VICTORY BY NONE

Two nations. Hidden silos. One phone. No winners.

You've hidden your missiles. Your enemy has hidden theirs. The cities are on the map, the command bunkers are concealed, and neither side knows where the next strike will land.

Victory By None is a two-player nuclear strategy game played on a single phone. Take turns hiding your arsenals, choosing targets in secret and passing the phone between you. Once both sides have issued their orders, put the phone down between you.

Then watch the missiles fly.

Both salvos cross the screen together. Both nations scramble to intercept the incoming warheads. And when the explosions stop, the casualty count begins.

You can win the war. Destroy every enemy silo, then hunt down their command bunker, even when it moves into one of their cities. But every warhead leaves a death toll, and the blast doesn't stop at the target. The towns next door pay the price, too.

When the final count runs into the billions, victory starts to look a lot like defeat.

And there is another way out. If both sides hold fire in the same round, the war ends.

HOW IT PLAYS

Hide your arsenal

Each nation secretly places three missile silos and a command bunker. Your enemy can't see them. Your cities, however, are visible to both sides.

Move and rename your cities, or keep the defaults: Londinium, Lower Wobbleton and Crumpetonia. Your arsenal is hidden. Your population isn't.

Choose your targets

Take turns selecting targets in secret, then pass the phone to your opponent. Once both sides have given their orders, the salvos launch simultaneously.

No waiting to see what the other player does. No changing your mind once the missiles are away.

Intercept the incoming

The warheads are coming. Tap your half of the screen to launch interceptors and burst them out of the sky before they reach you.

Every second counts. Every interception matters. You can't stop everything.

Hunt the silos

Every strike reports the military installations caught in its blast. Use the intelligence to narrow down the enemy's hidden positions and destroy their arsenal, one target at a time.

But destroying their command bunker won't necessarily end the war. Lose your command and you forfeit a turn, while command relocates into one of your cities. The hunt continues.

Count the cost

Every target has a blast radius, and the game warns you when nearby cities are in danger. A strike against a military installation can devastate the surrounding population.

You can destroy the enemy's arsenal. You can bring their nation to its knees. But every launch adds to the human cost.

There are no clean victories.

ONE PHONE. TWO NATIONS. MUTUAL DESTRUCTION.

Pass-and-play multiplayer puts both sides on the same device, keeping every secret move out of sight until the missiles fly. Prefer to play alone? Take on the computer instead.

Neon vector graphics illuminate a black screen. A computer voice delivers its reports in a cold, calculator-like monotone. An 80s arcade soundtrack builds as the war escalates.

The presentation is stark. The consequences are enormous.

CONTENT NOTE

Victory By None is a game about nuclear war and mass casualties. The dead are counted, never shown.

CREDITS

Made by 3BL_Indie, County Down, Northern Ireland.

• Robot voice: synthesised with eSpeak NG
• Font: Share Tech Mono by Carrois Type Design, licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1
• Engine: Godot Engine (MIT licence)

More from 3BL_Indie at gamesdevni.site.

You can win the war. You cannot undo it.