Möbius Front '83
Defend America from an alternate-universe America using state-of-the-art 1980s military hardware in this intricate and tactical turn-based strategy game.
Möbius Front '83 is a turn-based tactics, military and wargame game
developed and published by Zachtronics.
Released on November 05th 2020 is available in English on Windows, MacOS and Linux.
It has received 471 reviews of which 319 were positive and 152 were negative resulting in a rating of 6.5 out of 10. 😐
The game is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam and has a 50% discount.
The Steam community has classified Möbius Front '83 into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Möbius Front '83 through various videos and screenshots.
Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS *: Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
- Processor: 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1366 x 768
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 2 GB available space
MacOS
- OS: macOS 10.9+
- Processor: 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1366 x 768
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 16.04+, SteamOS
- Processor: 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.3, 1366 x 768
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
A hard difficulty retro Hex-Strategy game that sometimes feels like work. It is fairly ok if you ´re old and still like these sort of things
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This is an enjoyable take on a turn based wargame. A little different in that it has puzzle like elements to the gameplay as such You'll be replaying battles often, before you beat them. This doesn't become tedious though (at least not to me) The difficulty settings are a nice touch as well.
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Möbius Front '83 - as other reviews have pointed out - is a Zachtronics puzzle game disguised as a turn-based tactics game. In MF83, you are a commander of the US armed forces in the 80's defending against an eerily familiar threat. Your goal is to pick and choose what units to deploy, advance and secure objectives, and inevitably, battle with the enemy. At your disposal are motorized and mechanized infantry, support weapons teams, infantry fighting vehicles, main battle tanks, self-propelled guns, and helicopters. Utilize the power of anti-tank guided missiles to zone out and destroy enemy armored elements while protecting your own assets. Unlike in many other similar games, MF83 is unique in that most units cannot move and fire their weapons in the same turn - and if they can, they incur a damage penalty. This gives an inherent advantage to the defending side, taking after The Art of War: "Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength." You will often need a superabundance of strength to reliably mount an attack. Most of the time, this is raw numerical superiority, usually many infantry squads with support from armored vehicles; however, sometimes it just means a better composition of units. There are times where you can get lucky and win decisively on equal footing, but it's best not to count on this. All of the anti-tank weapons in the game have a damage variance, meaning it is possible to knock out an enemy vehicle in a single hit, or if it is armored, deal no damage at all, but usually your attack roll will land somewhere in the middle. What's more is that if a tank is reduced to 1 HP, it will be immobilized and cannot move for the remainder of the level (although it can still shoot), making it a sitting duck for a well-orchestrated setup and attack from an ATGM. Of the anti-tank weapons that can be fired in the same turn the attacking unit moves, they will on average deal less damage than if your vehicle did not move that turn. This decreases your margin for error significantly and sometimes forces you to play more conservatively to preserve your units. Although the RNG can be frustrating in this game, it does go both ways, and often times it will work to your benefit if the enemy plays too aggressively. Many vehicles are capable of deploying smoke, giving them an additional 2 points of armor for that turn but disallowing them from attacking on the next turn unless they move. Enemy tanks will do this if they walk into an ambush they weren't expecting. In some campaign missions, you will be given air support. In such missions, you will see in the top left corner of your screen an "Air Support Status" camera. This shows an F-16 Fighting Falcon on the tarmac. Some of your units (namely recon teams) will, in addition to their primary weapon, have a radio and laser designator. Using the radio will signal your F-16 to take off. Once airborne, the camera will cut to a view of clouds in the sky. On your next turn, your F-16 will appear in the clouds, indicating that you are ready to call in an airstrike. Using the laser designator on a unit will cause your F-16 to attack and destroy the target. The attack will always hit, and it will always destroy the enemy unit in one shot (even if it is using smoke cover), making this an extremely powerful weapon. Once the airstrike is complete, the F-16 will return to base and will be shown refueling on the tarmac. After the fuel trucks leave, you are ready to call another airstrike. Note that your F-16 will RTB if the laser designator is not used. Also, it is possible with multiple recon teams to use one of them to call in an airstrike, then use a different recon team to paint the target on the next turn. This can be extra helpful in cases where the recon team doing the laser designating needs to close distance with the target. In some other missions, the enemy will have air support instead. Rather than having "Air Support Status" in the top left corner, you will instead see "Long Distance Radar" showing clouds. If the enemy has air support available on their turn, you will see an F-4 Phantom appear. The first unit they paint with a laser will then be destroyed by the F-4. If you see an F-4 on your radar, it's best to lay low and break line of sight with enemy units that have a laser weapon. One aspect of MF83 is that if you are fighting a losing battle, you can simply restart the mission from the beginning and try a new strategy. With most of the missions in this game, especially the later ones, it is the exception and not the rule that you will have to restart at least once or twice. Although it's possible to employ the best strategy from the beginning, or get lucky and win with a risky play, that is not always the case. The difficulty facilitates the need to adapt to the circumstance, making eventual victory that much more satisfying. Another fun bit of trivia with MF83 are the included .PDF documents from the Cold War of genuine US Army training manuals, particularly a document on anti-tank guided missiles and also the role of infantry on the modern battlefield. Both of these documents are declassified and available to the public, and they come with the game. Clicking on them within the in-game menu will open them in your default .PDF viewer. Interestingly enough, much of the game's design is based on these documents, meaning that if you read them, it may give you a better understanding of the game's tactics and overall strategy; however, this is not a requirement for winning the game. MF83 contains 2 mini games along with the campaign. Like other Zachtronics titles, MF83 includes a variant of Solitaire, using a deck of period correct US Army aircraft recognition playing cards. In particular, the game is cribbage solitaire. There's an achievement for winning 100 hands of cribbage, which is challenging but not impossible. Also, you will notice during campaign missions that some of them have a secondary objective which requires you to find an enemy signals team or signals vehicle. Upon destroying this unit and then winning the mission, you are presented with a puzzle on your programmable radio. Solving this puzzle allows you to intercept enemy communications and reveal more details around the plot. After completing a puzzle, you will see a histogram that shows how you measure up to other players who completed the puzzle (like in other Zachtronics games). You can even try and solve the puzzle again with fewer steps to put yourself in the same category as the most efficient players, which is a nice challenge. You even get an achievement for solving all of the radio puzzles. I personally found this mini game to be incredibly fun and rewarding. Once you're done with the campaign and mini games, you can fight against your friend head to head in multiplayer mode, or skirmish against the AI. In addition to the US Army from the campaign, you can play as the Soviet Union, and if you've beaten the game, you can also play as the enemy faction from the campaign. I was disappointed to see that there were no loadouts in multiplayer/skirmish mode that allow either player to call in airstrikes like in the campaign. Unlike in the campaign, your friends may be much less predictable and therefore more fun to play against, although I couldn't confirm this since my friends were too afraid to play against me for fear of losing. Hopefully that will change at some point! MF83 is a phenomenal game. It needs to be approached with a different mindset than many other turn-based strategy and turn-based tactics games, which makes it more challenging and rewarding. Even if you are not a fan of the genre, consider picking this up if you enjoy any of the other Zachtronics puzzle games. 8.5/10 - One of the best Cold War turn-based tactics games of all time.
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Not familiar with zachtronics games so I didn't come here looking for his usual stuff. I got this game because I wanted a good wargame, and a good wargame I got. Don't go into this game expecting Advance Wars though because this one is a much slower burn. Less about smashing enemies with tanks, more about outmaneuvering the enemy & creating kill zones to catch your enemy in. One on one brawls with the enemy are most often too risky & its best to have more guns. Sometimes its also best to simply sit tight & wait. The games plot is genuinely interesting with pretty great characters that will keep you going just so you can find what the heck is even going on. Mobius Front also oozes style & absolutely nails the 80's Cold War atmosphere. Everything from the little sounds when you press buttons, the hyper stylized menu screens, the sound of capturing control points, the retro 80's soundtrack, and my favorite, the distant sounds of gunfire & explosions from units making you really feel like your in command of a battle that's happening far away from you. It all comes together & makes the game really suck you in. It should indeed be said that yes, the map variety isn't spectacular. You will never fight in an urban environment, or other climates. Always the same temperate mid west American forest. There's some twists later on but I don't wanna spoil much. I personally don't find this a problem but ey, it's still worth mentioning regardless. Also the game has an RNG damage system for a good portion of units (mostly anti tank weapons & tank cannons) which also doesn't bother me (I quite like it actually) but it could very well bother someone else so I'll also mention that. Overall I really loved this game & would recommend giving it a look. I've already done some multiplayer skirmishes (there's also a multiplayer exclusive Soviet faction) so that's another thing for replay value whether you have a buddy (thankfully I do) or not.
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I really like the game. The RNG is kinda a pain to get used to, but once you figure that out the game is even more fun. I think the main tactic of this game is to bait the enemy out and know from the get go that you might lose a few troops or vehicles to pure RNG and that's just how it is.
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 23 November 2024 10:07 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 19 December 2024 10:17 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 20:29 |
| Steam reviews | 22 December 2024 04:04 |
Online players
2
Developer
Zachtronics
Publisher
Zachtronics
Release
05 Nov 2020
Platforms