Military Incremental Complex is freeware classic Dope Wars for arms dealing

Oh, Dope Wars ’98, let me count the ways you moulded me into the man I am today, buying extra large trench coats in which to store my 100 units of acid. Military Incremental Complex riffs off that game’s unmistakably ’98 interface, but instead of playing a cool and aspirational heroin entrepreneur, you play a dastardly bullet merchant. Begin crafting artisan handmade farm-fresh shotgun shells, work your way up to nukes. Typical woke renewable energy propaganda. Can’t even sell massive bundles of dynamite with ‘TNT’ written on them anymore in case it offends the coyotes.

You’ll “produce multiple different weapons, research upgrades, manipulate the stock market, and lobby the government for favours”. It’s from Space Kraken, makers of Squeebing Up The Tower Of Friendship, a game I have not played but enjoy saying the name of aloud. Squeebing. Squeeeebing. “6 hours in the demo and another hour in the released game, I still have no idea what squeebing is,” reads one review. UrbanDictionary defines ‘squeebing’ as … actually, I’m not repeating what UrbanDictionary defines squeebing as. Here’s a trailer with wholesome god-fearing guns in it instead.

Demo? Yes, here. Features? You bet your squeeb there are.

• Hand Crafted: 11 different weapons to produce, each with their own unique way of being made
• Automate Production: Expand your means of production, automating and speeding up the process, so you can focus on other things to make your company grow
• Research New Weapons and Upgrades: 100+ upgrades to research, including new products to produce, better methods of making them, helpful UI additions, ways of increasing your prices, and much more
• Global Supply Chain: Set up 18 types of mining operations around the world to extract base ores, buy factories to refine those ores into useful materials, and own your entire supply chain
• Capital Gains: Buy shares of 7 different companies on the stock market, unlocking powerful bonuses once you own certain threshold amounts
• Get Political: Lobby politicians and spend favors to radically upgrade your other systems
• Do It All Over Again: Earn enough profit and you can prestige to unlock 16 game-changing abilities that allow for a variety of different builds for each new run
• Overall, make ridiculous amounts of money as you flood the world with more and more weapons

This one’s out ‘Q3 2025’ if you end up liking the demo. I learnt today that I’ve been calling ‘incremental’ games ‘factory sim-likes’ and I’m not sure which one is more awkward. Number go up em’ ups it is.