Red Tide: Cold War Escalation Mod is a free-to-use utility by Comr@de_Doggo for the military simulation video game Men of War: Assault Squad 2. This real-time strategy game immerses players in an alternate history where the USSR tries to liberate West Germany, igniting the Cold War into a full-blown conflict.

Red Tide: Cold War Escalation doesn’t use assets created from scratch. Instead, it gathers the best models from different Cold War mods for MoW AS2. However, this mod is stuck in the alpha version, and it will no longer be updated as its creator lost interest in it.

Interesting but unfinished

Red Tide: Cold War Escalation Mod’s alternate historical setting is certainly interesting. The years of the Cold War, especially at the peak of tensions between West and East Germany, makes for an intriguing basis for a mod. What if NATO did mobilize? What if the USSR retaliated with all its might? This mod allows players to see what could have happened had things unfolded differently.

This mod thrusts players into the early 1980s. After NATO launched multiple offensives on East German border checkpoints, the USSR and members of the Warsaw Pact carried over attempts to liberate West Germany. Players will be controlling many new vehicles and four factions across several maps. The mod also adds a new menu and editor background to fit the setting.

However, despite the mod’s interesting premise and the volume of new content it delivers, the game is still in alpha, and will most likely stay an alpha version forever. This is because the developer has expressed losing interest in the game and stopped working on the mod. The bugs and other issues attributed to its alpha state are unlikely to be ever addressed.

Should you play it?

If you don’t mind playing an unfinished and unpolished mod, Red Tide: Cold War Escalation can be worth a try. It has an interesting setting that players who are familiar with Cold War history will surely appreciate. The mod adds plenty of new vehicles and four factions to play as. However, if you expect a smooth experience, you should give this one a pass.