'83 Early Access: A Solid Tactical Shooter Searching for an Audience

‘83 is in trouble, and it’s a shame to see. Released in Early Access only a few days ago,the player numbers are suggesting a game that is mostly dead out of the gates. As I played on launch weekend, there were only a few hundred players distributed between a few servers. The included server browser was a bleak look at an empty game that needs entry-point hype to catapult it into stratospheric success–or even sustainability. 

The development cycle for ‘83 was turbulent. Originally developed by Antimatter Games–the veteran developers behind Rising Storm 2: Vietnam–the project was shelved in 2023 when parent company EG7 decided to shut down the UK-based studio entirely. Rather than letting their highly anticipated Cold War Gone Hot tactical shooter become a game that never was, former developers rallied to establish a new independent studio called Blue Dot Games. This newly minted team successfully negotiated back the IP rights for ‘83 from EG7, allowing them to continue their work on the game. Blue Dot Games has completely overhauled the game’s foundation, and finally released the game into Early Access. 

Unfortunately, despite the hype and the feel-good story of developers taking back the reins to their lost IP, there doesn’t seem to be an audience showing up for it. But in a gaming space with players that are fickle and even revel in a game dying, a niche shooter like ‘83 can at least hope for a niche audience. But maybe it’s a tad too niche.

That’s too bad, because ‘83 is a solid near mil-sim style shooter. Don’t go in expecting ARMA, and with instant bullet kills, don’t expect a Call of Duty or Battlefield experience. Being in Early Access, it’s a little rough around the edges and low on content, but the foundation is there: solid gunplay, and battles that are dynamic and fun for those who want their shooters to be less than hardcore. You can still get sniped from a couple hundreds of meters away from a concealed sniper you never saw, but Blue Dot Games made the maps dynamic and perfectly sized to ensure that the runs between getting unceremoniously sniped don’t feel as long as in other games.

Since ‘83 is in Early Access that means it’s not quite done. Right now it’s pretty barebones as far as content. There are two factions: the US flavored NATO and the Soviet style PACT. There are the normal classes you would expect: machine gunner, anti-tank, sniper, rifleman, grenadier with a special forces squad option for players who want to get behind the lines and make spawn points for their team. Right now there are only three maps available, but the roadmap plans three more maps coming, as well as new factions, vehicles, commander abilities, etc. According to the Steam Early Access info box developer Blue Dot Games plans on keeping the game in Early Access until mid to late 2027. 

A multiplayer game lives and dies by its population. I can jump into the server browser and see less than 100 players (right around 90) playing right now across the servers. It is Monday night, but even peak times on the weekend weren’t that populated–not to mention the wasteland of EU and Oceanic servers. I really hope this changes and Blue Point Games can make ‘83 the game it has the potential to be.