Silent Storm

Silent Storm is a 2003 turn-based tactics game from the Russian studio Nival. It is set in an alternate Second World War, where a secret organisation called Thor's Hammer is pursuing its own agenda behind both sides. You choose to play for the Allies or the Axis, create a leader, and recruit a squad from a pool of twenty soldiers, taking six on each mission.

Its engine was built for destruction. Nearly every wall, floor and object can be destroyed, so shooting through a wall at an enemy you heard behind it is an ordinary move, and a grenade can bring down a floor. Later in the campaign the war turns stranger, with powered armour suits called Panzerkleins.

Its combat is among the best in turn-based tactics. Action points, aimed shots at body parts, stances, interrupts and a fully destructible world combine into fights where a plan has many routes. Fans still name it as the best fight in the genre.

The campaign is thin, with a base and a roster but little strategy, and the Panzerkleins divide players because they unbalance the late game. An expansion, Sentinels, followed in 2004, and both are sold together as the Gold Edition.

Silent Storm takes Jagged Alliance 2's combat, action points, interrupts, aimed shots, and gives it a world that breaks. It drops the strategic map and the mercenary money for a fixed campaign. If Jagged Alliance 2's fights were your favourite part, play this next.