Original War
An American geological expedition, under a UN mandate, assesses the natural resources in a distant part of Siberia, deep in the trackless steppes of Eastern Russia. But instead of oil, they discover a deposit…
Original War is an indie developed by ALTAR Games, released 15 June 2001 on PC (Microsoft Windows). It currently starts at $1.99 at GOG.
What Original War is
Original War is an indie game developed by ALTAR Games and released in 2001. It was published by Bohemia Interactive Studio. It is available on PC (Microsoft Windows) only.
The premise, in the publisher's words
The game's story revolves around an extraterrestrial mineral, Siberite, that can catalyze cold fusion and serve as fuel for an alien artifact. Siberite and the artifact - named EON - are discovered by a U.S. expedition to Russia during World War I. EON is revealed to be a time machine capable of sending objects into the past, but by the time of the discovery, Siberite stocks are exhausted and research stops. Then in the new millennium vast deposits of the mineral are found in Siberia, and Americans are able to extract enough of it for small-scale time-travel. The U.S. comes up with a plan to send a small force two million years back in time. There it will mine the Siberite and transport it…
How it plays
It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are fantasy, historical, science fiction and warfare. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Co-operative, Multiplayer and Single player. There are 59 achievements to unlock.
How it was received
Original War holds a critic score of 80 out of 100. That places it above 65% of the 5,098 rated indie games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 2001 averaged 72, so it scored 8 points above the year average.
What you need to run it
The minimum specification calls for Intel Pentium® III - 900MHz, 256 MB RAM and OpenGL 2.1 compatible with alteast 64 MB of VRAM. At 0GB of RAM, it will run on essentially any working PC — that is below what a budget laptop ships with today. Install size is roughly 1GB. Both tiers are compared side by side on the requirements page, and you can check your own parts against them without installing anything.
What it costs, and where
The cheapest verified price right now is $1.99 at GOG, 80% below its usual price.
What it launched against
Original War launched on 15 June 2001, within three weeks of Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, NBA Street, Sonic Adventure 2 and Twisted Metal: Black. It reviewed better than 1 of the 4.
Released around the same time: Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, NBA Street, Sonic Adventure 2, Twisted Metal: Black.
Cheats and codes
We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Original War yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.
Official trailer
Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel.
Screenshots
All media
Quick answers
Original War — frequently asked questions
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