Nightmare Frontier is a turn-based extraction shooter, and that exact twist is what won us over

We've tested a lot of extraction shooters lately, and they end up resembling each other: a first-person view, snappy gunfights, a map to loot and the dread of losing your haul on the way out. Nightmare Frontier takes that genre against the grain in the most radical way possible, by making it turn-based tactical. And against all odds, that simple change of perspective completely transforms the experience, to the point that it's become our favorite extraction game of the moment. Finally, something that changes.

The context

Nightmare Frontier is billed as the first tactical extraction looter, developed by Ice Code Games and published by Slitherine, available in early access on PC since mid-2025, with a full release targeted for 2026. The studio is no rookie: it gave us Hard West 2 and Rogue Waters, and it draws on both to build its formula. You lead a band of scavengers through an alternate 1900s where the American dream turned nightmare, to reclaim a devastated boom town and face the Dreadweavers, those fears made flesh. With 76% positive reviews on Steam, the reception is encouraging for a game still in progress.

What it brings: extraction, but thoughtful

Nightmare Frontier's real stroke of genius is taking the extraction-looter loop and translating it into a turn-based tactical language. Where classic extraction shooters bet on reflexes and real-time panic, this one bets on thought and the measured decision. You advance along a randomized path, and each step triggers a streamlined tactical battle, XCOM-lite style that gets straight to the fight without frills. That switch changes everything: you no longer endure the chaos, you anticipate it, you plan your moves, you weigh every shot. For anyone who loves the extraction genre but has tired of its nerviness, it's a breath of fresh air.

Where the game gets really clever is in grafting onto that tactical base the structure of a Slay the Spire-style roguelite. The progression isn't linear: at each crossroads, you choose your path wondering what risks you're taking and how long you'll survive, exactly like in a roguelite deckbuilder. And on top, the extraction's characteristic tension stays intact: should you push your luck to grab a precious haul, at the risk of losing everything for the whole team? That constant dilemma between greed and caution is the game's beating heart, and it works beautifully in a turn-based frame, where each decision is made cold and paid for dearly.

A genre blend that finds its identity

What strikes with Nightmare Frontier is the coherence of its assembly. Ice Code Games doesn't just stick genres end to end, it makes them talk: the tactical gunfights inherited from Hard West 2, the melee combat that marked Rogue Waters, the path choices from Slay the Spire and the risk-and-reward logic of extraction. Each brick comes from a familiar place, but the whole composes something new, a blend that didn't really exist in this form. It's that successful hybridization that gives the game its identity and justifies its label as the first of its kind.

The atmosphere fully takes part in that success. That alternate 1900s where the American dream rotted, peopled with nightmarish Dreadweavers, offers a singular setting that contrasts with the generic post-apocalyptic backdrops of so many extraction shooters. You feel a real direction, a horror-western imagery that gives character to each expedition. The game doesn't just settle for being mechanically clever, it also has a soul, an atmosphere that makes you want to push a bit further into the cursed town, even knowing you might lose your shirt.

What sticks

You should stay honest about its status, because Nightmare Frontier is in early access, and its 76% positive reviews reflect a solid but not rave reception. The game still bears the marks of a work in progress: balancing to refine, content to flesh out, and no doubt a few rough edges to fix over the updates. The formula is brilliant, but it still needs to be fed and polished to keep all its promises over time. It's a game you join today knowing it will grow, not a finished product.

You also have to accept the demanding nature of its proposition. The marriage of turn-based tactics, roguelite and extraction imposes a learning curve and a tolerance for loss not everyone will have. You can lose big, and the penalty of a badly-managed expedition is real, which is the genre's salt but also its barrier. Nightmare Frontier doesn't seek to seduce the hurried or timid player: it rewards thought, calculated risk-taking and patience, and you have to love that tension to fully appreciate it.

What we take away

Nightmare Frontier is refreshing proof that a saturated genre can reinvent itself through a simple change of perspective. By translating the extraction looter into a turn-based tactical language, mixed with Slay the Spire-style roguelite choices and carried by a horror-western atmosphere, Ice Code Games signs a game that resembles no other. The tension of risk and reward, the beating heart of extraction, finds new life here in a thoughtful frame where every decision counts. For anyone who loves the genre but dreamed of something other than FPS nerviness, it's exactly what we were waiting for.

You just have to approach it for what it is, with its early-access limits and its owned demand. The content will grow, the balancing will refine, and its brilliant formula still needs to mature. But the guiding idea is excellent, the execution already convincing, and the pleasure very real for the fan of tactics and calculated risk. Nightmare Frontier genuinely changes things, and it's precisely why we like it so much. We go back in, cautiously, one more expedition.

Verdict

An extraction looter moved to turn-based tactics, mixed with Slay the Spire and horror-western: a clever, refreshing genre blend that finally changes from the usual FPS nerviness.

Strengths:

• Extraction translated to turn-based, thought rather than reflexes
• Slay the Spire-style roguelite path choices
• The risk-and-reward tension, the genre's heart, sublimated cold
• A singular horror-western atmosphere full of character

Weaknesses:

• An early access with content and balancing still in progress
• A demand and penalty that will put off the timid player
• A solid but not yet rave reception, a formula still to mature

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Tested on PC, in early access.