Making History: The Calm & the Storm

2007 Muzzy Lane Action, Strategy

Windows 11With a fix

MacNot sold

LinuxBronze

Gamicality score

Metacritic 704

OpenCritic Not rated

Steam players 751

How it’s combined

Playability today

Runs today3.5/5

Design today4.5/5

Steam user reviews

Mostly Positive

79%

615 reviews1

Get it on Steam

Facts checked November 1, 2026

Does Making History: The Calm & the Storm 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.

LinuxBronze

Through Proton. ProtonDB: Bronze, runs, but with issues that get in the way.3

Played Making History: The Calm & the Storm lately?

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

How to get Making History: The Calm & the Storm running today

If the game reports an invalid license key, open the Registry Editor and delete the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Muzzy Lane Software, as described in this Steam guide.
To play at a widescreen resolution, edit the nScreenWidth and nScreenHeight values in C:\ProgramData\Muzzy Lane Software\Options\options.xml, following this Steam guide.
At 4K the interface does not scale, so pick a lower resolution such as 2560×1600 for readable text (PCGamingWiki).

Synopsis

Making History is a turn-based grand strategy game set in the years around World War II. Players lead a nation through scenarios starting between 1936 and 1944, balancing industry, trade, research, diplomacy and war on a map of regions and cities. It began as a classroom teaching tool and includes a scenario editor and multiplayer.

Developer: Muzzy Lane
Released: 2007
Best version: Play this original release. The Gold Edition is a separate Steam app that rebalances units such as nuclear bombers, a change some longtime players in the Steam community dislike.
Genre: Action, Strategy
Where to get it: Steam

Reception

Critics gave it a middling to positive response, with a Metascore of 70. Armchair General liked its clean interface, its economy and its replay value, but found the research model unrealistic and the early scenarios prone to turning into a free-for-all. Players today still praise its approachable systems and its tutorial, and some value what it teaches about wartime economics. The most common complaint is an invalid license key error that stops the game from starting until a registry entry is deleted, while others find the economy shallow and the long campaigns dull.

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

Sold or given away today by an official source
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
All of its content still works (servers, DLC, unlocks)
All scenarios and the editor remain, and multiplayer runs on player-hosted games with no official server to shut down (Steam Community).
Supports modern resolutions and widescreen
Widescreen resolutions work after editing the options file, though the interface does not scale at 4K (PCGamingWiki).
No full controller support and no remappable controls
The game has no controller support (PCGamingWiki).
?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
No intrusive DRM or required third-party launcher account
No pay-to-win or pushy microtransactions
Known game-breaking bugs in the current version
Many players still hit an invalid license key error that stops the game from starting, fixed only by deleting a registry key (PCGamingWiki).

Design today

4.5/5

Controls feel natural on a modern controller or mouse and keyboard
The game is turn-based and played entirely with the mouse: units are moved by pointing and clicking on regions, and orders resolve together at the end of each turn. There is no controller support. Source: armchairgeneral.com, pcgamingwiki.com.
Menus, text or interface are hard to read on today's screens
Resolution can only be changed by editing an XML file, and at 4K the interface does not scale and text becomes hard to read. Source: pcgamingwiki.com, steamcommunity.com.
Saving is fair: free saves or frequent checkpoints, little lost progress
Games can be saved manually between turns and loaded later in single player or multiplayer. Source: steamcommunity.com, pcgamingwiki.com.
It teaches itself: no guide needed to make progress
An in-game tutorial covers both the basic and the advanced systems, and many player reviews call the game easy to learn. Source: steamcommunity.com, steamcommunity.com.
Pacing holds up: little grind, filler or forced backtracking
Scenarios start in 1936, 1939, 1940, 1941 or 1944, so a campaign can begin close to the main war, and players can switch nations mid-game. Complaints about dull stretches come from a minority of reviews. Source: armchairgeneral.com, steamcommunity.com.
Camera and movement never fight the player
The game is viewed from above on a flat strategic map, where clicking a region, city or resource opens its details. There is no camera to fight. Source: armchairgeneral.com, pcgamingwiki.com.