Today I’m sharing a project that just came to my attention through an email, and it seems to bring some ideas that break away from the usual mold of turn-based tactics.
It’s called Burned Horizons, an upcoming turn-based tactical game planned for release on PC in late 2026.
Developed by Burned Horizons Studio, it places players in the role of a commander overseeing multiple squads deployed across different operational theaters. The game is set in 2002 and takes a grounded approach, with a focus on permanence and consequence rather than traditional RPG progression.
Instead of relying on XP bars or rigid skill trees, characters evolve through their actions. Choices made in the field, injuries sustained, and scars carried forward all shape the direction of each operator.
This design pushes the emphasis toward decision-making and survival rather than grinding for upgrades. Squad members are not only defined by their gear and loadouts, but also by the outcomes of their missions, which ripple into future deployments.
Combat unfolds in turn-based encounters with tactical freedom, while management extends beyond the battlefield.
Players are tasked with running multiple teams, distributing equipment, and coordinating across regions. Supplies, rotation schedules, and gear condition play a direct role in how effective a unit will be. Failures, whether through attrition or mismanagement, carry a permanent impact, and characters may be lost for good.
The game also promises psychological depth, with trust, stress, and the human toll forming part of its systems.
The intent is to create stories shaped by persistence rather than resets. Mod support is planned, and while visuals remain in development, the early builds show a mix of handcrafted and kitbashed assets, used to establish tone during testing.
A first playable slice is expected in late 2025 as part of the “Op Live Fire” alpha, giving early supporters a chance to test its mechanics.
A Kickstarter campaign is planned for January 2026, with the full launch targeted for the final quarter of that year. I highly recommend adding Burned Horizons to your Steam wishlist; it looks very promising to me, even if I’m waiting for some gameplay sequences. Below are a few more details.
Details about the game
Burned Horizons™ is a turn-based tactical sandbox set in the early 2000s — where nothing resets and every decision leaves a mark. Operators progress through what they do — missions, choices, survival. Experience opens new pathways and specializations. But not every moment fades when the mission ends.
You don’t just run missions — you run squads. Multiple teams across entire theaters, hired, supplied, and rotated through Regional Deployment Commands. Gear isn’t fluff, it’s survival. What happens in one AO echoes into the next, victories and failures carrying forward across the map.SCARS & Flashpoints
Some experiences linger as flashpoints — small marks that build over time. Enough of them, and they harden into SCARS.
- Some sharpen reflexes, others break trust.
- Some strike instantly after an extreme event — like surviving when your whole squad is wiped.
- Others emerge slowly, flashpoints stacking until they crystalize.
- SCARS can even combine, twisting into new effects that reshape how an operator thinks, fights, or holds the squad together.
Regional Deployment Commands (RDCs)
And those operators don’t fight in snapshots. They fight inside Regional Deployment Commands (RDCs) — entire theaters of war, each about a million square kilometers.
- Every RDC breaks down into sprawling Areas of Operation (AOs), each averaging over 83,000 km² before scaling to a massive 20×20 km tactical map.
- These aren’t skirmish zones. They’re living battlefields where terrain, logistics, and past actions define the fight.
- Victories shift front lines. Failures ripple outward.
// RDC-TRIDENT (2002) Ukraine at the start of a brutal Russian invasion.The theater spans the entire country and extends into Belarus, Russia, Moldova, Poland, and the Black Sea littoral. TRIDENT is the first theater to come online — other RDCs will open as the campaign expands worldwide.Combat
Combat runs deep: action points, suppression, overwatch, interrupts.
- Switch perspectives — top-down, isometric, or third-person.
- Operator stress and SCARS can steady a trigger hand or shake it, harden resolve or fracture it, changing how they act under fire.
