We haven't written about Diplomacy Is Not An Option since it launched in Early Access in 2022, when it was a light and fluffy strategy game about smashing thousands of peasants to bits using physics magic. That's still the case, but it's now coming out as version 1.0 on October 4.
Version 1.0 will include the full Diplomacy campaign, which includes three factions, six possible endings, and over 25 missions. The developers estimate that a single playthrough will take about 30 hours.
In his Early Access review, Steve Hogarty compared Diplomacy Is Not An Option to one of those fake games you see on Instagram that's real. The sheer size of its enemy armies, the godlike power to destroy them with godbeams and meteor strikes, and the general feeling that the game is less about tactical city-building and more about stunning spectacle.
But what the game lacks in variety, it makes up for in its finely tuned, scratch-the-floor approach that draws you into compulsive play. The cartoonish, low-poly visuals and punchy sound effects make building your expanding fortress an irresistible pleasure to repeat over and over again, like scratching an itch somewhere deep inside your own skull. Assigning a few cohorts of crossbowmen to your towers and watching them effortlessly annihilate an approaching wave of angry peasants is soothing, a refreshing balm for the spirit, like slowly nudging your vacuum cleaner across a particularly dirty patch of carpet and hearing the crackle of debris slam into the tube. Mmm.
Which sounds really good to me. It's been on my to-play list ever since, and I'm still trying it out now that it's more varied and polished.
If you don't want to wait, you can find DINAO on Steam and GOG.