Jagged Alliance 3

Jagged Alliance 3 is built around planning: recruit distinctive mercenaries, tailor their weapons and perks, and choose how to reclaim Grand Chien. At $3.36 from Eneba, the recorded low is a fitting opportunity if you want tactical turn-based battles and a squad to develop. Full controller support and online co-op also leave room to choose how you play. With $41.63 off Steam's price, this offer on Steam is a lower-cost way to lead a mercenary squad through tactical battles.

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88%Steam Reviews11.2K reviews81Metacritic/10082OpenCritic/100

Released: Jul 14, 2023

Strategy · Turn-Based Tactics · Tactical · Turn-Based Strategy · Turn-Based Combat

EnebaJagged Alliance 3 (PC) Steam Key UNITED STATES·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-25-93%from~ $3.36ALL-TIME LOWSave $41.63 vs SteamBuy now

KinguinJagged Alliance 3 PC Steam CD Key·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-25~~~ $50.36~~-93%from~ $3.47(~ €3.10)ALL-TIME LOWBuy now

K4GJagged Alliance 3 Steam CD Key·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-25~~~ $50.36~~-93%from~ $3.48(~ €3.11)ALL-TIME LOWBuy now

GAMIVOJagged Alliance 3 EN/DE/RU Global·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-24-92%from~ $3.59(~ €3.21)ALL-TIME LOWBuy now

CDKeysJagged Alliance 3 PC·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-25~~~ $53.46~~-86%from~ $7.34(~ £5.49)Buy now

GamesPlanet US·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-24~~~ $44.99~~-80%~ $9.10Buy now

GamesPlanet DE·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-24~~~ $50.41~~-80%~ $10.20Buy now

GamesPlanet FR·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-24~~~ $50.41~~-80%~ $10.20Buy now

All-time low ~ $3.69across Steam & third-party storesat the recorded all-time low

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Price History

Past 36 months · Updated daily

Historical Low~ $3.652026-07Current Low Across Stores~ $3.36EnebaAt its historical low now

Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.

01About Jagged Alliance 3

Grand Chien falls into chaos after its president disappears and the Legion seizes control. Recruit a squad of mercenaries, explore the country, and fight tactical, turn-based battles as you decide its future. Steam player rating: 88% positive from 11,220 reviews. Released: July 14, 2023. Supported interface languages: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese-Brazil, and Polish.

Credits

Composer

George Strezov

Developer

Haemimont Games

Publisher

THQ Nordic

Steam player reviews

88%positiveVery Positive11,220 Steam reviews

Lowest recorded in 36 months

$3.652026-07-30 · KinguinBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.

Language support

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
Simplified Chinese	Yes	Yes	—
Traditional Chinese	Yes	Yes	—
English	Yes	Yes	Yes

Show 6 more languages

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
German	Yes	Yes	—
Russian	Yes	Yes	—
French	Yes	Yes	—
Spanish	Yes	Yes	—
Portuguese-Brazil	Yes	Yes	—
Polish	Yes	Yes	—

Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-25

02Before you buy

Modes and controls

The Steam PC version supports single-player, online co-op, and full controller support. Combat is tactical and turn-based.

Language

The interface is available in English; English is also the full-audio language. Other confirmed interface languages are shown in {supportedLanguages}.

03Frequently asked questions

What do you do in the game?

Explore Grand Chien, hire mercenaries, and shape the country's fate through your decisions.

Does it have co-op?

Yes. You can play the campaign online with friends in co-op.

How does combat work?

Combat is tactical and turn-based. You can customize mercenaries with weapons, equipment, and perks.

Popular Steam reviews

Native-language selection · 10 reviews

Selected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.

RecommendedSteam player

07/15/2023

As a person who got his start in this series on a demo disc from Computer Games Strategy Plus Magazine for JA1, then who bought and played through the first multiple times... and then sunk countless hours into Deadly Games (we could crouch now OMG). As someone who revisits the VANILLA version of JA2 (the mods remove a lot of the goofy charm of JA and try to make it... something else) on a pretty regular basis on his crappy old laptop (just recently got it on steam)... I think I can say that I'm a pretty big fan of the series. Thankfully I avoided the ones that came after, although I almost bought RAGE until I learned that it was 4 mercs only (like seriously guys... that's like gutting side quests from Skyrim) so I have no hands on knowledge of those...titles. What I can say though is this game freaking slaps... Sure there are a few things that are different, but that is literally video game evolution. If I wanted JA2...then I would play JA2. One thing is for sure though... There are a lot of systems in this game that seem either unfair or missing entirely (ambushing being probably the most common one I've seen people complaining about) but the fact is... most of them are in the game but the game does a very poor job of communicating how to use them. I do long for at least a tactical pause during real time mode though... trying to get 6 mercs into position while the enemies are all walking around is a pretty huge pain... also the intractables are sometimes finicky when the camera isn't facing the "right" direction. But those are by and large my biggest complaints. Once you figure out ambushes, get reacquainted with sending your mercs to prone as much as you can, and also TAKE YOUR TIME... then the game becomes pretty manageable. The amount of weapons so far has been staggering and I literally only left the first island. The amount of armor, gear, tools, and grenades has also all been surprisingly varied. You only really have 2 enemy types on the first island, but as soon as you hit the second... I mean I ran into at least 4 new ones in the first sector. Speaking of enemies... this game warns you that it's gonna be a war of not only gunfights, but also of attrition... and it isn't lying. I would recommend most players play on the default difficulty with the "To the bitter End" turned on. This makes combat a bit more lax (but by no means simple), and also makes some choices permanent, unless you want to restart the entire encounter. This game really needs the good reviews because it is a GOOD game. But there is a pretty vocal group that I feel, no matter what, would never be happy with anything short of a perfect copy paste of JA2 1.13...which to me is just silly. This game is not a "X-Com asset flip", literally five seconds with the game will tell you that (literally one feature, the "enemy reposition", and the cover shields is all it has in common) Well, I'm done. TLDR: 40yo man says JA3 good... and also that the internet is horrible.Show moreShow less

10.3 hours at review476 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

07/18/2023

As people have stated, there are seriously broken things right now that you just have to ignore: - Stealth is worthless unless you're killing lone enemies in 1 shot without alerting. You can't coordinate stealth attacks. You can kinda tell a melee person to stab somebody in stealth, then while he's moving to the enemy, you can try to time a silenced bullet at another target, but it can be difficult to time. - There is little need for stealth perks since the ideal stealther simply needs high marksmanship with a high accuracy, high damage silenced weapon. - The action that initiates combat does NOT refund it's AP when combat starts, further disincentivizing stealth. You're better off opening with a grenade on a cluster of enemies that hasn't scattered yet. - Pincer maneuvers work against you, since enemies immediately know where all your nearby units are at combat start. - Rocket launcher enemies have more range and accuracy than a sniper. Pin point accuracy across the map, and can fire every turn, often 1-shotting people. I have yet to see them miss even with ranges beyond my rifles. And I don't mean hitting the floor next to me, I mean they hit me or my militia DIRECTLY every gd time. Yes proning lowers the damage I take, but they still hit me directly. It's ridiculous. I think part of the problem is they've tied accuracy to the range of the weapon, and these weapons have absurd range. This accuracy/range relation makes hitting a moving target with a manual rocket launcher an easier task than hitting them with a rifle. - Mid-to-late game melee is game-breakingly good. Free movement is increased by having low/no armor. Free movement is increased by starting your turn in cover. Free movement can be regained by melee'ing enemies. Free movement can be used to melee attack (this part might actually be unintended). No limit. See the problem? Instant enemy cluster deletion. - Enemies with reactions can react to things happening behind them. Examples: Some enemies have a chance to shoot back after taking a hit, or some enemies can melee you after taking an action ANYWHERE adjacent to them. If you have 2 melee units on both sides of a melee enemy, you can stab him in the back and he'll turn, face you, and stab you back. Your other unit now has his back, so you stab it. He turns to face you, and stabs you back. It's a stupid mechanic. There's an alligator enemy (yes the animal) that does this exact thing. It turns without any movement penalty, and can melee counter anything within 2 squares for 50-60 damage, omnidirectionally. - The game doesn't give you a good enough indication of the odds of landing a shot. Granted if a person/body part is not visible or obstructed, it will tell you, which is good. I don't necessarily want the exact percentage chance to land a shot. I would be happier with something that says 'very bad'/'bad'/'average'/'good'/'very good' chances of landing the shot. - There's also some really dumb pathing issues. Imagine a gate connected to a fence. My merc can see there's an alarm on the gate, so I tell him to cut through the fence with his wire cutters instead of dealing with the alarm. So what does he do? He goes through the gate to the other side of the fence to cut it, while triggering the alarm. - Some performance issues with this game. The FPS dips quite a lot even with a 3090-Ti, set to medium graphics settings. Another weird thing, even though the game seems to support uncapped framerates in the video settings, the game doesn't seem to go above 100 FPS, even on low graphics at 1920x1080. - I might be misremembering, but I remember there being meaningful injuries in Jagged Alliance 2. If I kept attacking somebody's legs, it could force them prone, and even cripple them permanently. If any of this happened to your mercs, you would need to keep that mercenary alive and heal them after the battle to fully recover. They seem to have ditched all the meaningful injuries for debuffs that only last for 1 turn. Shooting an enemy in the legs slows them for 1 turn. That's it. Additional shots to the legs only do damage. Call me sadistic, but picking your enemies apart and adding other cool effects like knocking them down/back, or blowing off a leg with a shotgun would've made this game so much cooler. It's a shame steam only has recommend/don't recommend. It's just missing some common sense things I would expect in a strategy game in this age. The level design is great, I love the mercenary interactions with eachother, and the story/side quests are actually quite good. There's just dumb stuff inhibiting strategy variety, and incentivizing boring strategies like hiding and abusing overwatch.Show moreShow less

34.9 hours at review331 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

07/14/2023

First things first. This is not JA2 nor is it a remake. Its JA3 and the time went on since the '90. I played all JA games back then and so i suffered quite a lot with all those subpar quasi-successors. Here are some main differences that I noticed after 1 hour of play (and watching lots of CCs the days before). - Buhu, where is merc xy? He/She is not here. Its maybe 50 times the effort to implement one merc compared to 25 years ago. Most fan favourites are there and for the rest there will be Mods / DLCs, so stay calm. - Time units changed. The mercs dont have 25 or 100 actions points but rather 10-12. You get used to it. - IMP is still a thing so you can make your own merc. The pictures are only 6 and look awful though. --> mods - AI seems quite smart and will challenge most players even on the lowest difficulty - They maps are way smaller and have quite some impassable terrain. Enemies are fewer in numbers also, no more 1.13 fights ageinst 80 Elites - Mercs have unique (limited use) abilities now. Imho they fit in quite well. - Dead enemies drop like in JA2 ramdom stuff and not every enemy drops something. I always liked it that way but we will see for sure a "drop everything" mod soon. - Graphics are ok but the game seems a bit stuttering and laggy (240 FPS on RTX 3060) , will probably be optimised. So im really happy to dive in for real now and think this is a good foundation for all the mods to come.Show moreShow less

1 hours at review476 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

07/14/2023

Can't play the game because the UI is fixed size and too small to read. I can't believe they did a game with heavy text elements without a scalable UI in 2023. As someone who put 100's of hours in JA1 and JA2, I'm very disappointed that I can't play this one.Show moreShow less

0.5 hours at review295 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

07/17/2023

Actually forced to write my first time ever steam review just to answer to the "I played almost 3 hours of this game and I can already tell it's not at all like I remember the first two"-crowd. So just to be clear: Yes, JA3 is a great game and yes, it captures the spirit of the first two perfectly. I played both of them (for hundreds of hours each) and all of the mostly ♥♥♥♥♥♥ spin-offs in between. If you liked Jagged Alliance 1 and/or 2 back in the day, grab this one, you won't make a mistake. It's is NOT dumbed down in any significant way. I'd argue that they added depth in a lot of areas. I've now played about 17 hours with the wife in coop mode (yay to that feature alone) and we're having a blast. Game runs very smooth except for a few sync-error-messages you can simply ignore. I'll just use the rest of this review to address a few of the espescially funny "points of criticism" I've read here: - "The UI is too small to read and cannot be scaled!" UI is actually scalable... - "Mercs can only wear helmets, vests and pants now. What happend to equipping shoes?" You can't wear shoes in any of the predecessor... - "Enemies don't drop everything they were wearing upon death!" Again: they didn't in JA 1&2 either... - "You need keyboard-shortkeys to do simple things like crouch/prone/stand up!" Uhh... No, you don't... - "Game is too hard/easy!" Well, which one is it now? I for one feel challenged/ punished when I do something stupid. If you feel differently: There are plenty of difficulty options.... - "Stealth system doesn't work! Enemies spot my inexperienced/ill-equipped merc in seconds!" I think you can find the flaw in your logic there by yourself... To sum things up: Some people seem to really have problems to a. wrap their head around the concept of remembering things differently than they actually were (especially 20 something years later). b. have a look at the options menu or the UI before posting some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ review. So sad what has become of steam user reviews...Show moreShow less

17.5 hours at review404 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

07/16/2023

Is JA3 playable? Yes. Now let me explain the thumbs down. This is based on a 20 year old game, transitioned to 3D graphics (limited), with the strategic depth cut back in numerous ways, and still using 20 year old system that dont hold up anymore. For anyone who is familiar with JA2, this is not nearly as in-depth or fleshed out. This does capture the feel of Jagged Alliance, if JA was ported to mobile. The merc personalities are fun and the voice lines are good. The art style is nice but the UI is a little clunky and many actions require keyboard shortcuts since there is no associated UI element. Customization/appearance options are ZERO. Mercs do not show what gear they are wearing. Your custom-made merc has 3 options for male and 3 for female. None are great and can't be changed. No walking. Mercs either run everywhere or crouchwalk. Not enough animation budget and this is noticeable in other areas. Maps are small. Tactical positioning opportunities are very limited, especially with half a dozen mercs and a dozen enemies all on the same map. As soon as a fight starts, it will resolve with very little change in positioning, mostly just adjusting for cover. You don't get much room to move before a fight is forced, either forward or back to tactically fall back. Guns are balanced in an arcade fashion. They have to be considering the short engagement ranges on small maps. SMGs are weak and have abysmal range, shotgun are almost point blank only options, AR/MGs are king for multi-target versatility, and marksman rifles are one of the few ways to get consistent one/two ♥♥♥♥ kills. Guns are weak. You can headshot an enemy 4 times before they go down... unarmored. Unless you're sniping. Combined/related to low gun damage is the high health pool of enemies. I havent played a shooter with bullet sponges this bad since Division 2. Stealth is almost unusable. Stealth kills before combat are a waste of time; one hit kills on unaware enemies is RANDOM and if you dont succeed then youre at a disadvantage when combat starts. There are more dedicated stealth oriented mercs, so I guess you use them because RNG for everyone else is garbage. Oh and an enemy facing away from you will eventually hear you even if youre behind them in full cover a fair distance away not moving, but without a specialized stealth merc. I guess my merc farted. You cannot pause in the pre-combat phase to set up your mercs properly. Its realtime, one at a time and the game doesnt even pause when enemies are sighted, get close, are becoming aware, etc. If you like RTS tactical shooters, thats what it feels like for the first 15 seconds before the first bullet flies.. and its usually the enemy's because they spotted you when you didnt even see them offscreen. Enemies clearly do not follow the same action point system mercs do. Either that or the enemey has genetically modified supersoldiers who can 1) be shot in the head 3 times b) run 15 feet while jumping over a low fence and around chest high barrels c) run behind you, and then d) turn around and shoot you. all on one turn! They are also deadly accurate when shooting you in the head with burst fire while youre behind half-height cover. Half height cover in this game is useless (except to actually take cover behind which uses your whole turn/actions). There is no economy of buying/selling guns. If you find a merchant, they may sell 2 guns. And wont buy. All money comes from running around maps looting/stealing from locals after a fight. No vehicles. No swimming. Lots of unlikeable NPCs. And the graphics issues. Lots of reports of instability or incompatability with higher end setups and options. I am fully capable of 1440p but I had to run 1080 with medium settings until I turned reflections and AO off (on/off are the only options here). Also neither resolution plays ncie with my multi-monitor setup. Alt-tabbing works but this game and WIndows 10 fight over resolution switching and monitor offset settings. So... if you want some XCOM turn based action on a small scale with troops who have actual personalities, but you want slimmed down strategic management, and you are OK with most of the issues I've mentioned... then Id recommend JA3. On sale. Half price or lower. I love JA2. A lot. I like JA3.. a little. But less as my time with the game goes on. Oh and lastly.. mods. There is mod support coming. No one knows the extent or ease of the mod tools. A lazy excuse to the issues I noted is "wait for mods". No, core gameplay issues should be part of the base game content.Show moreShow less

11.9 hours at review272 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

07/14/2023

Man, I really want to like this game. I think JA2, especially the 1.13 modded version, was the pinnacle of turnbased strategy and I've been playing it for YEARS, over and over and over again. So I let myself be convinced to invest in JA3, but it's hard to like so far. The game doesn't resemble JA2 gameplay at all other than the laptop interface, the merc management, the puns and sharing the name. My main gripe is tactical combat. Even though everything is in your face and you see lots of detail, he maps are TINY compared to JA2 and it seems they only focused on detailed, up close graphics which I don't care for AT ALL in a JA game. I want big tactical maps with plenty of routes and hiding places where I can use distance to my advantage, lure them out and create choke points. I would trade 75% of the graphic fidelity for this in a heartbeat. I also miss micromanaging the gear and especially the backpack/gear system from 1.13, but even vanilla JA2's gear setup was better than this. Ja3's gear system is overly simple and the UI layout for it more resembles the interface for a mobile game than a PC title made for 4k screens because the buttons are HUGE. The turn-based combat system is basically ripped from Wasteland 3 (or vice versa, it handles and even LOOKS exactly the same) with the 1.13 aiming mechanics tacked on. Wasteland 3 gameplay was 'ok' but way too limited (the progression was 100% gated and the map options exhausted really soon) and JA3 feels like that too. The saddest part is - this is not a question of patching some stuff and making it ok. The flaws are in the core of the design of this game and would require a 1.13 style overhaul to make it entertaining enough to hold a candle to JA2 which is very bad considering it only launched today. - edited after tacking on some more hours - To the people who don't agree with my review: The one thing that became less bad putting more hours in it has been that the tactical maps got slightly bigger, but that's about it. Yes, I will grant you that a BIG part of my disappointment is expectation, but JA2 was, to be fair, a game for fans. You either loved it or you didn't. Banking on that big name to sell the game HAS to have had the developers thinking 'we should be careful with those expectations' and even if they did consider it, I don't think they did enough on that front. The graphics must have cost an inordinate amount of time that would have been, in my opinion, better spent on more in depth gameplay details like the gear system and tiny details like, indeed, auto-reloads. If this game was called Jagged Alliance 1 and it was a first, no one would complain, It's solid enough to be a standalone game, sure. But it's not. It's called 1) Jagged Alliance which implies it's the same sort of game (no argument there) but 2) it also carries the '3' implying a continuation. While the references to Arulco and previous characters are definitely there, they omitted a big part of the inherent difficulty of managing an actual team, instead opting for more RNG difficulty. The crafting system is overly simply as well. Scrap + powder equals bullets. Scrap + steel tube/lenses equal every other weapon mod. It feels like a placeholder more than anything else. Gear is always repaired to 100% so while you're healing you can, at the same time (with the doctor healing his own broken legs and fractured skull) having the entire party's gear bumped back up to full condition for exactly zero challenge since you're drowning in scrap anyway. Where is the wear and tear? Why can't I go to a hospital and buy medical supplies? Why does every market stall offer only 1 item for sale, despite the table depicting dozens of items? Why can any idiot 'hack' any electronic device for instant cash? And think about it: It's TURN BASED STRATEGY. That means PLANNING. This game requires literally ZERO planning. You just click heal, click repair, and drop into the next sector. I find myself clicking auto-resolve more and more (when available) because I have NEVER lost an auto-resolve battle even with overwhelming odds and the battles are predictable anyway. Set up overwatch with a few mercs, draw them out with a sniper and end-turn your way to victory throwing in a few shaped charges to mass-annihilate most of the bunched-up enemies. Yes, it definitely feels like a JA game on SOME fronts, but more than that I get the distinct feeling of a retail Warcraft vs. Vanilla Warcraft, with most actions being a click-to-perform-action EZ mode story instead of an actual TBS game. And I can sort-of understand that choice if you happen to have an amazing, deep and engaging story to tell. But come on... bad guy with money deposes president, poor citizen scrapes together some savings to hire a bunch of mercs. Mercs shoot up the place, done. Be honest, the story for any JA game is just a means to an end, a reason for making the game. JA3's backstory is not going to win any Bafta's so they simply can't get away with letting the story lead the experience. "But you're still playing the game". Yes, because it's a story, and I want to know how it ends. But you can be sure this game will not get the amount of screentime its predecessor got by a long mile. So no, I haven't changed my opinion, and I don't think that will change. Wasteland 3 got away with it because I only paid 6 euro for it, and even then it was only 'fairly priced'. I really do appreciate that the developers have likely put in sleepless nights and loads of their time and attention (that goes for both Ja3 and WL3) so I put the blame mostly on the people overseeing these projects. Graphics are NOT what sells a game like this.Show moreShow less

3.3 hours at review268 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

07/14/2023

Tough as Nails... but Darn Fun EDIT: IF YOUR GAME ISN'T LOADING! This happened to me during my review and I asked THQ about it. They said to delete this folder in the install directory: Steamapps\common\Jagged Alliance 3\wrapper\THQNOnline\overlay. I deleted it and my game loaded properly. Now, on with the review :) Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySlPeVppeEY Jagged Alliance 3 is the third... wait a second. *Looks up franchise release history* Sorry, fourteenth entry in the popular turn-based tactical RPG franchise that’s now under new management (Haemimont Games = Tropico). And, though a little rough around the edges, not to mention tough as nails, Jagged Alliance 3’s interesting blend of tactical combat, squad-based management, 4X-esque strategy, and anything-goes storytelling all combined to keep me entertained for thirty hours and counting. STORY As the game’s brief text-based prologue cautions, Jagged Alliance 3 isn’t here to win any PC awards. (Well, I guess it is here to win PC awards, like for Windows, but not for being politically corr—shut up, you get it.) This in mind, welcome to Grand Chien: a pseudo-African nation/blood diamond extravaganza that’s been overthrown by a rogue paramilitary force known as the Legion. Now desperate and hunted by the Legion herself, the president’s daughter reaches out to you, the Adonis Corporation, to track down her kidnapped dad using your eclectic roster of mercenaries. Forty to be precise! Each with their own “very particular set of skills,” backstory, and well-voice-acted if intentionally cheesy dialogue. Hey, we’re here to make fun of 80’s action movies, after all. So, while Jagged Alliance 3’s plot is rather predictable and stereotypical by design, the game’s lengthy list of character caricatures (there's a tongue twister for you), including those you meet along the way, all manage to stand out thanks to committed and colorful voice acting. GAMEPLAY & CONTENT But you're not here for dialogue, are you? No, you’re here to kick Legion ass and have your ass promptly kicked in return across over 100 instanced-based mini-maps. That’s right, though Jagged Alliance 3 has been advertised as “open world,” it’s more a massive collection of individual boxes you’re tasked with exploring, exploiting, and then defending. Liberate Legion-held towns to unlock merchants and interesting side quests, secure ports to enable country-wide travel, seize diamond mines to fund your (eventually) multiple mercenary squads, and stumble upon secret locations, like an underground zombie-virus test facility. It’s a wild and wonderful world filled with entertaining side objectives that at times caused me to forget completely about Grand Chien’s poor Mr. President. As for combat, on almost every map, you’ll encounter challenging hardcore tactical scenarios that often pushed me to the brink. Really, if the thought of having to occasionally walk back five to ten to even 20 or more minutes of effort fills you with [Jagged Alliance] Rage, then Jagged Alliance 3 may not be your cup of tea. This is a game of trial and error, and goodness will you err often thanks in part to a surprising lack of probability of success percentages that the genre is known for. Now, as a cautious number nerd myself, I was intrinsically disposed to dislike this design decision, but it helped to learn that the team behind Jagged Alliance 3 believes the franchise has always been about “responding to unpredictable and chaotic combat situations, and an over-abundance of information may cause players to be too cautious and calculating.”[10] Hey, guilty as charged! Though, while I agree with this premise in theory, in practice I ended up getting too attached to my mercs and save scumming whenever one died rather than hiring (or creating!) a new one. Regardless, the game auto-saves your last three turns, though it can sometimes take longer than that to realize how screwed you really are, so make use of that manual save option at your discretion. In between each intense combat encounter, you’ll need to heal your squad, repair and craft items, manage merc contracts, upgrade abilities, and just generally counter the Legion’s efforts by, for example, intercepting their diamond shipments. You’re allowed to auto-resolve certain conflicts, too, and both this feature and the in-game AI seem adequately balanced. Speaking of balance, while I went in expecting a heaping helping of AA Eurojank, I’m happy to report that I encountered no significant bugs or crashes during my playthrough, and only infrequent framerate lag on highest settings. The end result is a solid and satisfying gameplay experience that I just couldn’t put down. STYLE Jagged Alliance 3 then wraps up all of these features in a pretty package that sports solid textures, nice lighting, and occasionally eye-popping particle effects that include destructible environments. Now, if only they’d add a rag-doll physics engine for explosions, as it’s a little strange when your enemies take a grenade to the face and just crumble into an awkward pile of smoldering limbs. The music, meanwhile, is great—a fun and faithful recreation of bright and campy 80’s themes that I never got tired of. Ditto that for the sound design, which is punchy and loud when it needs to be (which is often), but has nice ambient depth to it, too, that adds to those occasional quiet moments of exploration and looting. CONCLUSION Jagged Alliance 3 launches on July 14th for $45 bucks and should net folks about 50 hours of fun. When you add in co-op campaign multiplayer and built-in mod support, that’s some impressive value. So, after averaging up our micrometrics, Jagged Alliance 3 gets a strong aggregate MEGA score of 3.92/5 (full scoring breakdown, from “Plot” to “Sound” available in video form), and I highly recommend it to both fans of the franchise and genre, not to mention anyone else eager for a turn-based challenge. Thanks for reading!Show moreShow less

28.3 hours at review218 people found this helpful

Received for free

Not recommendedSteam player

07/15/2023

First of all, I hate that Steam does not have an option for the neutral position. I really want to love this game, but at this point I see a lot of missed opportunities or forgotten good things that were in previous JA games. My review currently stands as "Not Recommended" as long as I play it and will add things I noticed whether they are good or badly implemented. For those who are looking for the opinion if to buy it, skip it or want to see how it looks, I highly recommend to watch some let's plays before making a decision. ------------------ Overall verdict of the game - so far it looks like it is meant for the TicTok generation. Dumped down, no thinking, no short or long term planning. Really sad... What I like: 1. Character development - perk system 2. NPC dialogue implementation 3. French language being used - much respect for that! (btw I am not a french person, nor french is my native language, I am for the language diversity) 4. Weather effects - rain, lightning, thunder, etc. 5. Maps are beautiful - you can feel that it is damp and wet. 6. Parts system implementation, ability to craft ammo 7. Weapon modification - but still, don't like that your added equipment is being destroyed if you are removing it. It should cost something, parts or money, but should not be destroyed. 8. Choices matter in some dialogues with NPCs 9. Each merc has a unique perk. Though I think some of them are too OP, but that needs to be proven via playing more. So far that is it... What is wrong with this game: 1. Maps are too small. Some of them look like they were meant for some kind of encounter event as it was in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 games; 2. Cover and character movement route system is clunky and not useful (especially if you will be playing an Ironmode, you will die because of it), combine it with small maps and no cover and you got there a quick end of play-through; 3. No character experience bar; 4. No character fatigue bar - although game says that mercs are tired - how I am suppose to know that?! There is no indicators! Except when it just states the fact, but then it is too late. So how to plan your actions with such system? 5. When fatigued characters walk/stand like nothing - in JA2 you could see that character is tired, or wounded, even how hard it is wounded. 6. There is no more head gear pieces equipment as it was in JA2 (separate for night googles or extended ear) Just helmets which don't even have their description written properly. 7. No weapon descriptions of any kind (unless you enter deep into the weapon modification screen), just plane statements that this is an assault rifle or smg. Were you rushing the game? No content supervisor... ? So much opportunity missed for funny jokes/facts as it was in JA2 descriptions *facepalm* Although developers mentioned that they used various mems from current times - so this is it? Current generation is so "flat"? xD 8. No AP description how much it will cost to reload the weapon. 9. Character inventory/equipment is simplified down to an IQ level of 6. No more pockets, vests which expand them. 10. Items don't have weight any more. 11. No more way to make an ambush. When enemy raid team is moving into a sector that mercs already are in - you can't take ambush positions, but you are forced to deploy your team into predefined areas on map, which are far away from the enemy entering spot. 12. Overwatch/burst fire - is set as a default on AK-47, although it can fire single shots. There is a need on UI to have a setting for the fire mode (single/burst shot). Not only when aiming is being done. 13. Perk system half done - there are no perks for the "right side" of character stats. Only for Health, Agility, Dexterity, Strength and Wisdom. No perks for Leadership, Marksmanship, Mechanical, Explosives and Medical, or their/stat combination. 14. No system for wounds - enemy is being hit into the head for approximately 95% of its HP (status Almost Dead) but it does not have any wounds/status effects like blinded, dizzy, panic, bleed. It should fall down from the hit! At least in JA2 that was the case. 15. Enemy armour system - it is impossible to understand if the enemy has any armour vest or a helmet unless you specifically target that particular enemy. And it really looks stupid when during aim you notice that that there is an armour vest of some sort, but the guy stands with an upper part completely naked! xD 16. Crawling with two hand held weapon is with animation as if the character is crawling holding nothing. In dev. diary's you have shown that you were in the shooting range. Didn't those experts show you how it is being done properly? Have you tried crawling with an assault rifle holding it as if it was a sidearm? Either you will brake your wrist or the rifle/barrel will be full of dirt. 17. No mechanics of field of view (looks like mercs have their eyes on all sides of their heads). And this means there is no mechanics to turn them to the specific side. 18. No mechanics of pre-aim (in combination with mechanics of field of view mentioned just above). 19. No mechanics for moving backwards while facing or preaiming into the direction of enemy (no mechanics in either of positions: walking, prone or crawl). 20. No animation for swapping weapons (and you were belittling X-Com, but even they managed to implement it). 21. No animation for putting weapon aside when climbing ladders (btw X-Com has that too). 22. No time passage in tactical level - in JA2 time passed while you were in tactical level as if in real time (except if you were in combat). 23. Where is the minimap? Why in year 2023 we decided to remove it? Ohh wait! You know why? Because it would be obvious how tactical maps are small! 24. Equipment sorting and management is cumbersome. There is no "stack all" option, no filtering or sorting in regards of equipment type or sort. 25. Equipment size and weight problem - small one slot items (as a lock-pick) take as much space and weight as large items (crowbar). No logic. Or as stack of 10x grenades and a wire-cutter. 26. Loading and unloading of the guns sounds like pushing some nails around or some buttons on lame 90s game pad. Really? Was it so hard to use the sounds from JA2? (I am not talking about reloading in tactical view, but unloading the weapon in inventory menu). 27. No more ammo clips! You always carry all ammo you ever found (in hundreds and thousands) or produced with you (no vehicle, nor cart as in Battle Brothers) and if you need it you basically wizard that ammo from a thin air - TikTok generation caries their ammo in a "cloud" xD 28. Initial game screen with your mercs already in the field. You are able to see the mercs, which you already have hired, but they stand empty handed, like tourists. They should have their weapons with them, it is already in the game! Just put it there. Or stack them somewhere nearby as if the mercs are resting. 29. Weapon modification slots are not fixed - each new time the weapon modification screen is opened and each time weapon modification slot if in different slot. 30. After weapon modification the weapon stats do not change in the stat screen. 31. Shacks build from metal plates should not brake so easy. Now after one bullet hit one piece/square of metal piece is falling off. It should be at least of several bullet hits or a shotgun shot hit. Now when you are prone of a metal shack rooftop and make a shot which connects to the tile beneath your character it falls down just after one shot. So far game looks like cash grab from an IP. Price for this product should be 19.99 eur max, not more. Will update my review as I progress.Show moreShow less

10.1 hours at review211 people found this helpful

Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.