Hammer & Sickle

Hammer & Sickle is a 2005 tactical role-playing game co-developed by Novik & Co and Nival, set in the same universe as Silent Storm and built on its engine. In 1949, with Germany divided between the Soviet and Western zones, you play a Soviet agent working behind British and American lines.

It has the destructible world and turn-based combat of Silent Storm, with more role-playing: conversations, choices, and a world that responds to your reputation. Squad members are recruited along the way.

Its setting is unusual, the early Cold War from the Soviet side, and it puts Silent Storm's excellent combat into a story with more choices. Players who finished Silent Storm and want more of its fighting often find their way here.

It was rushed, with bugs and an uneven difficulty, and it never had the reputation of its predecessor.

Hammer & Sickle sits between Silent Storm and Jagged Alliance 2. It keeps the former's combat and moves towards the latter's freedom, with a map to travel and people to recruit. It never reaches Jagged Alliance 2's sense of an open campaign, but it points that way.