play out, US tanks ARE the spearhead used in breakthrough tactics using precision air and artillery to support the maneuver element while Russian tanks are generally supporting their mechanised forces and they use their fires to hammer the crap out of areas prior to moving in. It's not that the game is unbalanced, it's just that people don't understand how to use their units how they are designed to be used. A T-90 is a heavily armoured tank, yes but it's not meant to be the centre of attention, it's there to support the IFV/Mech Infantry ahead of it. An M1A2 SEP v3 is for all intents and purposes the centre of attention. There are other units that could work as similar examples, but this is the main one I've been seeing. I like playing both sides, honestly they play exactly how they should if you play them as they would be used doctrinally. The devs have released a little infographic recently that showed win rates of the factions and they are 49:51% indicating the units are statistically balanced, I'd say 80% or higher of those complaining just don't understand the difference in the playstyles.

It's actually pretty fun. The game allows use of mouse & keyboard but the controller is pretty much required for accurate input as the FPV drone relies on sensitive stick controls, the other 'striker' drone is more forgiving as it hovers autonomously.

I've only played a few hours and there's not really much to do right now but in the grand scheme of things, there's only so much to do as a loitering munition.

You have an observer drone that has decent zoom function and a toggle for thermal imaging, find your targets in a variety of fortified positions on relatively detailed maps and systematically neutralise them using a drone of your choice, currently there are only two types. The FPV and Striker, FPV can attach PG-7 HEAT, OG-7 Fragmentation and TBG-7V Thermobaric as well as an IED that looks to have wires that act as a contact detonator. The Striker on the other hand hovers autonomously and is more attuned to releasing ordnance on specific postions, atm there's a choice of RGD-5 and something that resembles a mortar shell but detonates like a pipe bomb. Both drones are equally fun and the AI soldiers you target react to their presence trying to hide or shoot your drone out of the sky.

The game is fun but also reflects on the real-world effects of Drone operators; being physically safe from direct combat, pilots may simultaneously feel psychological detachment or dissociation, having to psychologically reconcile killing without physical presence or traditional combat roles. The real-time immersive views via FPV increase operator responsibility for precision strikes, potentially raising psychological burden regarding collateral damage or target identification errors. I hope to see some more detail put into the battlespace in future and having to differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate targets i.e civilian or friendly forces.

Then there's the psychological warfare aspect. The unpredictability, speed, and stealth of FPV kamikaze drones create continuous fear or anxiety, hesitation, and behavioural impacts such as increased stress or impaired decision-making. The knowledge that drones can penetrate defences and strike without warning cultivates a pervasive sense of vulnerability and insecurity among combatants.

The game doesn't acknowledge any of this currently, it's just a fun little thing and if it continues as is, it will just be a way to densisitise future FPV operators. If you have ever seen the movie Ender's War, this could be the start of something like that. Recruiting gamers to remote control weapons of war. I'm not saying I'm against it, but it's definitely something to think about lol.

Looking forward to seeing how development continues at the very least. Hoping it evolves into something more than just an action-oriented pew pew with drones.

Drug Dealer Simulator 2 looks great and runs smoothly on my PC, but the gameplay is far more linear than advertised. Yes, there’s an open world to explore, but no real freedom—either you follow the narrative’s direction or you do nothing at all.
Considering this is a drug dealer simulation, I expected more autonomy—the ability to set up seedlings, build a proper hydroponic grow, and expand organically. While that might be possible later in the game, early progression feels strangely restrictive. The game allows me to buy everything needed for growing except a basic flower pot, which is locked behind a reputation milestone. So now, I have a bunch of seedlings that I can’t actually grow until I unlock the ability to buy a pot—a situation that makes little sense.

This reputation system affects interactions, purchases, and gameplay progression, meaning even simple items like flower pots require street cred. If this were real life, there might be a lot fewer drugs on the streets—because apparently, even basic supplies need approval.

Despite these oddities, I do recommend the game, as it’s still fun. But if you're expecting a truly open-ended simulation, be prepared for a rigid, narrative-driven experience. DDS2 plays more like a structured crime RPG than a freeform drug empire simulator.

While I understand it’s just a game, I would have preferred a more organic progression system for example, starting with a single seedling, growing it into a full plant, and gradually expanding my business one baggie at a time through offshoot propagation. Instead, the game throws you into the dealer role with little buildup or realism.
Speaking of progression, it feels completely off-balance as you start as a weed dealer with no indication that you’ll be selling harder substances until a sudden milestone unlocks amphetamines. Meanwhile, despite shops selling lab equipment, hydro setups, and grow supplies, you’re somehow the only dealer operating in the region. There are rival gangs later in the game, as missions involve taking out their members or raiding warehouses, but early progression makes it seem like you’re the sole supplier.

Ultimately, while the game refers to you as a cartel, the reality is you’re just an independent distributor—which is fine, but not quite how the game frames it. A cartel implies multiple organisations colluding to control the drug trade, whereas here, it’s just you and your homie in a bunker, carving out an empire alone. There are no rival cartels trying to undermine your own, there is no gunplay as the game has no guns at all. The most violence I've encountered so far has been 3 guys with Machetes and baseball bats who I beat with my fists and some fancy dance moves to avoid their slashes. I nearly died, but came out on top ultimately.

The rivals exist to make the islands feel less empty and reinforce the idea of a criminal underworld but the reality is they are only there to serve a singular purpose of giving you some punching bags to level up your 'street cred' and the occasional mission to take them down, making them more of a scripted enemy than true rivals.

For a game that simulates the rise of a dealer, it’s surprisingly restrictive locking basic mechanics behind arbitrary milestones rather than letting you organically build your empire. The reputation system limits interactions, gating even fundamental items like flower pots, making early progression feel forced rather than earned.
That said, the game has potential. If future updates introduce more freedom, dynamic rivalries, and a less scripted progression, DDS2 could evolve into something really cool..

I'll keep at it and maybe update this review later once I've been allowed to purchase more common household goods LOL.

I built this PC since 2020, reformatted a couple times since then but never had a BSOD issue from a game in the 4 1/2 years, within 2hrs of installing this I had my first, thought nothing of it the PC is near 5yrs old, could be my end.. kept playing, another 2hrs go by and another blue screen. Had a look on google and noticed it's apparently a common thing here something to do with a recent patch, figure it's only 1 thing every few hours it's tolerable, right? annoying for sure having to reboot every couple hours, but not a deal breaker.. So I keep playing until I find another bug, the matchmaking gets stuck on 63/64 consistently.. I thought perhaps it was a player count issue but it was happening while steam charts said there were 84,000 players online. I shut it down, restarted the PC, went back on 63/64 for 15min, closed it, opened it sat here for another 15min 63/64 did this repeatedly until the Blue screen appeared. So ultimately, when I couldn't even play in the couple hours between blue screens, I uninstalled it.

In terms of gameplay it's good fun when it works, it looks good, plays good I had everything on Ultra and was getting 140fps (i have it limited to 140 via Nvidia) it plays smooth, sounds great but between the forced restarts and not being able to get into a match periodically, there's no point continuing at the moment. I'll keep an eye on updates but from what I saw on reddit they don't seem to give a crap despite knowing the issues exist, i'm hoping they fix it because it IS fun, would 100% recommend it if it f*cking worked consistently

At first I thought it was the same as Men of War.. and I was right, but it's slightly better.. I'm not a huge fan of either of them, but they're fun sometimes.

was good at first, bit of fun but then a couple of patches ago it stopped working altogether.. I just get a black screen every time i try to open it.. I kept it installed though thinking with all the hot fixes these guys pump out (and they do, frequently) it would be fixed. Several patches later it still hangs on a black screen. I've reinstalled it a couple times now and none of my other games are having any issues so it's not hardware or driver issues.. Everything is updated and functioning as intended except this particular game. So no, I can't recommend it as it stopped working after 30hrs of play time lol. There's 34hrs logged as I've left it in the black screen infinite hoping it would fix itself at some point. It did not. I wasn't really into it anyway, people were getting in trouble for being friendly in the PVP areas at the time it stopped working so I dodged a bullet there I think anyway, I enjoyed this game for the lone-wolf experience i don't give a f*ck about the group play i got this for the dungeon stuff not for PVP explicitly I am happy to have PVP as an option in the dungeon but being forced to do it is something draconian. I had the most fun working with others against the monsters rather than stabbing c*nts in the back.. I wish i could refund it still. Even if it worked I wouldn't keep playing it. I happily supported the devs with initial versions and DLC/skins etc but as patches progressed so did the issues until ultimately it sh*t the bed. I haven't played (not for lack of trying to) since September i think.. I've uninstalled and reinstalled as mentioned, updated even today updated and tried to play again before writing this.. Black screen of boring.. I'm finally uninstalling it. Maybe I'll come back to it eventually, probably won't though..

Most of my hours are making/ testing a mod for the game.. Worth it though. If i had to go again, 10/10 would learn a bit of French & Python and spend many sleepless nights trying to squash bugs and find where i messed up to get back to where i am now lol. Game is great, Eugen did well, I'm just pedantic and trying to improve where I feel they compromised for 'gameplay balance' reasoning.. totally fair so I'm modding it to give it a little personal touch :)

Just like the first one, love it. Spent 4hrs from first install, haven't finished against Easy AI yet.. Only half way through the research tree.. It seems good, let the AI build up a bit in a 1v1 to see how it went on a 2 player map and although it's not aggressive being easy ai, it still puts up a fight. I took 4 of its planets in a neutral system and it near destroyed my fleets in response.. It defends well and lets you leave the system when you retreat. I mean it chases you out, but not beyond it's own areas.. Feels good. They've done well.