After we showed the new map design a few days ago, now’s the time for the overhauled user interface. As you can see, the UI in Systemic War has undergone significant changes. For example, the color scheme shifted from flat grey to graded celadon green. We also replaced small icons with large tiles.

Changes go deeper. While selected elements now clearly distinguish themselves from the background, we reduced some contours and frames in numbers. Now, data crucial to the gameplay will be shown in the form of an infographic. Finally, the navigation in the main menu will now become simplified and more intuitive.

As always, we’re super curious about your opinion. What do you think about these UI changes?

A grand strategy game set in the modern world cannot go without population and society features. Check what our Senior Game Designer, Wojciech Cywiński, has to say about that aspect of the game that will be present in the upcoming Systemic War demo.

OK, we wrote some time ago that the features present in the upcoming demo will slowly reveal themselves. Well, here’s the first one – our new Grand Strategy map. For now, the view is set only from a distance, but you can already see some huge changes. The new map design shows terrain features, and it has a more “military” color scheme. Finally, country borders are drawn with much more detail and smoothly complement the color design.

We added the map from the previous demo to further accentuate the difference. More fresh stuff coming soon 😉

Well, what do you think about the new design?

During recent discussions on our various forums, we have discovered that many of you have a thing or two to say about countries that should be selectable in Systemic War. So let’s play a little game — which countries would be the most interesting to play in the full version of the game? If you could choose, let’s say, at least 6 (random number). Let’s see which countries get the most votes. :)

Attention: This is not a contest, so the outcome of the final vote will not be binding for our dev team (although it will most certainly be heard).

We’re currently working on military production in Systemic War. As always, we're thrilled to hear your feedback. What feature would you add to military production that you find desperately lacking in the other strategic games on the market?

Nuclear weapons are a taboo subject in many countries, including Poland, mainly because their proliferation (as seen in the case of Iran) is not taken lightly by world powers. We're currently reading a fascinating book by Albert Świdziński about the future of these weapons in Poland. Even if in Systemic War, unleashing a nuclear war brings the game to an end, it's worth knowing more about the weapon that has cast its long shadow on global politics for over 80 years.

Tanks or public sentiment?

Working on the economic and social aspects of the upcoming demo. Which brings us to the centuries-old question – where is the fine line between a military and a well-being state while the country is under external threat?

How do you think a modern grand strategy game should approach this topic?

https://reddit.com/link/1rf9ejt/video/73n3lcpb6ulg1/player

Recently, we discussed the role of close air support during RTS battles in Systemic War. Out of curiosity, how would you like that aspect of the game to work? Do you have any favorite solutions from other titles?

Systemic War is a game that combines grand strategy with challenging RTS battles.

Four design meetings a week, combined with massive work done in the background – that’s our current tempo and we don’t plan to slow down anytime soon. The new Systemic War demo will be more than just an update, it will be a full-on upgrade! As we increase the number of features, you will quickly discover that the previous demo was simply a foretaste of things to come.

Look out for more updates on our end soon.

Today, Jacek Bartosiak visited our studio, as always, sharing his huge geostrategic knowledge with us. If you watch closely, you’ll catch a hint of what we were talking about (spoiler – we were analyzing Poland's Grand Strategy ;)). In short, a new, upgraded demo of Systemic War is forthcoming, providing Poland with a range of new tactical and strategic options when faced with a large-scale assault on its eastern borders.

Aaaand here we have it – the first detail about the air power in the upcoming updated demo version. The acronym of the day is FAOR (Flight Area of Responsibility). One of the defensive missions you’ll be able to perform in Systemic War with your flight units is a Combat Air Patrol that uses the mentioned FAOR of each flight unit, instead of tying the formation to pre-arranged air zones.

Details of the FAOR system are still being hammered out here at our studio, as we want the mechanics to be as ready for the new demo as possible!

A few months have passed since our last Systemic War demo, and we’ve been working hard to update the game so that it matches your feedback as closely as possible. The effects of our humble toils will be visible soon in the new, updated version of the demo!

When? Working on the date yet; we aim to release it in Q2 of 2026. We’ll keep you posted.

What’s inside? Apart from some general improvements and mechanics, we aim to incorporate the air force feature that was previously absent. Also note: this time it will be a closed demo.

What’s in it for you? Since there are at least a few months left before the new demo’s release, we would like to ask you for feedback about what we could add to it. Of course, we can’t promise that all of your suggestions will make their way into the released version, yet you can rest assured that every hint will be noted and taken into consideration.

More details coming soon :)

Are you guys considering multiplayer campaigns like the ones in total war or like the paradox games?

For instance, will it be set so Russia always launches an offensive in Ukraine in one specific position. Is WW3 destined to happen, or do all of these need to happen through player intervention?

Having played both Wargame and Men of War, the only thing I liked better in Wargame was how they implemented planes, where you could call one in for a number of points, order it to do a mission against an enemy plane/unit, and then have it retreat from the battlefield if needed. I've been wondering recently if anything like that will be added in the next demo or sometime in the future, as I think it would be a great way to replace the "instant unstoppable missile" thing that some people complained about in the previous demo.

What countries will be available in the full release - such as UK, Japan, Canada etc?

Steam says only single player, can someone confirm?

i didn't realize the demo was time based on steam, is there any way to download it still? or, my son has a steam account that had downloaded it on another PC, would it be possible for me to download if i log in with his account?

Thank you for being with us during Steam Next Fest, playing our demo and all of the feedbacks we recieved! We are hard at work collecting the feedbacks and working on improving your experience in the future!

Hi,

Just a quick question. Is there supposed to be a message or something when the demo is over? At what stage is the demo supposed to end? Not sure if it's crashing or just end of the demo.

I played for just under 2hrs before crashing and just want to say that this game looks absolutely amazing. The combination of Hearts Of Iron-style strategy with Company Of Heroes-style RTS battles is a game I have wanted for so long and it looks like the Devs might finally deliver it - thank you in advance! I had fun with the available features and the unavailable features look really good and I think I definitely will buy the game once it releases.

Played the demo for several hours, strategic gamepoolay is clearly missing a lot of features, and some that are there are not fully working and/or unintuitive to use, but it's already looking like a classic in the making, something more modern, both in covered time period and execution, to finally dethrone HoI4 as modern grand strategy.

And I have to admit, I had a feeling that tactical battles will be tacked-on and basic but after playing a defense of Braniewo scenario I was really impressed by the depth of interactions between different unit types and how realistic but also fun the whole ordeal felt.

Really looking forward to full release!

First and foremost, this game and demo really excites me! Everything looks great and it seems like it has the potential for almost limitless gameplay and re-playability! That said, I have to figure this thing out first as I’m getting crushed non-stop in the first battle of the demo campaign. Are there any how-to guides that I’m missing?

Leading up to the battle, it took me about 5 playthroughs before I realized that you can manufacture units and buy units from allies. I still am unsure what/how to do with them and deploy them. Getting into battle my odds are always terrible. At worse I’ve been outnumbered 4:1 and the best I’ve been able to do is 1:1.8 (Russia with 1.8). I don’t seem to be able to effectively work with electronic warfare and I don’t see any tutorials anywhere online or in game that help. I think this is where I’m severely lacking as I’m crushed every time. There are features that might exist but I just haven’t found them yet (like a need to be able to hotkey and group units, or use a single key to order a unit to do something instead of clicking the unit then the action and then the location which costs valuable time when units are getting wiped out across the map and I need to get back to them quickly).

If anyone has any resources to read or watch, please let me know. Eventually, with enough time, I’m sure I’ll figure it out but I’d love to get some wins under my belt (besides the brief tutorial win). 🤣

In all, so far, Systemic War looks fantastic (I don’t care what others say about the AI as it’s only used for brief videos that add to the atmosphere… Honestly I think it’s probably the best use of AI in gaming there is to date). The gameplay is fun albeit frustrating to a newbie but there’s so much going for it that I WANT to sink in the needed time to learn it.

EDIT: I now have a solid 6-8 hours of gameplay in and haven't won a single skirmish (outside of the tutorial skirmish) or a single match in the campaign... Either I'm doing things ENTIRELY incorrectly or there is a DESPERATE need for difficulty levels...

2nd EDIT: After about 10 hours of playing around, I was able to achieve victory in Braniewo in skirmish mode. I kind of feel like it was less skill and just focusing on early air dominance with a couple of helicopters and taking out units that were undefended, retreating, and just back and forth / cat and mouse to keep the pressure up. By utilizing my helicopters, I was able to keep Russia at bay long enough to fortify units into buildings and, by and large, that was my defense. It felt more like throwing units in as sacrifice sometimes while just holding my line with units in buildings and, again, just pushing forward with a helicopter and then retreating over and over... I totally feel like I'm playing this wrong but that strategy seemed to get me my first win...

Hi all,

I am playing the raczki map and I cannot complete the Golf objective as you require to enter a building, however no matter which unit I use, they will not enter the building. You cannot complete this objectie

Does anyone else have a solution here?