Labyrinth: The War on Terror
Playdek, Inc. · 2022 · Strategy, Simulation, Board Game, Wargame, War
PC
Mostly Positive74% · 186
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About Labyrinth: The War on Terror
From the award-winning designer and ex-CIA intelligence analyst Volko Ruhnke, Labyrinth: The War on Terror combines an emphasis on game play with a multifaceted simulation spanning recent history and the near future.
The game takes players inside the global war on terror. In 2-player campaigns, one player takes the role of Jihadists seeking to spread fundamentalist rule over the Muslim world, while the other player is the US, neutralizing terrorist cells and encouraging Muslim democratic reform. In the single player experience the player leads the US in taking on challenges to defeat al-Qaeda and its allies.
An extensive variety of card driven event combinations fuels Labyrinth’s asymmetrical design, creating deep complexity that unfolds with every turn while maintaining an ease of play that increases engagement with every decision.
Key Features
• Card Driven Mechanics – 120 event cards provide never ending combinations. The outcomes vary per round and take great effect on the flow of the conflict.
• Asynchronous Online Multiplayer – The system allows for seamless competition from head to head – if both are available – to respond when ready, and longer matches based on timer settings per game.
• Beginner’s Tutorials – Overview tutorials take you through the basics of playing the side of the US and the side of the Jihadists.
The game takes players inside the global war on terror. In 2-player campaigns, one player takes the role of Jihadists seeking to spread fundamentalist rule over the Muslim world, while the other player is the US, neutralizing terrorist cells and encouraging Muslim democratic reform. In the single player experience the player leads the US in taking on challenges to defeat al-Qaeda and its allies.
An extensive variety of card driven event combinations fuels Labyrinth’s asymmetrical design, creating deep complexity that unfolds with every turn while maintaining an ease of play that increases engagement with every decision.
Key Features
• Card Driven Mechanics – 120 event cards provide never ending combinations. The outcomes vary per round and take great effect on the flow of the conflict.
• Asynchronous Online Multiplayer – The system allows for seamless competition from head to head – if both are available – to respond when ready, and longer matches based on timer settings per game.
• Beginner’s Tutorials – Overview tutorials take you through the basics of playing the side of the US and the side of the Jihadists.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
Great game! Downside is that there is a bot (not AI) that controls the jihadists. I is given a lot of things to compensate. For instance when it plays a US card the US action is ignored. I understand that it won't be fixed.
Same problem here as with the Twilight Struggle: Red Sea. The Bot always seems to conveniently hit the right die roll or draw the right card for every situation. Always. Six rolls in a row, and 1's each time on War of Ideas.. yea.. no.. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. It is not competitive for Bot play..
Pretty terrible product. Recommended only if you already have an opponent to play against, and need to learn the rules beforehand and/or need an interface to play remotely - and even then, it still feels like a ripoff at the price. The game it's based on is fairly niche to start with - a board game recreating the post 9/11 'war on terror' between the US and Islamic fundamentalists, heavily inspired by the classic Cold War-based Twilight Struggle (which also has a PC port by the same developer). I could say a lot about it, but to summarise: if you like TS and the subject matter doesn't bother you, it's certainly worth a go - but if not, you're not missing that much. The problem here isn't the game itself, though - it's the software, which is frankly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I don't know the story of the development, but I'd guess they started out thinking they could easily recycle a lot of the work from the TS game for a quick buck, but at some point in the process they lost interest and/or realised there wasn't actually much of a market. So they just got what they had into a barely-functional state and released it. The result is a frustrating mess which somehow manages to make even the recycled …
A very good and interesting game. There are many more great board games like this that I would like to see converted into a digital version.
I've only done the first two tutorials but so far I'm loving this, it's an extremely interesting game. The tutorials are extremely well done. I've played a bit of Twilight Struggle on Steam so the mechanics aren't totally new to me. I recommend just doing one tutorial per day as each one is pretty long.
This is abstract, but if you lived thru these events, it is so engaging. The strategy bits are nail biters, every card matters, every dice roll can make or break your plans. I wish the BOT was smarter... didn't do easy things to be more competitive. Still testing the AI opponent, seems tougher to beat as the Jihadist so far. Fun game, not experiencing to many glitches. Highly recommend.
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