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About Cleared Hot

Cleared Hot is a single player tactical shooter game. It was developed by Not Knowing Corporation and was released on November 20, 2025. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

CLEARED HOT is a nostalgic helicopter shooter with satisfying physics and light tactical elements. Shoot, dodge, move your squad around the battlefield, and pick up almost anything with your rope and magnet. With fully physics-based action, you can get creative and use the environment to your advantage. Send enemies ragdolling through the air with your rockets, or use your rope to throw rocks a…

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Reviews

97%Audience ScoreBased on 3,023 reviews
story285 positive mentions
optimization26 negative mentions

  • Excellent nostalgic spirit and faithful homage to the classic Desert/Jungle/Urban Strike series with modernized controls and physics.
  • Fun and approachable gameplay with intuitive controls, entertaining voice acting, and humorous dialogue.
  • Variety of helicopters and weapons with satisfying destruction physics and enjoyable mission designs, all running well even on lower-end hardware.
  • The game content is currently limited to one chapter with short gameplay time, resulting in low replayability until more chapters are released.
  • Some balance issues exist among helicopters and weapons, with a dominant helicopter and overpowered weapons reducing strategic variety.
  • Technical limitations include occasional performance issues on Steam Deck, lack of checkpoints causing mission restarts on failure, and a need for more mission variety and clarity in instructions.
  • story

    1,110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    26% positive mentions, 72% neutral mentions, 2% negative mentions

    The story in this helicopter arcade game is light-hearted, cheesy, and reminiscent of 80s/90s action movies, featuring quirky characters and humorous dialogue that add charm without overshadowing the gameplay. While the narrative is engaging for its style and well-voiced, it serves mainly as a fun backdrop to the enjoyable, mission-based combat rather than a deep or complex plot. Players appreciate the story’s nostalgic vibe and voice acting but note the current content is limited to a short chapter, with hopes for more missions and expanded storytelling in future updates.

    • “The missions are entertainingly varied, and they even made escort missions far less painful than most games - they are actually fun and exciting, so long as you make sure not to flatten your own convoy by accident.”
    • “The story and voice acting is great too.”
    • “The missions stay fun and engaging, and there are plenty of helicopters and rockets to mess around with.”
    • “The campaign is short, and every mission takes place within the same overall map. While the world itself is reasonably large, individual missions are confined to small sections of it, creating an experience that feels heavily scripted and restrictive. Timers, enemy waves, and mission triggers are all painfully obvious, leaving little room for experimentation. The developers advertise freedom of approach, yet missions are built around predictable set pieces, scripted progression, and extensive handholding that often force players down a single path. The central threat appears with little buildup and is resolved just as quickly, making it difficult to become invested in either the story or the world.”
    • “Unfortunately, much of that potential is wasted by limited mission design, an unremarkable story, and a broader issue common to many indie games: the desire to excel at everything instead of focusing on what the game does best.”
    • “The game is very short with extremely linear missions. Story and dialogue is eye-roll inducing.”
  • gameplay

    512 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    49% positive mentions, 49% neutral mentions, 2% negative mentions

    The gameplay is widely praised for its smooth, intuitive controls and satisfying flight mechanics that blend classic arcade-style helicopter combat with modern physics-based mechanics and customization. While the current early access content is somewhat limited in mission variety and length (around 3-8 hours), the core gameplay loop is engaging, nostalgic, and enjoyable, with potential for growth through additional content and refinements. Some minor issues like occasional control quirks and limited complexity in enemy and mission design are noted but do not significantly detract from the overall fun and replayability.

    • “The rope/magnet mechanic is the standout feature: picking up tanks, enemies, or supply crates and using them as improvised projectiles creates genuinely fun, unscripted moments.”
    • “The gameplay loop is super satisfying though. The gameplay is very smooth, the combat is well done, and what I love most is the variety in helicopters and weapons you can use.”
    • “The core flying mechanics are fun, versatile, and capable of supporting far more ambitious mission design.”
    • “Fighting the controls instead of fighting the enemies makes the current gameplay loop a frustrating and exhausting chore rather than an enjoyable experience.”
    • “The winch mechanic to send enemy missiles back at them feels unrewarding because of how little damage it does and the weapons could maybe use a deeper description.”
    • “I hate to say it, but because of this it felt more like a mobile game as it just lacks any depth in terms of gameplay.”
  • graphics

    207 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    49% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 1% negative mentions

    The graphics combine a nostalgic retro low-poly art style with modern visuals, providing clean, polished, and vibrant visuals that fit the game's arcade helicopter combat theme well. While the visuals are generally well-received for capturing the classic feel with improved fidelity and effects, the lack of detailed graphics options and occasional performance issues, especially on less powerful hardware like the Steam Deck, are noted. Overall, the graphics balance old-school charm with contemporary polish, delivering an immersive and fun aesthetic that enhances the gameplay experience.

    • “The graphics are surprisingly good, with great effects and a nice nostalgic atmosphere.”
    • “It’s nostalgia heaven with great gameplay and great graphics!”
    • “The graphics, the controls, the sound design, the story, the writing, the voice acting – all of it is fantastic.”
    • “Sadly lacks graphical options, had to stop playing as it was cooking my computer.”
    • “I bought this in order to play it on the Steam Deck and there it is an unplayable 20-30fps stutter fest with no graphics options to adjust.”
    • “Also, hopefully lots of optimization coming - I get a lot of lag with my i7 GTX 1060 and there are currently a total of three graphics settings (screen size, full/windowed, and vsync) and so no way to alleviate the FPS issues.”
  • music

    190 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    48% positive mentions, 48% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its authentic 80s/90s synthwave and action movie vibe, which perfectly complements the gameplay and nostalgic atmosphere. While the soundtrack is catchy and energizing, some find it repetitive over longer play sessions and suggest adding more variety or classic theme covers. Overall, the music, along with voice acting and sound design, significantly enhances the immersive, retro arcade experience.

    • “The music, graphics, and cinematics all nail it, and the dialogue is packed with the kind of tough-guy roughness straight out of the action-hero era, which is hilarious.”
    • “That glorious '90s synth-heavy riff-rock action game soundtrack is back, and it's the perfect backdrop for the missions.”
    • “The soundtrack is insanely good, the mechanics of lifting and throwing things are satisfying, and the storytelling is engaging.”
    • “Music is annoying, turned it off instantly, bummer.”
    • “The music is a five second loop on repeat.”
    • “The same as the music that is synthwave-ey AI slop, that sometimes loops on repeat every 15 seconds which can drive you a bit mad.”
  • humor

    113 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game's humor is widely praised for its clever, nostalgic, and lighthearted action-movie style dialogue, enhanced by excellent voice acting and witty banter. It successfully blends over-the-top, goofy, and irreverent jokes with engaging storytelling, creating a fun and entertaining atmosphere reminiscent of classic arcade and "strike" series games. Players appreciate how the humor complements the gameplay, making the overall experience both amusing and enjoyable.

    • “It's well-written, funny without being obnoxious, direct without being bland... it's really outstanding work.”
    • “Bonus points for great writing and excellent voice acting - the game didn't even really need a story but the snappy dialogue adds a ton of charm to each mission and I want to keep playing just to listen to more of this hilarious banter.”
    • “The humor and dialogue is outstanding, plenty of smart-ass jokes, and a variety of ways to blow stuff up and cause general mayhem.”
  • optimization

    109 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    20% positive mentions, 56% neutral mentions, 24% negative mentions

    The game offers generally solid performance on PC with smooth gameplay and decent frame rates even on mid-range hardware, though some stuttering and frame pacing issues persist, including during cutscenes and certain missions. Optimization on Steam Deck has improved significantly with recent updates but still requires further work, especially on OLED models and in more demanding scenarios. Overall, while the game runs well for the most part, it remains an early access title with ongoing optimization needed to fully stabilize and enhance performance across platforms.

    • “Also kudos to the Steam Deck optimization - it is bewilderingly good.”
    • “The performance is also way better than the first demo I've played, less stuttering, more fps, less bugs; I don't doubt it will run smoothly as well on mobile devices and Steam Deck.”
    • “Runs fantastic on Steam Deck since the latest update (their reported performance stats are true).”
    • “Performance is terrible.”
    • “Steam deck OLED performance is utter garbage.”
    • “Terrible performance, with the worst FPS jitter I've ever seen.”
  • replayability

    71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    17% positive mentions, 79% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions

    The game's replayability is currently mixed due to its short campaign and limited missions, but players find value in experimenting with various helicopters, weapons, and loadouts. Many appreciate the potential for deeper replay through future updates, additional modes like arcade or survival, and community features such as custom missions. Overall, while replay options exist now, the full replay value is expected to improve as the game develops beyond early access.

    • “Currently it's in early access and there is only one chapter to play through, but it's very replayable and a lot of fun.”
    • “The lineup of helicopters and their vast array of interchangeable weapons will give you a lot of replay value.”
    • “Replayability is surprisingly great despite having only a few missions; it has a sandbox feel to it with each helicopter being able to do certain things.”
    • “Replayability is highly questionable at this stage.”
    • “With such a brief campaign and minimal replay value, I can’t recommend the title despite how well it plays.”
    • “Extremely short and no replay value.”
  • stability

    32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    69% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 31% negative mentions

    The game demonstrates excellent stability across platforms, including Steam Deck and Linux, with very few bugs or glitches that do not affect gameplay. Even as an early access title, it is well-polished, runs smoothly without crashes, and performs well on a variety of hardware setups. Overall, player experiences highlight a reliable, enjoyable, and stable gaming experience.

    • “My playthrough was largely bug free; honestly, I can't recall anything major.”
    • “Loving it so far, stability issues seem to have been fixed and it even runs great on the Steam Deck.”
    • “The controls are smooth and intuitive, keybinds fully remappable, and the gameplay is smooth and bug free.”
    • “There's your typical day one glitches, level events that fail to initiate, random bugs, etc., but for the most part, it runs really well even on an older rig.”
    • “Highly recommend even as an early access title; so far only came across a few glitches such as enemy combatants stuck inside buildings.”
    • “That and I noticed some of the shadows on the helicopter were a bit buggy after taking damage, and the bullet holes and scuff marks didn't go away when you healed, but that didn't technically affect gameplay.”
  • grinding

    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    5% positive mentions, 13% neutral mentions, 82% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is a significant part of progression, primarily to unlock helicopters and weapons, with arcade mode being a common grind setting. While the core gameplay and controls make grinding relatively enjoyable and not overly burdensome, many missions feel repetitive and tedious, leading to some frustration. Additionally, limited mission variety and balancing issues reduce the incentive to pursue all unlockables, though grinding is generally considered fast and fun by some players.

    • “The physics-based interactions are great, the chopper handling is great, upgrades are simple and not grindy, the controls are tight and straightforward.”
    • “The majority of the missions are quite tedious - it could really use more varying objectives and enemies.”
    • “Once you have the cobra and the bushmaster, the other cannon and heli options don't seem worth grinding for, so there is some balancing needed to make options stand out more.”
    • “Story content runs out after a couple hours and what rest there is, is basically grinding missions to unlock other helicopters and guns.”
  • atmosphere

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    45% positive mentions, 46% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions

    The game delivers a fun, fast-paced twin-stick shooter experience with a nostalgic 90s action movie atmosphere, enhanced by solid voice acting, a fitting soundtrack, and impressive graphics. Its charm is bolstered by engaging character dialogue, varied helicopters and weapons, and satisfying destruction effects, creating an immersive and enjoyable ambiance. While relatively short, the polished gameplay and retro-inspired atmosphere make it a memorable and recommended experience.

    • “Not a long game atm but the character dialogue is great, the atmosphere is phenomenal, and the music really hits the sweet spot between retro action movies and Command and Conquer.”
    • “Overall, I'm recommending it, while short unfortunately, the gameplay is fun and polished, the 90s over the top action movie atmosphere/silliness is on point.”
    • “A fast-paced, arcadey shoot-em-up full of charm and atmosphere that is well worth the price of admission.”
    • “A simple low-cost water-surface effect when flying low over water would also elevate the atmosphere.”
  • emotional

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Players praise the game's nostalgic and heartwarming emotional impact, often reminiscing about childhood memories linked to classic flash and retro games. The experience evokes feelings of joy, fun, and even moments of genuine sentiment, making it feel like a touching, small-town tale rather than a typical high-budget title.

    • “This game recaptures the magic of it all; I actually shed a tear when I remembered what it was like playing that game. Now I am 40 years old and everything hurts lol.”
    • “I loved every moment of the game and it made me feel like I was back in my childhood living room, playing Jungle Strike on my Sega Genesis again.”
    • “It made me feel like a kid again, even in my thirties.”
  • character development

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Character development in the game is a surprising highlight, adding depth and emotional engagement to a straightforward plot, enhanced by snappy dialogue and intuitive controls.

    • “Intuitive controls and fast action combine with snappy dialogue, a simple yet effective plot with a surprising injection of character development and heart.”
  • monetization

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Monetization in the game is straightforward and player-friendly, as all helicopters, guns, and missiles are fully obtainable without any DLC or in-game purchases required. This allows for complete customization without extra costs.

    • “You can obtain new helicopters and guns/missiles to make your ride customizable, all with no DLC or in-game purchases needed!”
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Play Times

4h Median play time
4h Average play time
3-5h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 21 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Cleared Hot is a tactical shooter game. Common tags for Cleared Hot include indie, nostalgia, war, isometric, early access and others.

Cleared Hot is available on PC, Steam Deck, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 4 hours playing Cleared Hot.

Cleared Hot was released on November 20, 2025.

Cleared Hot was developed by Not Knowing Corporation.

Cleared Hot has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked Cleared Hot for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

Cleared Hot is a single player game.

Similar games include Zombieville USA 3D, Overload, Tiny Combat Arena, Megacopter: Blades of the Goddess, Dagger Directive and others.