Vietnam War

About

Vietnam War is a single player open world shooter game with a historical theme. It was developed by Thorium Game Lab and was released on April 25, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Lead your troops to victory in a huge open world set in the Vietnam War. Play as U.S. or Vietcong / N.V.A. on an ever changing battlefield where other units move and fight independently of player. Command your squad to follow, stay, attack and change formations etc. Missions of various types are provided based on the situation in the area. However, there is no story or main mission progressio…

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85%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,354 reviews

gameplay50 positive mentions

stability157 negative mentions

Massive, detailed and immersive open world map with dynamic and persistent warfare across multiple countries and military branches.
Huge variety of weapons, vehicles, roles and complex sandbox gameplay systems including squad commands, base building, airstrikes, survival and RPG mechanics.
Developer actively works on the game with frequent updates and improvements, showing passion and responsiveness to community feedback.

Severe performance issues including lag spikes, freezes, and frequent crashes even on high-end PCs.
Very buggy and janky gameplay with floaty and inconsistent movement, broken AI behavior, pathfinding issues and multiple game-breaking glitches.
Lacks tutorials or guidance making it hard to understand many gameplay systems; some features are incomplete or nonfunctional; squad commands and vehicle interactions are frustrating.

stability
158 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
99%
The game is highly buggy and unstable, with frequent crashes, freezes, glaring AI issues, and poor optimization affecting performance and playability. Despite these significant technical problems, many players find it fun and full of potential, praising its unique gameplay and content but advising caution until further polish and bug fixes are implemented. Overall, stability is a major current drawback, typical of an early access title still in active development.
- “Great content but it damn near doesn't even work. CTD constantly, helicopters are a complete tossup whether they crash you or not, it's not optimized at all. Multiple audio glitches, the save and quit feature doesn't even work half the time, fast travel puts you below the ground, building permanently locks your cursor on screen so you can't turn, trying to dig a tunnel causes the dig sound to play nonstop, squads won't spawn and countless more issues. Developer, if you see this, there is great potential and there's way more than $15 worth of content but for the love of god please bug fix. You can't play it for more than 5 minutes because it's constantly crashing.”
- “Constant freezing, inputs don't work half the time, aircraft are unplayable because the game freezes as soon as you get in them.”
- “Incredibly buggy and near unplayably slow on low-mid range machines, even on lowest settings with halved troop count, I still go into a crawl once any action happens.”
gameplay
156 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
63%
5%
The gameplay offers an extremely deep and ambitious sandbox experience with a vast open-world, diverse mechanics, and emergent scenarios combining infantry, vehicles, squad tactics, and RPG elements. However, it is currently hampered by significant bugs, janky controls, clunky AI, and a lack of polish, making the experience frustrating and overwhelming at times. Despite these issues, players find the gameplay fun and immersive, with strong potential that improves as ongoing updates refine core mechanics and performance.
- “I mean this dude made a map that is functionally the size of Vietnam, added America and gulags, you can generally just do whatever you want and be whoever you want, and there is a surprising amount of depth to some of the game's mechanics.”
- “There's fps gameplay, there's squad tactics, there's flying choppers, prop planes and jets, there's driving everything from bike to a tank, even PBRs, there are patrol, search & destroy and hearts & minds missions, and all of it happens at once on a pretty sizeable map.”
- “The depth and breadth of the mechanics and gameplay is insane - an actual Vietnam War is going on all around you, all the time.”
- “For some reason when I'm playing it, it's like I'm dealing with the Tet Offensive as I can't walk more than 5 feet without explosions taking out half of the squad, squads of enemies on nearly all sides, and I even saw 2 enemy squads spawn in the middle of the base as I walked out of a medical tent that proceeded to spawnkill me several times. Bodies will sometimes die and remain completely vertical as their death animation bugs out, enemies spawn under the map and can shoot you through the floor, unclear objectives, extremely simplistic and clunky menus (although I like where the medical system is going), extremely clunky vehicles, very floaty movement as it feels like I'm running on ice, unclear progression system, and an overall really terrible gameplay experience at this time.”
- “This game has so much potential and when you actually get into combat it is a lot of fun, but overall it's a janky, buggy mess of a game that makes little to no sense, terrible AI, poor controls, and overall awful gameplay.”
- “Beyond the dumpster fire that is the ethical basis for the game, gameplay is janky and frustrating, movement is clunky at best, and the ambition of this game destroys the experience by throwing tons of half-baked and unexplained features at you.”
optimization
142 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
64%
25%
The game suffers from severe optimization issues, causing frequent stuttering, frame drops, and crashes even on high-end systems. Despite its ambitious scope and content, poor AI rendering and buggy mechanics heavily impact performance. Players hope for significant future patches to improve stability and smoothness, as the current state often makes the game frustrating or unplayable.
- “Keep working on performance and making the gameplay smoother and this game will be a blast; it has a ton of content already.”
- “With more optimization (and it does seem to have improved slightly since I first bought it) and, honestly, if it just worked better and had a little more effort put into the implementation of many of the basic elements, it would pretty readily be a yes from me.”
- “Previously I found the bugs in the game unbearable, but I'm very surprised to see that a few months down the line it plays amazingly with far fewer performance issues and bugs than I previously experienced.”
- “Massive stuttering and frame drops; I literally had an entire direction I couldn't look at because it would drop to 1 frame (100% army size for both, normal graphics, 100 view distance). This game should not perform like this on a high-end system.”
- “At the time I am reviewing this, the performance of the game is terrible. The short moments I have above 20 fps are enjoyable.”
- “Since closed testing, the game has had issues with AI spawning due to unoptimized AI rendering techniques. If you are in, say, the DMZ, you are rendering thousands of AI at any given time even in areas that you do not currently have rendered. This causes the game to use an absurd amount of CPU power, contributing to a majority of the performance issues.”
graphics
86 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
74%
12%
The game's graphics are characterized by a simple, low-poly art style that some find charming and immersive, enhancing its large, detailed Vietnam-themed open world. However, the visuals are often described as rudimentary and unpolished, with frequent stuttering, frame drops, and poor optimization even on high-end systems. Despite these technical issues and modest visual fidelity, many players feel the gameplay depth and scale outweigh the graphical shortcomings.
- “The graphics are charming and simple but detailed enough. The environments are great with a surprising variety of animals, some deadly and some not, and even though the map is enormous it doesn't feel too copy and paste. The map is genuinely impressive with all you can want for a Vietnam wargame — all of Vietnam and then some.”
- “It has character and while the graphics look a little off, I think this is almost a perfect singleplayer game about the Vietnam War.”
- “All represented with a unique low poly art style.”
- “Massive stuttering and frame drops; I've literally had an entire direction I couldn't look because it would drop to 1 frame (100% army size for both, normal graphics, 100 view distance). This game should not perform like this on a high-end system.”
- “I have a 5090 and 9800x3d and this has a very unsmooth frame-time graph and stutters like crazy regardless of graphics settings.”
- “The graphics quality is irrelevant on how the game performs; I've been on max and low settings with zero change in performance.”
story
77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
91%
4%
The story aspect offers a vast, open-world Vietnam War sandbox with a wide variety of dynamic, randomly generated and handcrafted missions spanning different roles and locations, allowing players to craft their own narrative without forced linearity. While the ambition and scope are praised, players often encounter mission bugs, AI issues, and lack of clear guidance, which can disrupt immersion and mission flow. Overall, it provides an engaging, emergent war experience for those who appreciate freedom and variety despite technical roughness.
- “There are an infinite number of randomly generated missions and a decent number of handmade operations provided for the character, but there is no obligation to follow orders, and the player is free to design their own story across an open world map of south-east Asia, complete with an arsenal of period-accurate weapons and vehicles for both the northern and southern forces.”
- “You're really able to make your own story.”
- “Instead of guiding players through linear missions or historical set pieces, Vietnam War drops them into a massive open world that represents large swaths of Vietnam and surrounding regions.”
- “There are missions and operations sprinkled in, which show the ambition of the game, but expect them not to always work right.”
- “If you'd rather prefer that the jank and the bugs were gone, everything worked as it should and you could systematically move around the map, finishing missions, eliminating hostile presence, Vietnam War is most likely going to frustrate you the hell out.”
- “Core gameplay functions are also not properly working, even talking to NPCs (required for some missions) seems to only work once in every ten attempts, with dialogue options outright not working at all.”
humor
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor largely stems from its unintentional jank, buggy mechanics, dry and deadpan voice acting, and chaotic emergent gameplay, which many players find hilariously entertaining despite numerous glitches. While the bugs and AI flaws can be frustrating, they often add to the comedic charm, making the experience amusing and unique, especially for those who appreciate offbeat, sandbox-style games. Overall, humor is a standout aspect that balances the game's rough edges and showcases the developer's playful approach.
- “I crashed my helicopter because I hadn't figured out landing yet and in the driest monotone voice my character shouts 'damn atheist commies.' and I couldn't stop laughing.”
- “I remember being as close to physically rolling on the floor laughing at just the absurdity of it all.”
- “The jank is absolutely hilarious and you'll genuinely find yourself in absolute shock.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game offers strong replayability with tons of content, diverse mechanics, and ambitious systems that encourage role play. However, current issues like movement kinks, AI problems, UI bugs, and optimization hinder the overall experience. With ongoing updates addressing these flaws, the game's replay value is expected to significantly improve.
- “9 out of 10, tons of content and game mechanics, great replayability, definitely rough around the edges, but a good time overall with frequent updates.”
- “If the UI and interactions were fixed, this would be a way better game than Easy Red 2 due to its massive scale and replayability, but the game does suffer from bad UI and bugs.”
- “I'll pick it back up when it's in a more playable state, but right now I just can't enjoy the game with all of the frustrations that it brings.”
- “In fact, if UI and interactions were fixed, this would be a way better game than Easy Red 2 due to its massive scale and replayability, but as mentioned this game does suffer from bad UI and bugs.”
- “It is insanely ambitious, has incredible potential for role play, and if the game's systems can be honed, endless replayability.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The music, featuring authentic Vietnam War-era rock and propaganda songs, deeply enhances immersion by complementing intense and chaotic combat scenarios. Combined with radio chatter and dynamic in-game events, it creates a powerful and atmospheric experience that stands out from typical war shooters.
- “I have no idea what I'm doing but if I play Vietnam war era rock music and patrol Saigon only to be ambushed by the Viet Cong and watch my entire squad get gunned down made me feel more immersed than any war shooter out there... RIP Brian, you were only 19 man, you deserved so much more.”
- “The music, the radio chatter, the insane moments that randomly occur as the war goes on around you!”
- “There is no more VC, angry monkeys, music playing as GIs surround the radio shooting the smoking, and no gunfire and explosions.”
- “Spawned in with US propaganda music playing through the speaker, a million buttons that have no explanation on how to use them with no tutorial, walked about ten feet to take a shower I guess and my squad gets blown up leaving me the sole survivor with PTSD.”
- “I can't usually be bothered to write reviews as so many games are just mediocre, same old songs sung in a different key.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a deeply immersive and emotional experience by realistically portraying the Vietnam War, including personal losses and the complexities of logistics and civilian interactions. Players often feel a strong connection to their squad and the harsh realities of war, making it stand out from typical shooters.
- “I have no idea what I'm doing but if I play Vietnam War era rock music and patrol Saigon only to be ambushed by the Viet Cong and watch my entire squad get gunned down made me feel more immersed than any war shooter out there... RIP Brian, you were only 19 man, you deserved so much more.”
- “This game is perhaps the definitive simulation of the Vietnam War, touching on many aspects overlooked by typical shooter games, such as the logistics network behind the scenes, the shaky interactions with local civilians, the quality of government issued rations, and even, just barely, life after deployment in the fictional state of Kansota.”
- “That's not even touching the various air armor and other specialty roles / playthroughs.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its strong historical and theatrical immersion, enhanced by unique vehicles and solid combat. However, some technical issues and AI shortcomings slightly detract from the overall experience.
- “Great theatre and historical atmosphere, but janky.”
- “The combat is solid, the vehicles are all unique and there are a lot of them, the overall atmosphere is great, the progression system works well.”
- “The atmosphere is perfect and the concept ambitious.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players acknowledge the developer's relentless efforts and frequent updates despite being a solo creator, but note that the gameplay's repetitive focus on capturing or defending bases can feel tedious due to predictable AI behavior.
- “Currently the only objective as infantry is to capture bases or defend them, which will end up being tedious due to how the AI is.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization is well-received, with users appreciating that it doesn't feel like a cash grab. While some visual aspects could be improved, the overall approach to monetization is considered fair and unobtrusive.