Live Hard, Die Hard (v1.0.0)

Humanity’s last counteroffensive runs on a brutal four-week clock, turning every casualty and supply crate into a strategic problem. Live Hard, Die Hard is an indie squad-management tactics game set after an alien invasion has pushed civilization to collapse, with your elite unit assigned to destroy the invaders’ Terminal Core. Its mood is desperate rather than triumphant: soldiers carry injuries, stress mounts, and even a successful operation can leave the force too depleted for the next fight.

Campaign days alternate between managing headquarters and sending squads into dangerous expeditions. At base, you allocate limited resources, treat and evacuate wounded personnel, conduct research, fit support equipment, and decide how to develop each fighter’s Branch-Skills, body modifications, and genetic potential. Battles unfold in real time, with soldiers acting on their own while your commands determine the larger plan; calling reinforcements, triggering commander abilities, using powerful skills, and ordering a retreat at the right moment matter as much as raw squad strength. Keeping morale stable is another constant concern, since losses and sustained pressure can undermine the survivors who must carry the campaign forward.

The most unusual hook is the use of defeated aliens as research material: dissection produces unpredictable Side Effects, giving your squad strange new powers that can be combined into specialized builds. That system, alongside distinct soldier traits and the pressure of a short campaign, gives each run room to develop differently instead of following a fixed upgrade path. Players who enjoy the attrition, personnel decisions, and hard choices of XCOM but prefer real-time tactical engagements over turn-based firefights should find plenty to like here. It suits strategy veterans best, especially those comfortable accepting painful sacrifices in pursuit of a stronger final assault.