Starship Troopers: Terran Command

Starship Troopers: Terran Command doesn’t reinvite the RTS genre, but it’s so steeped in its fantastic source material and great gameplay elements that it manages to be one of the best games to release in years.

80%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

replayability, stability

87% User Score Based on 7,028 reviews

Critic Score 72%Based on 18 reviews

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Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a single player and multiplayer survival management game with warfare, violence and science fiction themes. It was developed by The Artistocrats and was released on March 30, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a thrilling real-time strategy game set in the Starship Troopers movies universe. Take command of the Mobile Infantry and do your part in the war against the Arachnid threat. Ensure that human civilization, not insect, dominates the galaxy now and always!

Starship Troopers: Terran Command screenshot

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87%

Audience ScoreBased on 7,028 reviews

story563 positive mentions

replayability52 negative mentions

Faithful reproduction of the Starship Troopers movie atmosphere and universe, with matching propaganda and unit designs.
Engaging tactical gameplay focused on line-of-sight, positioning, and managing squad abilities, offering a challenging but rewarding RTS experience.
Well-designed campaign missions and a variety of units, with ongoing updates, DLCs, and an active map editor/community content adding replay value.

Lack of tactical pause and some frustrating micromanagement requirements, resulting in slow pacing and difficulties commanding multiple squads simultaneously.
Occasional AI pathfinding issues and unit control problems, such as units clumping together and not attacking effectively without constant babysitting.
Limited base-building mechanics, missing multiplayer or co-op modes, and some repetitive or linear mission designs reduce overall gameplay depth and replayability.

story
2,750 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
75%
5%
Starship Troopers: Terran Command offers a story-driven, single-player RTS campaign that faithfully captures the tone and satire of the film series with engaging mission variety and propaganda-style briefings. While the narrative is straightforward and cheesy in the spirit of the source material, it lacks depth and character development, featuring mostly linear, scripted missions with limited strategic freedom. The campaign provides about 15-20 hours of challenging gameplay, but the absence of skirmish, multiplayer, or diverse post-campaign modes limits replayability.
- “The story campaign is true to the dystopian source material and a fun RTS.”
- “The story is presented through mission briefings and voiceovers rather than cinematic cutscenes, but it still conveys the harsh, hierarchical world of the Terran Federation. The campaign missions are decent for a single playthrough but I highly doubt very many players will want to go through them all at higher difficulties.”
- “The campaign is a good length, and the missions are very varied and interesting. The missions are fully voice-acted, there are cutscenes before each mission to further the story and the game nails the feel of the Verhoeven movie universe with every sentence uttered, every mission briefing provided.”
- “The story campaign is restrictive and linear, with heavily scripted missions that limit player freedom and tactical creativity, essentially funneling players through predetermined strategies.”
- “The campaign missions become repetitive and tedious, mostly revolving around clearing bug hives or defending positions with minimal variation, leading to a lack of engaging story development or mission diversity.”
- “Numerous missions suffer from poor design choices such as unfair difficulty spikes, poorly explained mechanics, and frustrating escort or tunnel missions, resulting in a gameplay experience marred by save scumming and forced restarts, ultimately detracting from the story experience.”
gameplay
1,087 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
60%
7%
Starship Troopers: Terran Command features solid, tactical RTS gameplay centered on squad positioning, line-of-sight firing mechanics, and strategic unit management, offering a fresh take that captures the spirit of the film. While the gameplay is generally engaging and suitable for both newcomers and veterans, it is noted as somewhat simplistic, repetitive, and occasionally hampered by clunky AI, pathfinding issues, and a lack of depth in base-building and resource management. Despite these shortcomings, many players appreciate the challenging combat, unique mechanics, and faithful atmosphere, recommending the game especially to fans of the franchise and tactical RTS games.
- “The game has pretty deep gameplay mechanics requiring actual positioning of your units so they can get line of sight.”
- “Gameplay wise, you have squad-based tactics, with a focus on positioning, firing lanes and ability usage, in an environment where both sides have virtually infinite troops; you replenish troops as the dropships recharge, limited only by a population cap.”
- “It fully captures the atmosphere of the film and includes a very good balance of 'old-school base-building/management' RTS gameplay and 'micro-management-focused tactical strategy game' elements.”
- “You can't figure out the game as you go because if you don't understand a brand new mechanic you will lose, because that mechanic is the only way you'll win the mission.”
- “The gameplay mostly boils down to setting up kill zones, pushing forward a bit, then setting up more kill zones—repeating that loop until you reach the objective, clear it, and move on.”
- “The units die easily when grouped up too tightly as the mechanics of the game relies on units' field of view and normal units must stop moving before they can engage enemies; those two mechanics cause a flaw where if a unit pathfinds through or in front of the engaging unit, they block the sight and most likely lead to losses or a wipe. Another mechanic is that when using incendiary, some units while pathfinding will die walking through the fire either by friendly or enemies; this should be heavily fixed to avoid entirely. That includes when an enemy has set fire to a position; the units should be scripted to move to the nearest adjacent clear area of its former location. They should scale the viewing threshold where they have a little better sight when blocked if they want to keep the line of sight mechanics. In my opinion, the game would be funner if the friendly view block was removed, but the idea of having the other units positioned in a uniformed battle formation seems exciting but flawed with other mechanics of the game. In another opinion, they should up the spawning rate of enemies when lowering the difficulty for a better feel, and I'd like to be able to also change settings like this freely in the future.”
graphics
422 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
51%
8%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for faithfully capturing the aesthetic and tone of the Starship Troopers movies with solid, functional visuals and an appealing art style, though they are widely considered dated and modest by modern standards. While not cutting-edge or highly detailed, the graphics effectively support gameplay and atmosphere, running well even on older hardware, but the limited graphic settings and occasional bugs or glitches somewhat detract from the experience. Overall, the visuals are seen as good and fitting for the franchise, though some players desire more polish, variety, and advanced graphical options.
- “The graphics are impressive, the sound design immerses you in the action, and the thrill of battling hordes of bugs is exhilarating.”
- “The in-game graphics are lovely in 4k with a very nice crisp style.”
- “Visually, the game is a treat for fans of the franchise, with detailed character models and environments that capture the gritty, futuristic aesthetic of the movies.”
- “The graphics are very dated (I had it set on max graphics), gameplay is horribly linear, the tutorial is meh and the game plays out like it was designed by a bunch of 5th graders who have never played a video game before.”
- “Graphics from the C&C time capsule: for a 2022 release, the visuals feel like they were extracted from a 2005 bargain bin.”
- “The graphics settings are terrible; only presets for graphics options, no advanced graphical tweaking like anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering can be changed individually.”
music
243 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
57%
8%
The game's music is generally described as competent and fitting, with several praising its military-style themes and immersive, adaptive soundtrack that complements gameplay intensity. However, many reviewers express disappointment over the absence of the original Starship Troopers film score, particularly iconic tracks like "Klendathu Drop," which they feel would have greatly enhanced atmosphere and nostalgia. While the sound design and voice work largely support the game's tone, the music itself is sometimes seen as bland, generic, or repetitive, leaving some players turning it off or longing for the classic film soundtrack.
- “The soundtrack and sound design further sell the intensity, especially when the battlefield starts to collapse under sheer numbers.”
- “From the menu theme down to battle music is truly phenomenal, probably among the best of any RTS I have played. Not just the tracks themselves mind you, but also how the music is integrated into the gameplay. I would say the price is worth it for the music alone, and I am not exaggerating here.”
- “The adaptive music is wonderful. The music is perfect. The overall sound of the music is great, thick and beefy and dark.”
- “- soundtrack: the music for this game was so repetitive and grating that I ended up just turning it off.”
- “Music is just like an instrumental army radio, movie had much better music, speech is real soulless and automated and weapon sounds are so low, they sound like a joke.”
- “The music is forgettable and sad, which is made even worse when you consider that the IP had previously used Basil Poledouris's work.”
replayability
208 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
58%
25%
Replayability in the game is currently limited, primarily centered around the campaign and a few scenario or challenge missions, with no multiplayer, skirmish, or endless modes. However, the recently added territory mode, community-made content, and plans for future updates and game modes are expected to significantly enhance replay value. Overall, while the core tactical gameplay is appreciated, many users desire more diverse modes and features to sustain long-term engagement.
- “Deliver a balanced, highly replayable experience by stripping away a lot of the genre’s usual busywork and focusing almost entirely on tactical decision making and battlefield awareness.”
- “Successes and failures both meaningfully affect how the campaign unfolds, adding tension and replay value.”
- “Not only a good game as it is with single player campaign, there is also a ton of community content and some additional free stuff like territory mode etc., replayable, fun and well made in the spirit of Starship Trooper.”
- “There is almost no replayability besides achievements, but that's fine by me.”
- “Unfortunately, the replay value is limited, unless you purchase the DLC.”
- “It does lack replayability sadly because outside the campaign there's not much else you can do.”
atmosphere
118 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
44%
3%
Starship Troopers: Terran Command consistently receives praise for authentically capturing the film's brutal, satirical atmosphere through its sound design, lighting, unit animations, and large-scale chaotic battles. While the graphics are functional rather than cutting-edge, the game's tone, voice acting, and thematic elements effectively immerse players in the relentless bug war, making it a standout atmospheric RTS for fans of the franchise. However, a few critics note pacing issues and occasional lack of tension, especially in later stages, but overall the atmosphere is widely regarded as a core strength.
- “The military chatter, unit designs, and overwhelming bug hordes all reinforce the brutal, almost hopeless atmosphere that fans of the franchise expect.”
- “The sound design further enhances immersion, with impactful weapon effects, tense music, and the characteristic insectoid screeches contributing to an atmosphere of danger and urgency.”
- “Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a gem of a game; it's exactly punchy enough without being too long, and the atmosphere and theming—oh my god—utterly incredible.”
- “And frankly, it feels nothing like a true Starship Troopers atmosphere.”
- “The game fails to build a proper atmosphere and especially in its later half, also fails to build tension and suspense since you're already used to just careful positioning or simply moving units, which are objectively broken.”
- “Cut scenes are okay, interface is okay, but the game has zero atmosphere.”
stability
116 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
1%
92%
The game exhibits a mixed stability performance, with many users reporting frequent bugs, glitches, and AI/pathfinding issues that sometimes hinder gameplay or cause crashes. However, some players experience relatively smooth and stable gameplay, noting that most bugs are minor and the game runs well on various systems. Overall, while the game has a solid foundation, its stability is inconsistent and could benefit from further polishing and bug fixes.
- “The game is pretty much bug free, with little to no glitches or gameplay and graphical bugs.”
- “I encountered minimal game bugs and issues, and the game runs great.”
- “The game runs great on older equipment and feels stable and polished for a new release.”
- “17 hours on with several visits to YouTube walkthroughs and now screen stuttering, frequent frame freezes, and crashes.”
- “Don't normally leave reviews but I got the game a year after release and it's buggy as hell, getting 2/3 crash to desktop per mission, to the point it's unplayable.”
- “The game seems like it will be a lot of fun, except every time the narrator kicks in the whole game freezes and sometimes drops out entirely.”
humor
84 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
99%
1%
The game's humor successfully captures the dark, satirical, and campy tone of the Starship Troopers universe, delivering plenty of funny moments through propaganda-style commentary, bizarre NPC remarks, and over-the-top storytelling. While fans praise its faithful and clever humor that enhances the tactical gameplay, some feel the jokes and cutscenes grow repetitive or too basic over time. Overall, the humor is a highlight for enthusiasts, though it may not sustain all players’ interest throughout.
- “The humor is top notch and nails the feeling of Starship Troopers.”
- “They 100% nail the humor of the movies and the RTS gameplay is pretty engaging.”
- “Propaganda flavor is spot-on: mission intros and unit chatter ooze satire and dark humor.”
grinding
80 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
2%
94%
Grinding in the game is frequently described as tedious and repetitive, with missions often devolving into long, drawn-out battles that require extensive micromanagement and troop replenishment. While some players find satisfaction in strategic positioning and unit abilities, the overall experience is marred by repetitive enemy waves, clunky controls, and slow progression, making it feel more like a grind than engaging gameplay. This grind is especially pronounced on higher difficulties, where frustration with AI and unit management intensifies the tedium.
- “Needs some unit micromanagement (sight lines and unit special abilities) to be efficient in a mission, but it is not tedious.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Grinding and more grinding: just build units to chip away at the bugs, then die, and build more.”
- “The slow push to clear the hives can be tedious and often feels like a grinding slog, dragging on far longer than necessary.”
- “Micromanagement is incredibly tedious, especially due to no autocast on units' special abilities, and units not attacking while moving forces constant micro.”
optimization
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
55%
19%
Optimization reviews are mixed: while some praise the game's smooth performance, stability, and solid optimization even on modest hardware, others report persistent stuttering, frame drops, and memory leaks, especially during larger battles or long play sessions. Several mention that recent updates have worsened performance, and high-end rigs sometimes struggle, indicating room for improvement, particularly in handling large unit counts and resource management. Overall, the game runs well for many but has notable consistency and scaling issues that impact the experience.
- “Absolutely exemplary performance.”
- “The game runs fairly smoothly; I haven't encountered too many bugs or glitches during my playthrough, so performance-wise it's fine.”
- “Lastly, performance is great, and the game ran flawlessly on my 2080 Super at 4K on the maximum preset.”
- “This is not a problem with the computer (stuttering, low FPS, etc.); it is built into the game as normal behavior and can't be changed.”
- “Performance was inexcusable, even on a solid rig.”
- “4090, Ryzen 7 7700X, WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe, 64 GB of RAM, lowest fastest graphics setting and still can't play the game without performance issues… it's games like this that tarnish developers' reputation.”
monetization
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The game's monetization is generally praised for avoiding aggressive tactics like microtransactions and always-online requirements, instead offering a straightforward, single-campaign experience. While some users view it as a nostalgic cash grab relying heavily on the IP without adding substantial original content, others recognize genuine effort and care from the developers, noting that it is not a shameless or exploitative cash grab.
- “No microtransactions, no nonsense, always online servers causing single player lag—just no nonsense.”
- “This game is a joyless cash grab that banks on the IP, desperately clinging to the original story without providing much original content.”
- “This is not an RTS game and is nothing like the old Starship Troopers game; it feels like a nostalgia cash grab with boring on-rails gameplay from start to finish, and the options and keyboard layout felt like an afterthought.”
- “This game is nothing more than a lazy cash grab; if you strip away all the Starship Troopers stickers, it's a bad RTS with half the functionality cut away, bad voice acting, and poorly designed missions.”
emotional
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
93%
7%
The game elicits a range of emotional responses, from heartfelt attachment to characters and intense personal engagement during campaigns, to discomfort and detachment due to its brutal squad-based gameplay. While some players appreciate its emotional depth and connection to the source material, others find certain elements emotionally unsettling or difficult to connect with. Overall, the emotional experience is impactful but varies widely depending on individual sensitivity and expectations.
- “Each campaign explores the relationship between a new cast of interesting characters and how they influence each other in extreme circumstances, providing personal engagement and making you care about what is going on not only gameplay-wise but also emotionally.”
- “Emotionally, I felt dirty by the end of the Gehenna (DLC) campaign.”
- “Love this game but scorpion bugs made me cry :(”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game lacks meaningful character development, with no story progression or arcs during missions, leaving players feeling unengaged. Despite memorable artwork and distinctive character design, the overall character growth is minimal or nonexistent.
- “The mission finishes and you sit there waiting for the next mission, expecting some kind of character development arc and instead you see credits.”
- “There's no base building or character development.”
- “Nonexistent story and character development.”

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72%Critics’ scoreBased on 18 critic reviews

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17h Median play time

18h Average play time

11-24h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 62 analyzed playthroughs

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Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a survival management game with warfare, violence and science fiction themes.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command is available on PC, Windows, Cloud and NVIDIA GeForce NOW.

On average players spend around 18 hours playing Starship Troopers: Terran Command.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command was released on March 30, 2022.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command was developed by The Artistocrats.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Starship Troopers: Terran Command for its story but disliked it for its replayability.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin (PC) - Steam Key - EUROPE, Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, Iron Harvest, Battlestar Galactica Deadlock and others.

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