DEFCON5 Play free
Two mushroom clouds climb over an island at sunset in Doomsday: M.A.D.

SYS M.A.D. // Online
UTC --:--:--
Status Launch window open

Azure Federation vs Scarlet Union
Theatre Procedural · 9 map types
Build Updated almost daily

Doomsday // The nuclear strategy game Mutually Assured Destruction.

Two nations. One procedurally generated island. A 1v1 missile duel on fully destructible land, a full war from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1, and a living world that goes to war without you. Free in your browser. Nothing to install.

Play free now Watch the reveal

Scroll to disarm

WebFree · HTML5

iPhone & iPadApp Store

SteamKey for supporters

[01] The doctrine

Two nations. One island. Sixteen ways to end it. The only winning move used to be not to play. We fixed that.

01 · Duel

A 1v1 missile war on fully destructible terrain. Saturate their defences, protect your cities, raze their HQ.

02 · War

DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1. Industry, oil, uranium, armies and fleets. The heaviest weapons come last.

03 · Living World

Two to eight nations that build, trade, fall out and go to war on their own. Or with a little help.

Anatomy of a bad day

Take it
apart.

This is one missile. Doomsday: M.A.D. hands you sixteen weapons. Keep scrolling to see what’s inside the first one.

Exploded view

8 subsystems.
0 second thoughts.

  1. 01Radome
  2. 02Seeker
  3. 03Avionics
  4. 04Canards
  5. 05Payload
  6. 06Solid motor
  7. 07Tail fins
  8. 08Nozzle

Reassembled. Fuelled. Gone.

Now multiply
by sixteen.

Salvos, clusters, napalm, thermobarics, hypersonic gliders, MIRVs, the Tsar Bomba, an orbital beam, antimatter and a black hole.

Enter the armory

16

Weapons in three tabs: classic, nuclear, experimental

9

Map types, from a small island to continents

131KM

Supercontinent. Any seed. Dusk, night or day

2–8

Nations with a language, a ruler and a temper

3

AI levels, plus sandbox and AI vs AI

€0

To play in your browser. Nothing to install

[03] Three theatres

Pick your
apocalypse.

Play a duel in half an hour, run a whole war, or sit back and watch a world argue itself into oblivion.

01 / Duel~30 min sessions

The Duel

Two nations. One procedurally generated map. Your base, their base, and everything you can afford in between.

  • Headquarters, silos, rocket batteries, missile defences, radar and tank factories
  • 16 weapons, from rocket salvos to MIRVs, the Tsar Bomba and a black hole
  • Saturate their defences, protect your cities, raze their HQ or break their population
  • Three AI levels, a sandbox with unlimited credits, and AI vs AI
A mushroom cloud rises over a coastal town as interceptor trails streak overhead In-game capture
02 / WarDEFCON 5 → 1

War Mode

A whole war, start to finish. Build the economy that builds the army that builds the excuse.

  • A crisis that climbs from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1, each level clearing heavier weapons
  • Industry, oil and uranium, strategic sites to take, bases to build
  • Battalions, tanks, artillery, fighters, attack aircraft, bombers and drones
  • A shipyard and its fleet: destroyers, cruisers, battleships, missile ships, submarines, carriers
Strategic map of an island split between the Azure Federation and the Scarlet Union, with missile arcs In-game capture
03 / Living World2–8 nations

The Living World

Press play and walk away. Nations are born, trade, fall out and go to war on their own. Or don’t walk away, and become fate.

  • Each nation has a name, a language, a ruler and a temper
  • Towns found themselves where the land is worth it, then grow street by street
  • Real economy, real logistics, real politics: elections, juntas, coups, purges
  • Play god: meteors, volcanoes, tsunamis, any weapon, anywhere
A valley with towns, rivers and contested borders between two nations In-game capture

[04] War mode · the escalation ladder

  1. DEFCON 5 · Fade out

    Peace, technically.

    Lay the railways. Drill the oil. Mine the uranium. Every crisis starts with an economy, and every economy ends up with a factory that builds tanks.

  2. DEFCON 4 · Double take

    Someone blinked.

    Battalions muster. Strategic sites start to matter. The radar draws things it would rather not draw.

  3. DEFCON 3 · Round house

    Wheels up.

    Fronts appear on the map and trenches appear on the fronts. Supply lines stretch. Somebody starts counting fuel.

  4. DEFCON 2 · Fast pace

    Next step: nuclear.

    Fleets put to sea. Landings, blockades, bridges in the water. Every level up the ladder clears heavier weapons.

  5. DEFCON 1 · Cocked pistol

    You know what this means.

    Maximum readiness. Dead land. Nuclear winter. Somewhere, a minister is drafting a peace treaty nobody will sign in time.

[05] Destruction engine

A world that
really breaks.

Nothing here is a decal. Craters dig into the ground. Buildings tear into slabs and girders. Bridges fall. Ships sink.

A shock front tears through a town, throwing debris into the air beneath a rising fireball

Blasts arrive at
the speed of sound.

Real recorded sounds · best with headphones

01 / Terrain

Craters, for real

Fully destructible land. Every impact digs in and stays dug.

02 / Structures

Slabs & girders

Buildings don’t vanish, they come apart. Twelve kinds of skyscraper, all of them temporary.

03 / Atmosphere

Firestorms

Shock fronts you can watch roll across the valley, firestorms that spread, mushroom clouds that keep climbing.

04 / Audio

343 m/s

Air-raid sirens, blasts that arrive late like they should, ambience that follows the camera and music that follows the tension.

A black hole lifts debris over a sunlit valley
Black hole over the valleyExperimental
A nuclear strike lights up a river valley at night
Night strike, river valleyNuclear
Sandbox mode with unlimited credits: a fireball dome expands over a town
Sandbox, unlimited creditsDuel
Two mushroom clouds over the sea at sunset
Mutually assuredDuel

[06] The Living World

It goes to war without you.

Two to eight nations on untouched land. Nothing placed in advance. Press play and history happens: economies, railways, elections, coups and, eventually, the bomb.

A volcano erupts in the middle of an island dotted with towns

SYS-01
Nations

Nations of their own

Each with its name, its language, its ruler and its temper. Towns are founded where the land is worth it and grow street by street.

SYS-02
Economy

A real economy

Farms, sawmills, mines, oil wells and uranium on real deposits. Steelworks, refineries, munitions and arms factories, enrichment plants. Own your production chain and your weapons cost half. Lose it and they cost double.

SYS-03
Logistics

Logistics you can cut

Trucks, warehouses, double-track railways with stations, viaducts and tunnels, freight trains and shipping lines. Blow a bridge or sink a tanker and the goods are gone.

SYS-04
Politics

Living politics

Five ministries and their budgets. Monarchies, republics, elections and juntas. Every town judges its rulers and says why: networks, informers, purges, uprisings, coups, and exiles who found free towns.

SYS-05
Wars

Real wars

Mobilisation, fronts, trenches and supply: food, munitions and fuel. Landings, blockades, peace treaties. Several wars at once: the one you watch is fought unit by unit.

SYS-06
Eras

Eras and the bomb

Industrial, atomic and orbital ages. The bomb comes last, from those who are losing badly, and leaves dead land and a nuclear winter.

Override

You are fate.

Watch, or play god. Every system can be switched on or off in the rules of the world.

Drop any weapon anywhereCall a meteorRaise a volcanoSend a tsunamiFound a nationStir up a provinceChange a ruler’s temperRing for warRing for peace

[07] The Armory

Shop the
apocalypse.

From a 48-interceptor SAM battery to a pocket singularity. Every system is playable today. Priced in credits, paid in craters.

23 systems · Defence · Classic · Nuclear · Experimental · Forces · Acts of God

Enter the armory

[08] Editions

Choose your
edition.

Every mode, everywhere. The only question is where you want to press the button.

RecommendedHTML5 · best on Chrome / Edge

Web Edition

€0Forever

  • The Duel, War mode and the Living World
  • All 16 weapons, all three tabs
  • Nothing to install, runs in your browser
  • Mouse and keyboard, or touch
  • Updated almost every day
Play now on itch.io
iPhone & iPadApp Store

Mobile Edition

€0+ Full Arsenal

  • Free, with every mode
  • The Full Arsenal as a one-time purchase
  • Pinch, tilt, tap to aim, press FIRE
  • Mutually assured destruction, in your pocket
Download on the App Store
SupporterPatreon

Commander Edition

Youset the yield

  • A Steam key at launch for every supporter
  • Fund the next weapon of mass destruction
  • The Discord, where ideas get credited
  • Ideas that ship get your name on them
Become a supporter

[09] Field reports

From the
front line.

Transmissions from players on itch.io, and dispatches from a game that’s made solo and updated almost every day.

“I created an account just to say how awesome this game is.”
Player comment · itch.io
“If the question you’re asking here is ‘EXPLOSIONS?’ The answer here is ‘YES!’”
Shane the Freestyler · itch.io
“You can either play the strategy and push the red button yourself, or just watch it fight.”
Stark Edition · developer

Latest dispatches

All devlogs

[10] Final authorisation

The only winning
move is to play.

Free in your browser. Nothing to install. Lift the cover, hold the button, and find out what happens.

Lift the cover to arm