Field guide · seven games compared

Retro futuristic games, the future as the past imagined it

By Whale Development Studios, the studio behind Iron Curtain Call. Published 5 November 2026. Every date, price, platform and demo below was checked on the US Steam store on 6 November 2026; the sources are listed at the end.

Iron Curtain Call: tin soldier robots in red uniforms and space helmets guard a tipped over rocket on the Moon, the Earth rising behind them — Iron Curtain Call, chapter 10, One Small Step. A real gameplay frame.

The short answer

A world where the old future came true.

Retrofuturism, in Wikipedia’s words, is a movement in the creative arts that depicts the future as it was produced in earlier eras: where futurism looks ahead, retrofuturism remembers how people once looked ahead. In games that means a world with the technology of tomorrow and the styling of yesterday. This guide covers any game like that, shooter or not.

The big names are Fallout 4, whose world Wikipedia describes as a retro futuristic one built on 1950s technology, We Happy Few, which Steam calls a retrofuturistic city in an alternative 1960s England, and Atomic Heart, an alternate history Soviet Union of the 1950s. Alien: Isolation imagines the future as the 1970s did, Retro Machina is a small robot adventure that Steam places in a retro futuristic universe, and Iron Harvest is the dieselpunk corner. Iron Curtain Call is a 1930s rubber hose cartoon over a 1965 run by a customer service machine, and its demo is free on Steam.

Two of the seven had a free demo on Steam on 6 November 2026: Iron Curtain Call and Atomic Heart. The Iron Curtain Call demo is Mission 1 and has no parry; the parry comes with the full game on 11 March 2027.

At a glance

Seven retro futures, side by side.

Checked on the US Steam store and the games’ Wikipedia articles on 6 November 2026. The decade is the one the game imagines its future from, in the words of its Steam page or its Wikipedia article. Prices are list prices in US dollars before any sale; Steam sets its own prices in other countries.
Game	Decade it imagines the future from	Tone and how it plays	Free demo on Steam	US price	Out
Iron Curtain CallOur game	The 1930s, in its rubber hose cartoon look; the story is set in 1965	Satire and a single player shooter; fast and close range, with tin robots that burst into bolts and springs	Yes, free: Mission 1, about 15 to 20 minutes	Not priced yet	11 March 2027Free demo since 28 October 2026
Fallout 4	The 1950s: Wikipedia names 1940s and 1950s American aesthetics	Single player open world role playing game after a nuclear war	No	$19.99	9 November 2015
We Happy Few	The mid 1960s, as an alternative 1960s England	Single player drug fuelled dystopia; hide, fight and conform	No	$59.99	10 August 2018
Atomic Heart	The 1950s: an alternate history Soviet Union, with 1955 given by Wikipedia	Single player action in a utopia gone wrong, with robots in revolt	Yes, free	$59.99	20 February 2023
Alien: Isolation	The 1970s: a lo fi 1970s vision of the future, says Wikipedia	Single player survival horror, stealth and dread	No	$39.99	6 October 2014
Retro Machina	None stated: Steam says retro futuristic and names no decade	Single player action and exploration with puzzles, as a hacking robot	No	$16.99	12 May 2021
Iron Harvest	The 1920s: Steam’s alternate reality of 1920+, with dieselpunk mechs	Real time strategy with campaigns, co op and multiplayer	No	$29.99	31 August 2020

The games

One by one, who each is for.

Each entry says who the game is for, what it is and how it differs from Iron Curtain Call. The facts under each come from its Steam page on 6 November 2026; the retro futuristic look from its Steam page or its Wikipedia article, and we say which.

Iron Curtain Call

Our game

Play it if you want a retro future with a sense of humor, drawn like a 1930s cartoon, and you want to try it for free first.

It is 1965, year three of World War III. Humanity ran out of soldiers, so the war is fought by wind up tin robots run by the Supreme Chancellor, a customer service machine that was handed a country. You are Corporal Punishment, a silent soldier delivered to the front like cargo, and Colonel Panic is on the radio: “I’d send backup, but you are the backup.”

We call it retrofuturism with a cartoon accent. The look is a 1930s rubber hose cartoon with ink lines, in full color, laid over a 1965 of wind up robots, rockets and a war run by a customer service machine. It is not hard dieselpunk: there are no grimy diesel mechs or industrial gloom, and the mood is satire, not grit. The fighting is close: a punch gives you health, robots burst into bolts, springs and scrap, and there is no blood.

The free demo is Mission 1, Welcome to Rubbleton: about 15 to 20 minutes, ending with the first boss, Major Disaster. It has no parry; that comes with the full game.

Developer and publisher: Whale Development Studios
Out: 11 March 2027
Free demo out: 28 October 2026
On Steam: Windows and macOS (demo on Windows, macOS and Linux)
US list price: Not priced yet
Demo: Yes, free

Play the free demo Play 60 seconds in your browser, no download

Iron Curtain Call in first person: a white cartoon glove holds a typewriter submachine gun as a grinning steam train marked 6:15 bursts out of a brick tunnel — Chapter 1, Rubbleton: the 6:15 express, in the free demo. A real gameplay frame.

Fallout 4

Play it if you want the classic atomic age retro future, as a huge open world to live in.

Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 4 starts with you as the sole survivor of Vault 111, emerging into a world reduced to ash by nuclear war, in Steam’s words. It is a single player open world role playing game with hundreds of locations, characters and quests, and Steam says you can rebuild and reshape the wasteland your way.

The look is the reason it is here. Wikipedia says the game takes place in an alternate version of history that features 1940s and 1950s American aesthetics, such as diners and drive in theaters, while technology advances in the directions imagined in that era. The result, Wikipedia says, is a retro futuristic universe of laser weapons and artificial intelligence that still runs on atomic power and vacuum tubes, with products such as robotic rocking horses and high tech fallout shelters called Vaults.

If Fallout 4 is not the one you want, its older sibling Fallout: New Vegas is on Steam too. Wikipedia says its makers chose Las Vegas because it evoked the 1950s imagery the series was known for, with neon signs and architecture modeled on the Googie movement.

A huge open world, against our short, fast Mission 1. It is $19.99, for Windows, and had no demo on Steam on 6 November 2026.

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Released: 9 November 2015
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $19.99
Demo: None on Steam

We Happy Few

Play it if you want a retro future that is bright, polite and quietly sinister.

Compulsion Games’ We Happy Few is, in Steam’s words, an action adventure game set in a drug fuelled, retrofuturistic city in an alternative 1960s England. You hide, fight and conform your way out of a delusional, Joy obsessed world, playing three quietly rebellious citizens of Wellington Wells, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Wikipedia calls the setting a retro futuristic version of the mid 1960s that follows an alternative version of World War II, with advances such as Tesla styled weapons and automated security systems. Its makers took the 1960s British setting as a great period of relentless optimism about the future that ignored the problems of the time, and drew on dystopias such as Brazil, Nineteen Eighty Four and Brave New World.

The same decade as Iron Curtain Call, and the opposite mood: a dystopian horror where we have war satire. It is $59.99 for Windows, with no demo on Steam on 6 November 2026.

Developer and publisher: Compulsion Games
Released: 10 August 2018
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $59.99
Demo: None on Steam

Atomic Heart

Play it if you want a Soviet utopia of robots and wonders, and a demo to try first.

Mundfish’s Atomic Heart opens, in Steam’s words, in a utopian world of wonders and perfection where humans live in harmony with their loyal and fervent robots. That is how it used to be: days before a new robot control system is to launch, something goes wrong, and mutants, machines and superpowered robots rebel against their creators. You fight with an experimental power glove and an arsenal of blades and weapons.

Wikipedia says the game is set in an alternate history Soviet Union of the 1950s, at a research facility in an alternate history 1955, and that it is initially depicted as a retrofuturistic utopia before the collapse that follows a robot uprising. Steam lists a free demo.

The closest match in subject: robots, a 1950s future and a country run by its machines, in earnest where Iron Curtain Call is funny. It is $59.99 for Windows, and Steam lists a free demo, on Windows.

Developer: Mundfish
Publisher: Focus Entertainment, 4Divinity and Mundfish
Released: 20 February 2023
On Steam: Windows (demo on Windows)
US list price: $59.99
Demo: Yes, free

Alien: Isolation

Play it if your retro future is the 1970s: chunky screens, clunky machines and a monster in the vents.

Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation is a survival horror set fifteen years after the events of Alien: you play Amanda, Ellen Ripley’s daughter, scavenging and improvising in a world confronted by a panicked population and a ruthless alien, per Steam.

Wikipedia says it was designed to resemble the original Alien film and has a lo fi, 1970s vision of what the future could look like, with clunky machinery such as phone receivers, monochrome displays and distorted CRT monitors. It also notes that IGN praised the game’s retro futuristic art direction and sound design.

The one here that imagines its future from the 1970s, and the only other with a macOS build on Steam on 6 November 2026, alongside Linux. It is $39.99 and had no demo on Steam.

Developer: Creative Assembly
Publisher: SEGA
Released: 6 October 2014
On Steam: Windows, macOS and Linux
US list price: $39.99
Demo: None on Steam

Retro Machina

Play it if you want a gentle, small scale retro future about a robot, on a budget.

Orbit Studio’s Retro Machina is, in Steam’s words, a single player action and exploration game set in a retro futuristic universe. You are a little robot worker thrown on a junkyard for a malfunction, in a glass domed city where humans have vanished and only robots remain. Its trick is the ability to hack and take control of other machines, to fight, explore and solve puzzles.

Steam names no decade for it, so the table says none stated. It has no English Wikipedia article on 6 November 2026, and Steam is its only source here.

A quiet puzzle adventure next to Iron Curtain Call’s noise. Steam’s list price is $16.99 for Windows, and it was on sale at 80 percent off on 6 November 2026. No demo on Steam.

Developer: Orbit Studio
Publisher: SuperGG.com
Released: 12 May 2021
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $16.99
Demo: None on Steam

Iron Harvest

Play it if you want to command dieselpunk mechs, and a strategy game is fine.

KING Art’s Iron Harvest is a real time strategy game, in Steam’s words, set in the alternate reality of 1920+, just after the end of the Great War, where you control giant dieselpunk mechs. Steam lists single player and co op campaigns, skirmishes and multiplayer, and Wikipedia says it is set in the 1920+ universe of the Polish artist Jakub Różalski.

It is here as the honest example of the dieselpunk corner below: a retro future of giant walking machines in the years just after the Great War.

The one strategy game and the one dieselpunk game on this page. It is $29.99 for Windows, with no demo on Steam on 6 November 2026.

Developer: KING Art
Publisher: Prime Matter and Deep Silver
Released: 31 August 2020
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $29.99
Demo: None on Steam

The idea

What is retrofuturism?

Wikipedia describes retrofuturism as blending old fashioned “retro styles” with futuristic technology, a remembering of how an earlier age anticipated the future. The decade matters: the 1950s future of Fallout 4 and Atomic Heart is the atomic age, We Happy Few borrows the optimism of the 1960s, and the 1970s future of Alien: Isolation is lo fi and clunky. That is why the table above gives each game’s decade.

Wikipedia says the Raygun Gothic style, applied to images of science fiction, is still a popular choice for retro sci fi in film and video games, and its own list of examples names the Fallout series as a video game series set in a retrofuture.

A short corner

And what about dieselpunk?

Wikipedia calls dieselpunk the most recently named retrofuturistic genre, set in alternate versions of the era from the 1920s to the 1950s, so it is a kind of retrofuturism and not a rival to it. Retrofuturism is the wider idea: it also covers the 1950s atomic age of Fallout 4 and the 1970s of Alien: Isolation.

Of the seven games here, Iron Harvest is the one whose Steam page says dieselpunk outright, for its giant mechs. Iron Curtain Call is not hard dieselpunk: it borrows the look of 1930s animation and the tin robots and rockets of 1965, and plays them as satire. If dieselpunk is what you came for, start with Iron Harvest.

The look

If it is the look you came for

Iron Curtain Call’s own look has two guides: the best cartoon FPS games on PC and rubber hose and 1930s cartoon FPS games. For speed, our melee FPS guide compares the fast shooters, and free FPS and boomer shooter demos on Steam lists what you can try first.

Or skip the reading: play 60 seconds of Iron Curtain Call in your browser, no download.

Questions

Questions players ask

What is retrofuturism in games?

Retrofuturism, per Wikipedia, depicts the future as earlier eras produced it. In games it is a world with the technology of tomorrow and the styling of yesterday: Fallout 4 with its 1950s atomic age, We Happy Few with an alternative 1960s England, Atomic Heart with a 1950s Soviet utopia, and Alien: Isolation with a 1970s vision of the future.

What is the difference between dieselpunk and retrofuturism?

Retrofuturism is the wider idea: the future as an earlier age imagined it. Wikipedia calls dieselpunk its most recently named genre, set in alternate versions of the 1920s to the 1950s. So dieselpunk is a kind of retrofuturism, and a narrower one. Iron Harvest is the dieselpunk example here; Iron Curtain Call is not hard dieselpunk.

Are there retro futuristic shooters with a free demo?

Yes. Iron Curtain Call has a free demo on Steam: Mission 1, Welcome to Rubbleton, about 15 to 20 minutes, with no parry (that comes with the full game). Atomic Heart also lists a free demo on Steam, on Windows. The other games here had none on 6 November 2026.

What are the best retro sci fi games?

It depends on the decade you like. For the 1950s, Fallout 4 and Atomic Heart; for the mid 1960s, We Happy Few; for the 1970s, Alien: Isolation; for a small robot adventure, Retro Machina; for dieselpunk mechs, Iron Harvest; and for a 1930s cartoon over a 1965 war, Iron Curtain Call. All seven are in the table above.

Is Iron Curtain Call dieselpunk?

Not hard dieselpunk. It is retrofuturism with a cartoon accent: a 1930s rubber hose cartoon look over a 1965 run by a customer service machine, with wind up tin robots. Its mood is satire, not industrial grit. You can try it with the free demo on Steam or play 60 seconds in your browser.

Which retro futuristic games are single player?

All seven are single player on Steam. Iron Harvest adds co op and multiplayer.

Which retro futuristic games run on a Mac?

On 6 November 2026 Steam listed macOS for Iron Curtain Call and Alien: Isolation, and Linux for Alien: Isolation too. The other five are Windows only.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these pages, read on 6 November 2026. Prices and dates change; the store page always has the final word.

Iron Curtain Call, Steam store page
Fallout 4, Steam store page
We Happy Few, Steam store page
Atomic Heart, Steam store page
Alien: Isolation, Steam store page
Retro Machina, Steam store page
Iron Harvest, Steam store page
Retrofuturism, Wikipedia
Dieselpunk, Wikipedia
Fallout 4, Wikipedia
Fallout: New Vegas, Wikipedia
We Happy Few, Wikipedia
Atomic Heart, Wikipedia
Alien: Isolation, Wikipedia
Iron Harvest, Wikipedia

World War III now has a free trial.

Mission 1 of Iron Curtain Call is free on Steam. Play it, and if the war wins you over, wishlist the full war: it arrives on 11 March 2027.

Play the free demo Wishlist on Steam Play 60 seconds in your browser, no download