Nuclear Design Bureau ▶ Trailer
Nuclear Design Bureau screenshot 1Nuclear Design Bureau screenshot 2
IndieSimulationStrategyPhysicsCold WarScienceSandboxPuzzle

40 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 69

Peak in the last 7 days: 107

Nuclear Design Bureau Early Access Steam store

Game description

Design. Simulate. Detonate. As a junior engineer at the Kurchatov Institute, you design atomic devices to satisfy the demands of the State. A hardcore physics game simulating hydrodynamics, neutron transport, and thermonuclear fusion.

Basic info

DeveloperDesign Bureau KB-11
PublisherDesign Bureau KB-11
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckUnsupported
Release dateSep 14, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10 64-bit (version 1903 or later)
Processor8-core, Intel i7-10700 or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Memory16 GB
GraphicsGeForce RTX 3070 or Radeon RX 6700 XT, 8 GB VRAM, WebGPU support
Storage3 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 216 reviews from the past 1 year

75.6/ 100
Bottom 40%

Steam rating: Mostly Positive (78%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 20, 2026)

A nuclear weapon design sandbox with rough edges, Nuclear Design Bureau scores 75.6 across 216 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

116 reviews enjoy designing and testing bombs despite the early access state, and some say they got their money's worth. 14 credit a developer who keeps updating and fixing issues, with the most upvoted saying the latest update fixed every gripe and made it run much faster. 12 praise the strategic depth of weapon design, and some say experimenting with new builds and physics is their favorite part. Pricing & Fairness ranks 262nd of 1399, and Content Volume ranks 1068th of 1351.

👎 Where it falls short

36 reviews find the interface controls clunky, and the most upvoted complains about endless scrolling through panels while screen space goes unused. 27 report bugs and crashes, such as undo crashing the game or masses vanishing when a save loads. 26 say performance suffers, with some describing laggy detonation rendering and simulations that slow to a crawl. Tech & Support appears in 55% of analyzed reviews and ranks 1145th of 1399, and Gameplay ranks 1134th of 1396.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“genuinely enjoying the game despite UI quirks and early access state” · 116 reviews
“interesting concept with potential” · 8 reviews
“five dollars with very high entertainment value” · 7 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 59% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel -2.51 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Negative “UI requires excessive scrolling through panels with abundant unused screen space” · 36 reviews
Positive “controls feel intuitive for the game's complex mechanics” · 3 reviews

Progression 1% · Difficulty 5% · Onboarding 29% · Freedom 9% · Strategy 15%

Plot, characters and the world

Not enough data — only 9% of reviews mention this.

World +2.46 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is

Story 4% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 12% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Volume -0.70 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Negative “campaign is relatively short with limited content before endgame sandbox” · 7 reviews
Positive “amount of content provides 5€ worth of enjoyment” · 1 review

Variety 2% · Replayability 1%

Graphics, art style, music and sound

Not enough data — only 10% of reviews mention this.

Visuals -0.40 · Graphics, art style, and animation

Audio 4%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 1% of reviews mention this.

Community +3.33 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 21% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.25 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Positive “five dollars with very high entertainment value” · 7 reviews
Negative “4x cheaper in rubles, regional pricing unfair” · 1 review

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 8% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 55% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.64 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “undo crashes game, masses disappear on save load” · 27 reviews
Positive “zero crashes, stable experience” · 1 review

Performance 24% · Developer support 27%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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