Missile Command Delta Review: Strategy Turn-Based Meets Storytelling | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2

Also on: Nintendo Switch, Steam, PlayStation 5/PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One

Price: $19.99

Reinventing a classic is hard enough—but combining two completely different genres into one game? That’s a whole new challenge. Yet that’s exactly what 13AM Games and Mighty Yell attempts to pull off with Missile Command Delta. Part visual novel, part turn-based strategy game, Missile Command Delta manages something few reboots can: it takes a legacy IP and makes it relevant again. This certainly isn’t your grandma’s Missile Command.

For starters, I didn’t even know this game was on the horizon until I saw it at PAX East. There was a massive Missile Command terminal on display, and while the game looked fantastic, I didn’t get a chance to play it. Fortunately, I was offered a review code — and I jumped at the opportunity to check it out.

The gameplay leans more into turn-based strategy than the frantic pace of the original.

The game kicks off with a short tutorial, where some military-type figure barks orders from the shadows in a booth. There are a few practice terminals to get me acclimated, and right from the start, I knew this wasn’t the Missile Command I grew up with.

The gameplay leans more into turn-based strategy than the frantic pace of the original. The battlefield is laid out on a grid, with incoming missiles showing their trajectory lines and their path to impact. My job? Fire counter-missiles to intercept them.

Each missile I launch has a specific range and blast radius — and almost every shot costs energy. To ace a scenario, I need to minimize energy use. Each training mission sets an energy target, and while I can exceed it, perfection means hitting or staying under that limit. That added constraint makes things trickier, especially since some of the scenarios are genuinely challenging. And if I let even one missile slip through and take out a city? Game over.

The character interactions play out like a visual novel, with dialogue choices that actually seem to matter.

After the short tutorial, the game shifts gears and introduces a group of four teenagers planning one last hurrah before graduating high school. I play as Skye, one of the four friends. One of them suggests breaking into an old Cold War bunker — because what could possibly go wrong?

Naturally, things go haywire. The group ends up trapped inside, and as we power up the bunker, we find a series of training scenarios — which, it turns out, are prepping us for what appear to be real attacks. Failing a training scenario just means starting over. But failing during an actual attack? That’s game over. Unlike the training missions, the real battles don’t come with energy-use targets — which gives a little more flexibility, but a lot more pressure.

The character interactions play out like a visual novel, with dialogue choices that actually seem to matter. For example, I mentioned thinking the bunker might be haunted — and sure enough, the other characters brought it up later. At one point, I accused a friend of something during a conversation, and it came back to bite me. They accused me of talking behind their back. That kind of reactivity gives the story some real weight.

And then there’s the overarching mystery of what’s really going on in this bunker. I kept uncovering clues, reading cryptic messages on terminals, and running into some unexpected characters — all of which pushed the game more into thriller territory than arcade action.

Soon, I found myself wanting to dive deeper into the story and skip the Missile Command scenarios altogether. And honestly, that’s a testament to how compelling the narrative is.

It’s not just the mystery that pulls me in — there are puzzles to solve, too. Some of these puzzles don’t directly advance the game but instead reveal more clues about the story. A few are genuinely challenging.

Missile Command Delta also encourages exploration. Whether it’s completing puzzles, finishing training terminals, or just rummaging through cupboards, there’s often a reward: missile cards. These can be used in both training and combat scenarios, and they come with different effects — things like two-stage launches or large blasts. There are even shields.

One feature I wish the game had is the ability to favorite these cards. They tend to look similar, and once I start unlocking a bunch, it becomes easy to forget which ones worked best. Failing a scenario — especially one with multiple waves — means starting over from the beginning, including reselecting my cards. The missions are short, but having to reconfigure everything each time started to feel a bit tedious.

Soon, I found myself wanting to dive deeper into the story and skip the Missile Command scenarios altogether. And honestly, that’s a testament to how compelling the narrative is. While the reinvention of Missile Command as a turn-based strategy game is impressive in its own right, it’s the story and mystery that really shine. Both elements were competing for my attention — but more often than not, I just wanted to stick with the story.

Final Grade: B+

13AM Games and Mighty Yell took a bold swing at reinventing Missile Command — and they pulled it off. Both sides of the game — the turn-based strategy mechanics and the visual novel storytelling — are executed really well. Maybe too well, because at times they end up competing for my attention. Fans of visual novels with meaningful choices and a gripping mystery will be drawn in by the story, but may find the Missile Command scenarios a bit tedious. On the flip side, players excited about the strategic gameplay might be less enthusiastic about the slower narrative beats.

But for those who appreciate both? Missile Command Delta offers a unique and compelling experience that’s worth seeing through to the end.

Review code provided by Mighty Yell