Game intel
Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow is a large-scale real-time modern warfare tactics game. The base game features both the American and Russian factions, more than 100 units and mul…
Broken Arrow has been a heartbreaker. On paper it’s the RTS many of us wanted: modern combined-arms, deep kit choices, and big brain positioning. In practice, two things kneecapped it: cheating and a lopsided meta that turned late-game into cruise-missile roulette. Today’s update from Steel Balalaika goes straight at both problems-and tosses in a Halloween horde mode that, against all odds, looks like the right kind of silly.
This caught my attention because the devs didn’t just slap EAC on and call it a day. You get a clean split: online modes require EAC; offline disables it so you can keep modding without getting your hands tied. That’s the best of both worlds for an RTS that lives or dies by community scenarios and balance mods.
EAC won’t magically erase bad actors—anyone who played Company of Heroes or Battlefield knows determined cheaters can tunnel under almost any fence. But it raises the cost of cheating and filters out the casual scripters who were ruining public lobbies. The reassuring line is the devs saying EAC runs “in conjunction with our internal cheat detection system.” Server-side sanity checks matter in an RTS where vision hacks or cooldown exploits can swing entire matches.
My only ask: transparency. Share ban waves, outline false-positive appeal paths, and keep the offline toggle sacred. If Steel Balalaika nails that, matchmaking might finally feel playable without a premade squad.
The “cruise missile from the sky at 0.1 seconds to impact” meta needed a funeral. The update hits it from multiple angles: damage tweaks and longer aiming times, which should stop last-second plane launches from deleting your command vehicle with basically no counterplay. That’s how you restore the chess match—telegraphing intent so air defense, jammers, and interceptors actually matter.
On the ground, the Russian Guard tank specialization finally ate a nerf. It was a huge factor in the Russian faction’s inflated win rate, letting players brick through fights they had no business winning. Meanwhile, the US gets a raft of buffs to stop the bleeding. No patch notes will be perfect on day one, but this at least shows the team is targeting the right pressure points.
Expect the meta to pivot toward layered AA nets, SEAD timing, and information warfare rather than “click missile, delete grid.” If you’ve played Wargame or WARNO, you know how quickly balance changes can flip the pace of a match. The big risk is overcorrection—if missiles become too anemic, long-range play collapses into armor bowling. Hopefully we see rapid micro-patches as data comes in.
I usually roll my eyes at holiday modes in “serious” military games. This one actually looks like smart fun. Steel Balalaika straight-up said the most downloaded workshop scenario was a zombie defense made by “Joining Player,” and they’ve turned that into a proper mode with custom units and objectives.
You’re not just fighting reskinned soldiers anymore. New undead types include Walkers (fodder), Spitters that melt vehicles and chew through walls with acid, and Throwers that literally pick up cars and pitch them at your lines. It’s gloriously un-serious, but tactically relevant: you still have to position armor, maintain firing arcs, and avoid getting flanked while protecting civilians. Local police units pitch in, which is a neat touch and helps sell the scenario.
The mode supports solo or up to four-player co-op. That’s perfect onboarding for friends who bounced off PvP or are still learning Combined Arms 101. I’d love to know if there are progression rewards or cosmetics tied to the mode—nothing in the notes suggests that, but even without unlocks, horde defense is a great pressure cooker for practicing micro. One caveat: hordes can shred performance in RTS games; here’s hoping the devs tuned pathing and spawn pacing to keep frames intact.
If EAC holds and the balance patch lands, Broken Arrow gets a second wind. This was always a game with a strong foundation—detailed loadouts, satisfying lethality, and maps that reward smart positioning. The missing piece was trust: trust that a fair match wouldn’t be decided by a script, and trust that faction choice didn’t predetermine the outcome.
Today’s update is a convincing step. Next on my wishlist: ranked queues with visible MMR, robust replays, spectator tools, and a rotating competitive map pool. Keep the mod-friendly offline option, keep talking to the workshop creators (as this zombie mode proves), and keep the hotfix cadence tight. Do that, and Broken Arrow nudges closer to the “modern military RTS to beat” lane it was aiming for.
Broken Arrow finally tackles its two biggest problems: cheating and a busted meta. Easy Anti-Cheat with an offline mod-friendly toggle is the right call, the cruise-missile and Russian Guard nerfs should reset the meta, and the community-born zombie mode looks like pure co-op chaos in the best way. Now it’s all about follow-through.
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