Iron Grip: Warlord

2008 ISOTX Action, Indie

Windows 11With a fix

MacNot sold

LinuxGold

Gamicality score

Metacritic 594

OpenCritic Not rated

Steam players 801

How it’s combined

Playability today

2.5

Runs today3.5/5

Design today1.5/5

Steam user reviews

Very Positive

86%

436 reviews1

Facts checked November 1, 2026

Does Iron Grip: Warlord run on Windows 11, Apple Silicon Macs, Linux and Steam Deck?

Windows 11With a fix

Runs with a fix. See the steps below.1

Mac (Apple Silicon)Not sold

No Mac version is sold.

LinuxGold

Through Proton. ProtonDB: Gold, runs perfectly after tweaks.3

Played Iron Grip: Warlord lately?

One click, no account, so the next player knows. How we check where it runs

How to get Iron Grip: Warlord running today

If the menu is cut off or the picture does not fit the screen, press Alt+Enter, then open the console with the tilde key and enter r_mode 5 followed by vid_restart (Steam Community).
Alternatively, open the igwarlord.exe Properties, tick Disable fullscreen optimizations, set high DPI scaling to Application, and set r_customwidth and r_customheight in base\config.cfg to your screen size (Steam Community).
For online co-op, the master server is offline, so run the bundled dedicated server and join by direct IP with the /connect command (PCGamingWiki).

Synopsis

A dieselpunk first-person shooter crossed with tower defense, built on the Quake III engine. Up to eight players, or one player with bots, defend a town against waves of conscripts, officers, tanks and walkers, earning energy from kills to buy weapons and switching to a top-down view to place machine gun nests, mines and other defenses.

Developer: ISOTX
Released: 2008
Genre: Action, Indie

Reception

Critics were lukewarm, with a 59 on Metacritic; Destructoid liked the genre mix in a full co-op group but called solo play a chore, citing unhelpful bots, few maps and basic graphics. Steam players remain fond of it and rate it Very Positive, praising the hectic co-op and the propaganda-radio atmosphere. Recent reviews note that the developer has closed, the game can no longer be bought, online play is nearly empty and there is no story campaign.

Playability today

The average of two parts, each from 1 to 5. Tap a check to see why. How it works

Runs today

3.5/5

?Not confirmed yetSold or given away today by an official source
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
Needs fan patches to run well on Windows 11
?Not confirmed yetSingle-player works without an internet connection
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
Some content no longer works (servers, DLC, unlocks)
The master server is offline, online play needs a self-hosted server and direct IP, and the game is no longer sold on Steam (PCGamingWiki).
Supports modern resolutions and widescreen
Widescreen resolutions are supported, but the field of view does not widen without the cg_fov console command (PCGamingWiki).
?Not confirmed yetFull controller support or remappable controls
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
?Not confirmed yetSteam Deck Verified or Playable
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
?Not confirmed yetNo intrusive DRM or required third-party launcher account
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
No pay-to-win or pushy microtransactions
No known game-breaking bugs in the current version
No crash or progress-blocking issue is listed, though the network code can show connection interrupted messages (PCGamingWiki).

Design today

1.5/5

Controls feel natural on a modern controller or mouse and keyboard
Standard Quake III style mouse and keyboard shooting with fully remappable keys and an in-menu mouse smoothing option. There is no controller support. Source: pcgamingwiki.com.
Menus, text or interface are hard to read on today's screens
Widescreen resolutions do not widen the field of view, and on current Windows the menu can be cut off until the resolution is forced through the console or a config file. Source: pcgamingwiki.com, steamcommunity.com.
Saving is harsh: few saves or checkpoints, progress gets lost
The game has no saving at all, so every defense match has to be played through in one sitting. Source: pcgamingwiki.com.
Hard to make progress without a guide
There is no campaign or story mode to ease players into its systems; play starts straight in defense matches against waves, alone with bots or online. Source: steamcommunity.com, steamcommunity.com.
Pacing drags: grind, filler or forced backtracking
Solo play against random enemy spawns with bots that neither build nor repair turns into a chore, and the small map pool repeats quickly. Source: destructoid.com, steamcommunity.com.
Camera or movement fights the player
The top-down build view only shows the area around the character, which makes placing defenses awkward while moving. Source: destructoid.com.