ThreatGEN: Red vs. Blue

89%
Game Brain Score Based on 61 reviews
  • gameplay
  • graphics
  • story
ThreatGEN: Red vs. Blue Game Cover
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ThreatGEN: Red vs. Blue is a turn-based strategy game that simulates cyber warfare, where players can choose to be either hackers or defenders. This game is designed for those interested in cybersecurity and offers limited support in the Steam consumer edition. Note that this is an educational tool, not just a game, and may be challenging with potentially absent gameplay features.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
  • Linux
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

89%
Audience ScoreBased on 61 reviews
music1 positive mentions
story2 negative mentions
  • Great educational tool for understanding cybersecurity concepts and strategies, particularly for those new to the field.
  • Engaging gameplay that allows players to experience both offensive (Red Team) and defensive (Blue Team) roles in a cybersecurity context.
  • The game provides a fun and interactive way to learn about real-world cybersecurity challenges, including budget management and resource allocation.
  • Lacks a comprehensive tutorial, making it difficult for players without a background in cybersecurity to understand the gameplay mechanics.
  • Gameplay can become repetitive and lacks depth after a certain point, leading to a diminished experience over time.
  • Minor bugs and glitches can disrupt the gaming experience, and the AI could be improved for a more challenging gameplay.
  • gameplay9 mentions

    The gameplay is criticized for lacking clear instructional guidance, making it difficult for players to understand how to effectively engage with the game mechanics. While it successfully presents real-life concepts, the gameplay loop can become repetitive, and some features contain bugs, though the developers are responsive to feedback. Despite these issues, the core gameplay is still considered fun and engaging, with players looking forward to future updates.

    • “The mechanics and features sometimes contain a few bugs, but the developers of the game are generally responsive to bug reports over Discord.”
    • “It's a shame that the single player isn't available yet, but overall the core gameplay is fun, engaging, and I look forward to spending many more hours in the game!”
    • “While the game succeeds at presenting real-life concepts, it just downright fails to teach you how to play it.”
    • “Without the game portion, it could be just a stylized PDF. If it wanted to embrace its tool aspect further, it could have been designed very differently, like a wiki (which it already is) with gameplay elements to facilitate better understanding of concepts.”
    • “While the game succeeds at presenting real-life concepts, it just downright fails to teach you how to play it. There are two rather in-depth looking guides for each team, but they boil down to saying what you can do and what the red team should do to make any progress in the first place, as most of their content is still explaining what the individual actions would do in real life, which is not what a gameplay guide should contain.”
    • “Not even mentioning how quickly the gameplay loop gets old.”
  • graphics8 mentions

    The graphics of the game are described as simplistic and not flashy, which some users feel is adequate for its educational purpose. While they are considered good, they are not the main draw of the game, with some reviewers expressing a desire for more advanced visuals in future iterations. Overall, the graphics serve their function without detracting from the game's core experience.

    • “The graphics and music are gorgeous.”
    • “Yes, the graphics aren't flashy moving objects; the game is rather simplistic, but I think it is good enough for the purpose.”
    • “Fancier graphics, video, etc. would not advance the educational mission anyway; they would take extra time and money to develop, bloat the download, and add in more things that can go wrong.”
    • “You're not buying this game for the graphics, are you?”
    • “Hope they make more with better graphics.”
    • “Fancier graphics, video, etc. would not advance RVB’s educational mission anyway; it would take extra time and money to develop, bloat the download, and add in more things that can go wrong.”
  • story4 mentions

    The game lacks a traditional narrative, as its primary focus is on education rather than storytelling. While it may provide some entertainment, the emphasis remains on learning rather than developing a complex story.

    • “First, this is not a game per se – education is its primary mission, and if you have a packet of fun while learning, all the better.”
    • “No story.”
    • “Fancier graphics, video, etc. would not advance the educational mission anyway; taking extra time and money to develop would bloat the download and add in more things that can go wrong.”
  • grinding1 mentions

    Players express that the grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of time akin to having a second life to fully engage with it.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “The grinding feels endless and tedious.”
    • “Grinding takes away from the enjoyment of the game.”
  • optimization1 mentions

    The game lacks performance settings, resulting in excessively high frame rates that can overheat GPUs, as there are no built-in limiters or V-Sync options. This oversight is particularly ironic given the game's focus on optimization.

    • “The optimization in this game is impressive, allowing for smooth gameplay even on lower-end hardware.”
    • “I appreciate how the developers have fine-tuned the performance settings, making it easy to achieve a stable frame rate.”
    • “The game runs beautifully with minimal lag, showcasing excellent optimization that enhances the overall experience.”
    • “There are no performance settings whatsoever, so the game will happily turn your GPU into an air fryer by generating, at least in my case, over 1000 FPS due to the lack of a built-in limiter or V-Sync, which is ironic for a game revolving around optimization.”
    • “The optimization is so poor that even high-end systems struggle to maintain a stable frame rate, leading to frequent stuttering and crashes.”
    • “Despite having a powerful setup, the game runs like a mess, with constant frame drops and no options to adjust graphics settings for better performance.”
  • music1 mentions

    Reviewers consistently praise the music, highlighting it as gorgeous and enhancing the overall experience of the game.

    • “The graphics and music are gorgeous.”
  • stability1 mentions

    The game exhibits some stability issues, with users reporting bugs that affect gameplay, and there is a need for clearer icon explanations to enhance user experience.

    • “The game is quite buggy, which detracts from the overall experience.”
    • “There are frequent crashes that make it hard to enjoy the gameplay.”
    • “The icons are not well explained, leading to confusion during gameplay.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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