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Diplomacy is Not an Option
Diplomacy is Not an Option is a strategy game set in a medieval fantasy world. Build your town and defenses, raise huge armies and fight against massive hordes of enemies. How long can you survive?
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “Engaging mechanics and strategic depth” (62 of 104 reviews) and “Challenging with good scaling options” (22); the most common complaint is “Repetitive or tedious mission design” (13). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-29 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
62 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“amazing game. sharp learning curve that is satisfying to master, amazing storyline, all around solid.”
“A great strategy game for the castle building fans out there, frantically trying to balance the economy with the need to build defences as the enemy waves get bigger and bigger and bigger. The game has a wonderful sense…”
“A well balanced, polished, simple yet resoundingly complete take on the medieval/fantasy town building, siege warfare and econ RTS genre. Love the humor. Lots of subtleties in the story telling and that bleeds over into…”
22 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“amazing game. sharp learning curve that is satisfying to master, amazing storyline, all around solid.”
“I'm very impressed by this game. At first I thought of it as just a They are billions clone but when I actually played it I quickly discovered a game that, yes, took some inspirations from TAB, but mostly made its own…”
“great city builder/tower defense game. seems well optimized and has compelling mechanics and challenge. reminds me most of kingdoms and castles but more survival focused and more difficult, which is awesome.”
21 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Funny cutscenes and enjoyable at first, but then a huge unexplained difficulty spike ruins the fun. I'm a fan of these types of games, but this game suffers from serious balancing issues.”
“amazing game. sharp learning curve that is satisfying to master, amazing storyline, all around solid.”
“Way too hard for me even on the braindead difficulty . I really tried to achieve anything but this one mission where you have to build the the boats and you re constantly attacked from all sides with 5 min pauses…”
16 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“A well balanced, polished, simple yet resoundingly complete take on the medieval/fantasy town building, siege warfare and econ RTS genre. Love the humor. Lots of subtleties in the story telling and that bleeds over into…”
“It’s really valuable that the game keeps receiving constant updates and new content. It shows that it’s not just a one-time purchase made for profit, but a project that continues to evolve with the players in mind. I…”
“If any of you are also pissed off about how They Are Billions got neglected by its main devs, I highly recommend Diplomacy is Not an Option. It has great story-driven missions, a fun sandbox mode, and—most…”
11 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“If any of you are also pissed off about how They Are Billions got neglected by its main devs, I highly recommend Diplomacy is Not an Option. It has great story-driven missions, a fun sandbox mode, and—most…”
“Polygon models for simplicity and speed I guess; looks like they put effort into the plot and gameplay instead, which is nice. So not a bad RTS. ...I noticed the Gravedigger is useless though. Leaving bodies will cause…”
“BUY IT!!! Totally worth it especially on sale. These are the types of games that need our support. Games made with love and care and updates that aren't labeled as DLC. Absolute beauty of a game; love every second of…”
13 of the 104 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“I like this genre a lot, and I got pretty far into it because I genuinely wanted to enjoy it, but the core problem for me is the game’s balance. Too many enemy waves feel random, unplanned, or difficult purely for the…”
“Fun core concept, but not well executed. Lots of downtime with little to no challenge, after which something impossibly hard hits you. You spend hours without facing any real threat, and then you get wiped off the map…”
“Just fairly tedious to be honest. Doesn't have the impact or feel of something like They are Billions, and the strategy boils down to 'rush economy and mass troops.' The campaign cutscenes are have a ten second pause…”
7 of the 104 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“I like this genre a lot, and I got pretty far into it because I genuinely wanted to enjoy it, but the core problem for me is the game’s balance. Too many enemy waves feel random, unplanned, or difficult purely for the…”
“Funny cutscenes and enjoyable at first, but then a huge unexplained difficulty spike ruins the fun. I'm a fan of these types of games, but this game suffers from serious balancing issues.”
“Play for 2 hours building up your defenses and fighting off waves that steadily increase in difficulty, then at the end fight a super wave that's 10x as difficult and overruns your defenses in seconds, restart.”
5 of the 104 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“It's peak, make the game have online co-op against AI and my life is yours!”
“The game is fun and enjoyable_will you add a multiplayer or co-op mode?”
“This game is a tribute for the good old RTS genre. Lot of units with a big troop count, good story campaign, and constantly updated by the devs. There's a lot of new content regularly. I hope they will add multiplayer…”
4 of the 104 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Just fairly tedious to be honest. Doesn't have the impact or feel of something like They are Billions, and the strategy boils down to 'rush economy and mass troops.' The campaign cutscenes are have a ten second pause…”
“Pros: - Fun visual style - Gameplay loop is great - Runs very well even when a huge number of enemies is on screen - Good variety of buildings and units, as well as a diverse array of enemies - I love how the campaign…”
“The "humorous skit cutscenes" are thankfully skippable as they're unbearably boring.”
3 of the 104 reviews raise this · 1 of them still recommend the game.
“Just starting the game, looks good and feels complete BUT UI needs more tooltips, sometimes buttons will be blocked and won't tell you why”
“Tutorial tips don't go off your screen so you playing through the campaign just means your screen is cluttered with ♥♥♥♥ you don't need anymore. Seriously can't understand why devs wouldn't just add a turn off tips or…”
“game doesnt tell you how to place archers on towers, impossible to finish tutorial. dont bother with this trash.”
Counted across 104 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 85.5% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“This game was in early access for such a long time that I wouldn't have given it a positive review in the past. However, with the full release and the wide range of content that's been added (for free, mind you), the complete vision for the game by the devs is remarkably…”
— a player, Steam review · 304 hrs played“If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a medieval city-builder gets thrown into a blender with relentless horde survival chaos, Diplomacy is Not an Option answers that question—loudly, violently, and with thousands of enemies on screen. This is a mix of RTS base-building and…”
— a player, Steam review · 20 hrs played“This game has incredible potential. I absolutely loved it! It’s a solid RTS with plenty of options and variety that really keeps things interesting. It definitely deserves a try if you enjoy the genre”
— a player, Steam review · 52 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-24.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-23). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie, Simulation, Strategy |
| Player tags | Real-Time with Pause · Resource Management · Simulation · Tactical · Military · Strategy · RTS · Base-Building · War · Singleplayer · Medieval · City Builder (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Workshop · Steam Cloud · Includes level editor · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , Russian, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Portuguese - Brazil * |
| Achievements | 60 |
| Official site | https://www.door407.com/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10, 11 64 bit Processor: Intel Core i5 6400 / AMD X8 FX-8300 Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: GeForce GTX 960 / AMD Radeon R9 280 DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 15 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX 11 compatible Additional Notes: mouse wheel