Games set during the cold war
There was a time when the two major political superpowers on Earth were at war, but it was a strange kind of war. U.S.A. and the former U.S.S.R. used spies, subterfuge, blockades, political and military influence all over the world to gain power on a global scale. The so called "Cold War" era lasted decades and ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall. Games set in the cold war often include espionage and strategy elements.
Most popular cold war games
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688 Attack Sub
DOS1989 Electronic Arts
Dive, dive! This 1989 DOS simulator puts you in control of a nuclear submarine, though most of the action involves pushing buttons and waiting very patiently. Think of it as the “Microsoft Excel of naval warfare,” only...
A-10 Tank Killer
DOS1989 Dynamix
Explosions? Check. Missiles? Check. Graphics that look like someone spilled gray soup on your monitor? Double check. A-10 Tank Killer lets you pilot a flying war machine and rain chaos upon tiny pixel tanks that may or may not be ...
B-1 Nuclear Bomber
DOS1981 Avalon Hill
Ever wanted to be responsible for ending the world in fewer than ten keypresses? B-1 Nuclear Bomber (1981) gives you that chance, wrapping global annihilation in glorious monochrome and a user interface that feels like it was desi...
Balance of Power: The 1990 Edition
Windows 3.x1989freeware Mindscape
Balance of Power: The 1990 Edition is a geopolitical strategy game developed by Chris Crawford and released in 1985. It is considered a classic in the genre of political and strategic simulation games. The game is set during ...
Berlin 1948
DOS1989 Time Warp Software
Berlin 1948 throws you into post-war Germany as a secret agent on a noir-flavored mission through a city drenched in trench coats and suspicion. It’s one part spy thriller, one part historical fiction, and three parts trying...
Border Zone
DOS1987 Infocom
Welcome to Border Zone (1987, DOS), where the Cold War is hot and your only weapon is your brain (and maybe a good map). This text-based espionage thriller from Infocom combines spy drama with multiple protagonists and a real-time...
Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space
DOS1993 Strategic Visions
Finally, a game where you don’t blast aliens—you launch real people into space, with all the white-knuckled tension of 1960s NASA. Buzz Aldrin’s Race into Space is a strategy sim with rocket science and Cold War ...
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
DOS1991 Electronic Arts
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat is a combat flight simulation video game released in 1991 by Electronic Arts. The game is named after and endorsed by the real-life aviation legend, Chuck Yeager, who was the first pilot to break the soun...
Code-Name: Iceman
DOS1989 Sierra On-Line
Part Cold War thriller, part adventure game, part submarine simulator, Code-Name: Iceman is a Sierra title that demands patience, precision, and a deep respect for diplomacy and torpedoes. You play as a super-agent with a license ...
Command HQ
DOSMac OS1990 Ozark Softscape
Before Command & Conquer, there was Command HQ (1990, DOS/Mac)—an early RTS that said “what if we made World War III playable?” It’s global domination meets real-time tactics, minus the explosions and p...
Conflict: Korea
DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Step into the Korean War with Conflict: Korea, where you command UN forces and discover that even in strategy games, North Korea is a problem. It follows the same system as the rest of the Conflict series: cold interfaces, hot war...
Crisis in the Kremlin
DOS1991protected Spectrum HoloByte
Crisis in the Kremlin lets you step into the shoes of a Soviet leader during the late 1980s, facing the impossible task of guiding the USSR through economic collapse, political unrest, and the ever-present threat of the Cold War g...
Global Thermo War
DOS1985
Hacker 2: The Doomsday Papers
DOS1986 Activision
Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers is a video computer game developed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision. It was released in 1986 and is a sequel to the original Hacker game. The game was available for various home comput...
Mech Brigade
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Megafortress
DOS1991protected Artech Studios
MiG-29M Super Fulcrum
DOS1989 Simbiosis Interactive
Night Hawk: F-117A Stealth Fighter
DOS1991protected MicroProse Software
Nuclear War
DOS1989 New World Computing
Nuclear War is an abandoned turn-based strategy game designed by Eric Hyman and Jon Van Caneghem. Nuclear War was developed and released by New World Computing in 1989 for Amiga and, later, for DOS, and it's loosely based on a car...
Power Struggle
DOS1988 Personal Software Services
Red sky at morning
DOS1993 Simulations Canada
Red Storm Rising
DOS1989 MicroProse Software
Red Storm Rising is a submarine simulation video game developed and published by MicroProse in 1988, based on the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond. The game is set during a hypothetical World War III scenario, f...
Rush'n Attack
DOS1989 Konami
S.D.I.
DOS1989 Cinemaware
Shadow President
DOS1993 DC true
Shadow President is a geopolitical simulation video game developed by DC True in 1993 for MS-DOS. In Shadow President, players take on the role of the President of the United States, tasked with managing both domestic and internat...
Solidarnosc
DOS1991 P. Z. Karen Co. Development Group
Strike Fleet
DOS1989 LucasArts
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
DOS1990 Capstone Software
The Cardinal of the Kremlin is an abandoned simulation game involving espionage, politics and govern management set in the cold war years. It was designed by Kenneth Rothschild, developed by Capstone and released by IntraCorp...
The Fourth Protocol
DOS1987 The Electronic Pencil Co.
The Fourth Protocol is a 1985 interactive fiction video game inspired by Frederick Forsyth's 1984 Cold War spy novel of the same name. Developed by the Electronic Pencil Company and published by Hutchinson Computer Publishing, the...
The Grandest Fleet
DOS1994 Quantum quality productions
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