Nuclear Nightmare

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Recover the virus files in the Arctic before the nuke falls.

Platforms: PC
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (81% of 19,318 reviews)
Players: 1 or more (online co-op)
Made by: BG Productions
Released: 2024

What frightens Your team searches a frozen Arctic site for classified material while a black goo virus spreads; anyone, including your huskies, can be infected and turn, so you test each other, and nightmarish creatures born from the goo stalk dark facility corridors as a nuclear strike counts down.
Content: gore, violence, disturbing imagery.

Nuclear Nightmare is an online co-op horror game from BG Productions, in Early Access on Steam. Your team crosses a frozen Arctic map to recover classified material about a black goo virus, testing each other for infection while creatures spawned by the goo hunt you and a nuclear strike draws closer.

About Nuclear Nightmare

Nuclear Nightmare puts a small team of players into the harsh Arctic on an extraction job. The US government is about to drop a nuclear strike to contain a spreading black goo virus, and before it does, your crew has to salvage classified material about the outbreak, gather the supplies to call in an evacuation chopper, and get out. BG Productions released it in Early Access on Steam in October 2024.

The fear is in who you can trust. The goo infects, and anyone can turn, even the huskies that travel with you. You test teammates for infection, and each vaccine cures one infection only once. Inside the research buildings, dark corridors hold the nightmarish entities the virus has spawned, and you meet them with a flashlight and whatever you scavenged.

Between the facilities the map is open: you drive snowmobiles and fly helicopters across the snow, tame huskies to scavenge, guard or warn you, and earn points to unlock perks at soda machines. Events, enemies and items are randomly generated, so each run plays out differently. Weapons such as flamethrowers, shotguns and flare guns can be found, but the inventory holds only five things.

It sits with the co-op extraction horror of Lethal Company and R.E.P.O., with a paranoid infection twist that recalls The Thing. It suits groups of friends who like a frozen setting, some vehicles, and the worry that the person beside them is already infected.

How to play Nuclear Nightmare

Join or host a game with friends and pick your suit and world settings.
Head out across the snow on foot, by snowmobile or by helicopter toward the marked facilities.
Search the buildings for classified material and supplies, using your flashlight in the dark corridors.
Test your teammates and huskies for infection and use a vaccine when someone is infected; each one works only once.
Gather what you need to call in the evacuation chopper and get out before the nuclear strike.

Screenshots

A figure in a filthy gas mask and hood stands in a green-lit tunnel with a caution sign, a candle held up in the foreground

A red, fleshy creature looms over a body in a dim facility corridor, seen past a player's shoulder with a five-slot inventory bar

A player in a red suit on a snowmobile in the snow, beside crates and two figures at a crashed aircraft

Inside a frozen research cabin, a player with a backpack stands among broken floor panels while another holds a shotgun

Tips

Keep your five inventory slots for things that matter: a weapon, a light source and a vaccine before loot.
Test anyone who has been out of sight for a while, dogs included.
Train a husky to alert you to dangers; it gives warning before a creature reaches you.
Watch the clock: the strike will not wait for one more room.

Questions

Is Nuclear Nightmare multiplayer?

Yes. It is built for online co-op with a team of friends, and Steam also lists single-player.

Is Nuclear Nightmare finished?

It is in Early Access on Steam, released in October 2024, and still being developed.

What platforms is Nuclear Nightmare on?

Windows PC through Steam.

Is Nuclear Nightmare scary?

It mixes jumpy encounters with creatures in dark facilities and the paranoia of not knowing which teammate is infected. Steam lists gore, violence and disturbing imagery.