Nuclear Option
Near-future combat flight simulation with dynamic battles and nuclear weapons
Shockfront Studios · Released Oct 15, 2023 · Early Access
ActionIndieSimulationEarly Access
- Reviews
- Overwhelmingly Positive
- 96% of 11K
- Recent reviews
- Very Positive
- 94% of 388 in 30 days
- Playing now
- 396
- peak 24h 819
- Steam Deck
- Playable
- Last update
- 1 month ago
- Aug 12, 2026
What is Nuclear Option?
A near-future combat flight simulation where you pilot aircraft and helicopters across dynamic battlefields, intercepting bombers, fighting other aircraft, and attacking ground targets. Scenarios support solo play, cooperative or competitive multiplayer, and custom missions built with the included editor.
For you if...
- +you want flight combat between arcade and hardcore simulation
- +you prefer solo, cooperative, and competitive air battles
- +you like creating missions and piloting varied aircraft
Not for you if...
- −you want thorough tutorials for every aircraft system
- −you prefer forgiving enemy air defenses
- −you want a purely arcade-style flight model
What players say
96% of 11,046 reviews are positive · 94% of 388 in the last 30 days
Players praise its middle ground between arcade air combat and demanding flight simulators, along with the absence of grinding and microtransactions. Common complaints concern limited tutorials, overtuned air defenses, control and HOTAS issues, and uneven performance.
Screenshots and trailer
Nuclear Option system requirements
As published by the developer.
Minimum
- OS
- Windows 10
- Processor
- Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (or equivalent)
- Graphics
- GeForce GTX 1050 Ti / Radeon RX 560 / Intel Arc A380
- Memory
- 8 GB RAM
- Storage
- 4 GB available space
- DirectX
- Version 11
Recommended
- OS
- Windows 10 / 11
- Processor
- Intel Core i5-12400F / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (or equivalent)
- Graphics
- GeForce RTX 3050 (8GB) / Radeon RX 6600 / Intel Arc A580
- Memory
- 16 GB RAM
- Storage
- 4 GB available space
- DirectX
- Version 12
PC version details
DRM, required accounts, controller support and Steam features.
- DRM
- None declared on Steam
- Controller
- Keyboard and mouse
- Platforms
- Windows
- Steam features
- Workshop, Family Sharing
Steam Deck: Playable
- Default controller config not fully functional
- Some text entry requires manually opening the on-screen keyboard
- Some in-game text is small and may be hard to read
- Shows Steam Deck controller icons
- Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck
Multiplayer and co-op
Languages
Full audio: English.
Tags
- Early Access
- Flight
- Simulation
- Military
- Action
- War
- Wargame
- Physics
- 3D
- PvP
- First-Person
- PvE
- Level Editor
- Sandbox
- Controller
- Arcade
Recent updates
- Aug 12, 2026 · Patch 0.34.2
- Jul 31, 2026 · 0.34.1
- Jul 27, 2026 · Update 0.34
- Jun 11, 2026 · Patch 0.33.4
- Apr 30, 2026 · Hotfix 0.33.3
1 DLC available.
Games like Nuclear Option
