IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator

IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator is a first-person heavy-artillery simulator with a dieselpunk setting. The player takes the role of an Operator in charge of a large armoured turret. The campaign takes place in alternate-history Spain in the late 1920s, where the monarchy remains in power and a republican uprising is spreading across the country. It was made by a two-person team: Nick Talmers handled development and Dominik Latos handled the propaganda content.

Gameplay centres on manual control of the machine’s mechanisms. Two teleprinters monitor local radio traffic, one carrying priority directives from High Command and the other relaying calls from the frontline. The player uses this information, along with an interactive tactical map and aerial photographs, to plan attacks and see the results of each strike. A ballistic calculator is used to work out firing solutions, and the player sets measurements, elevation and propellant charge by hand. The turret takes time to rotate, and the machine can fail. Ammunition includes armour-piercing rounds, smoke and phosgene gas, and bombardments leave lasting changes on the map.

Listed features include procedurally generated objectives, a handcrafted story, newspaper reports, two challenge modes, leaderboards, 15 regions, 30 unlockable ammunition types and abilities, and more than 100 unlockable medals. Players can also customise a cat companion. The developers cite 1990s anime, Cannon Fodder and an interest in engineering and artillery as inspirations, and they acknowledge PVKK as an influence on the genre. They describe this release as the first step in the wider IRON NEST universe.