Sigma Theory: Global Cold War Steam Early Access Report

Sigma Theory: Global Cold War

Release Date: November 21, 2019
Platforms: PC
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Disclosure: This Steam Early Access report is based on a review copy.

Sigma Theory: Global Cold War is a game I’ve anticipated ever since I first discovered it. Finally, the game is in Steam Early Access available for everyone to play. My Steam Early Access is obviously a beta, but I was impressed by how far along the game was and the different choices a player has. The premise of the game is you run your country’s sigma division and you have to recruit agents to get the most benefits out of “The Sigma Theory” ahead of other counties.

When starting your campaign you get to recruit your own agents, which is one of the cooler parts of the game. Each agent has a backstory, perks, and a set of attributes that make up their profile. Some agents are elites, which you can only have one of. A part of the recruitment process that I personally found a bit too annoying is that you have to answer questions to recruit the agents based on their profile. Most of the answers are layups, but a few of them are ambiguous and if you guess wrong the recruitment fails. It’s important to put a diverse group of agents in skills, but also during your playthrough you will be unlocking new agents for the future playthroughs.

As a turn-based game, you will be assigning your agents to do different tasks, such as hacking, reconnaissance, procuring weapons, and locating scientists. It’s a bit overwhelming to be dropped on a map with all these options you are unfamiliar with, but try out all of them. Where the game shines the most is its handling of diplomacy, as you can negotiate with diplomats and affect their standing with you depending on what you say, and even cooler, you can find damaging information about them to use in diplomacy to gain an advantage. I’ve only scratched the surface of trying different things because of how deep the game is. Sigma Theory doesn’t confine you to play any one way, as it does feel like a big sandbox in a global cold war.

My biggest criticism is that in the beginning you can choose your country of origin and your spouse. There is a spouse storyline that appears and you can sort of see where it might go. I personally think that is not needed in a game like this, not to mention it is very weird choosing a spouse and placing the spouse in an opposite country. It doesn’t seem very realistic.

Sigma Theory: Global Cold War is a great concept of a game and a game I will continue playing during the Steam Early Access period.

The Steam Early Access period is estimated to last 3-6 months with the following things being added:

• Story mode’, that will be unique to each playable countries: a long storyline with objectives and different outcomes
• New special agents with new traits
• New faction NPCs with related contracts
• New types of exfiltration missions
• New exfiltration events
• Balancing
• Bug fixing

 

 

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