Men of War: Assault Squad 2 Review Summary

A top-tier RTS classic with vast vehicle and faction variety plus powerful map editor and mod support, though repetitive missions, weak AI, and frequent crashes and bugs hold it back.

Overall positive reception: The game is generally described as good, decent, or excellent, with many recommending it.

Top-tier RTS classic: Widely regarded as one of the best real-time strategy games, especially for WWII settings, with a classic and immortal status.

Powerful map editor: Includes an easy-to-use map editor that allows creating custom maps, missions, and scripting scenarios for online play.

Vast vehicle and faction variety: Offers a huge variety of vehicles, factions, and units, each with unique missions and tactical flexibility.

Active multiplayer community: Multiplayer is surprisingly still alive and fun, with online skirmishes and co-op modes available.

Repetitive mission design: Missions feel copy-pasted and identical across factions, with only side or textures changing. This leads to monotony and boredom in both single-player and overall gameplay.

Poor AI behavior: AI is frequently described as stupid, making bad decisions like running into enemy fire, ignoring cover, and failing to throw grenades properly. Infantry and vehicles often act irrationally, reducing challenge and immersion.

Frequent crashes and bugs: The game suffers from numerous bugs and crashes, sometimes causing loss of progress. Mods can also trigger crashes if not set up correctly.

Skirmish AI locked behind DLC: Playing against bots in skirmish mode requires purchasing DLC, particularly the Airborne DLC. This paywall restricts offline and single-player LAN skirmishes.

Toxic multiplayer community: The community, especially in multiplayer, is often toxic, with trolling, insults toward newcomers, and a hostile environment. New players may be discouraged by tryhard veterans.

Real-time tactical gameplay: Feedback emphasizes real-time tactical combat with micromanagement of individual units. The game offers detailed unit control and tactical depth.

WWII real-time strategy setting: The game is consistently described as a World War II real-time strategy/tactics game with historical factions and battles. Players command Axis or Allied armies in various theaters.

Extensive mod support: Players highlight Steam Workshop integration, mod editors, and a large number of user-made maps and missions. Mods like Valour significantly extend content and replayability.

Multiplayer and co-op modes: Players note the availability of online multiplayer, co-op play, and various modes such as capture points and battle. Co-op is supported for single-player missions as well.

Single-player campaign: The game includes single-player campaigns with missions, difficulty levels, and scenarios across multiple theaters. Campaigns are a core part of the experience.

Frequent crashes across gameplay: Many players report frequent crashes, errors, and instability during normal gameplay, including early missions and longer sessions. Crashes can occur on startup, after 30-60 minutes, or during multiplayer.

Multiplayer netcode and desync issues: Connection loss, desync, lag, and netcode problems are common in multiplayer. High-ping players and host issues cause severe lag and disconnections for everyone.

Poor optimization for graphics: Players report bad optimization despite mediocre graphics. Frame drops occur even on high-end systems like GTX 1070 and Ryzen 3600.

Mods cause crashes and lag: Adding or changing mods frequently crashes the game. Mods with high-resolution textures cause stuttering on systems with low VRAM, and some mods make the game laggy.

32-bit engine memory limitations: The game is a 32-bit application with a 4GB RAM limit, causing out-of-memory errors and heap crashes. A 64-bit version is desired for better performance.

Overall positive recommendation: Many reviewers strongly recommend the game, often with enthusiasm. They suggest buying it and find it engaging.

Appeals to hardcore RTS fans: The game is highly recommended for dedicated real-time strategy enthusiasts. It is seen as a must-play for fans of pure tactics and RTS.

Worth the price: Many find the game worth its price, with some calling it top value for money. However, others recommend waiting for discounts.

Modding community is key: Reviewers suggest buying the game primarily for its mods. They recommend specific mods like Vietnam'65 and Warhammer 40k, and advise waiting for a sale if only interested in mods.

Wait for discounts: Many advise waiting for a sale before buying, as discounts are large. Some say only buy at a huge discount or 50% off.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $16.00.

Game completion: 35.0h.

Story completion: 7.5h.

Session length: 6.5h.

Endgame: 199.0h.

Early play is gated by a steep learning curve, weak guidance, and repetitive single-player; the game tends to click once players learn the systems and move into co-op or multiplayer with friends or mods.

Friction: Brutal learning curve and unforgiving mechanics; Weak or absent tutorial; Confusing controls and complex unit management; Repetitive single-player campaign; Veteran-heavy multiplayer skill gap; Bugs, crashes, and poor netcode.

Hardcore Multiplayer PvP Veteran: Micromanages squads and vehicles, uses direct control and map knowledge, and adapts counters in intense PvP matches. Motivation: Competitive tactical mastery and outplaying other experienced players in realistic WWII battles. Stance: buy.

Co-op Squad Commander: Plays cooperative skirmish or campaign missions with friends, dividing units and coordinating defenses and attacks. Motivation: Shared tactical battles and coordinated army management with friends. Stance: buy.

Editor and Mod Sandbox Creator: Builds scenarios in the editor, installs mods or total conversions, and plays custom bot battles or historical setups. Motivation: Creating custom historical battles and extending the game through mods and Workshop content. Stance: sale.

Across the reported Windows cohorts, performance is mostly positive on mid-range and higher-VRAM systems, while the sub-8GB cohort shows mixed stability and the 16GB+ cohort reports constant crashes.

Windows <8GB VRAM: mixed. Reports are mixed: some users get stable 40-50 FPS or solid performance, while others describe frequent crashes and severe stuttering on lower-VRAM systems.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: positive. Solo play is reported as stable, but one co-op crash complaint appears.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: positive. Local performance is described as good, though multiplayer lag can occur when other players have poor performance or ping.

Steam Deck: The Steam Deck experience is heavily compromised. The dominant issue is a reproducible save and autosave crash, accompanied by general instability and reports that the game becomes unplayable on Deck. Additional friction comes from manual GE-Proton configuration, small text with no UI scaling, incomplete controller support, touchscreen or community layout needs, and virtual keyboard text entry. Some users report 40-50 FPS with workarounds, but this does not mitigate the crash severity.

Linux and Proton: Linux/Proton evidence is mostly positive: users report stable SteamOS/Linux play and acceptable Steam Deck performance, though one user needs GE-Proton10-34. There is one Linux autosave crash that blocked solo campaign play and one isolated claim of no Linux support, but broader reports show the game remains playable with minor tweaks.

Monetization: Reviews consistently identify a real-money DLC barrier around skirmish mode, bot matches, and custom solo/LAN play, with additional claims that paid DLC unlocks gameplay advantages and quality-of-life features. Although some reviewers note the absence of a conventional cosmetic cash shop, the dominant monetization complaint is that core RTS functionality is sold as DLC rather than included in the base game.

External guides: The reviews center on poor in-game explanation, an ineffective tutorial, and reliance on external guides or trial and error to learn mechanics. This is an instructional data dependency, not a farming, inventory, or navigation problem.

Game shows its age: Reviewers frequently describe the game as old and dated, with some noting it has not received updates or fixes. Despite this, some still consider it very solid.

Favorable comparison to Company of Heroes: The game is often compared to the Company of Heroes series, with reviewers noting it is more realistic and offers greater unit control. Some view it as a military simulator rather than an arcade shooter.

Single-player and multiplayer modes: The game features both a single-player campaign and online multiplayer. The multiplayer mode is still active with a community.

DLC sold separately: The game has multiple DLCs available for separate purchase, including additional content and features. Some reviewers note that DLC adds nice extra content.

Origins DLC adds original campaigns: The Men of War Origins DLC includes additional campaigns from the original Men of War or Desert Fox. It revisits story maps and campaigns from earlier titles.