Ever wondered what it would be like to run your own military-industrial-complex? Space Kraken Studios has an answer, and it launched on Steam this past Friday. Military Incremental Complex lets you build a weapons empire from the ground up, starting with hand-crafted bullets and scaling all the way to nuclear weapons. After a year and a half of development, this darkly satirical incremental game is now available, and the response has been explosive.
From Bullets to Billions
Military Incremental Complex starts simple. You’re clicking to craft individual bullets by hand. But this is an incremental game, which means progression compounds fast. Soon you’re operating presses, then automated production lines, then entire factories churning out ammunition. The goal is straightforward yet absurd – generate as much profit as possible by flooding the world with weapons.
The game features 11 different weapons to manufacture, including bullets, grenades, guns, jeeps, tanks, jets, and eventually nukes. Each weapon category comes with its own production improvements and upgrade paths. You’re not just making products, you’re building an entirely automated supply chain from raw materials to finished weapons.
More Than Just Clicking
While Military Incremental Complex falls into the incremental game category alongside titles like Cookie Clicker and AdVenture Capitalist, Space Kraken Studios calls it an active incremental. That means it’s designed to keep you engaged with ongoing decisions rather than just letting it run in the background for hours.
You’ll manage material production through mines and refineries, research over 120 different upgrades, manipulate the stock market, lobby politicians for favorable regulations, and employ various morally questionable strategies to maximize profits. The game features over 280 upgrades total, giving you plenty of ways to optimize your death-dealing business model.
The Prestige System
Like many successful incremental games, Military Incremental Complex includes a robust prestige system. Once your income reaches insane levels, you can reset your progress in exchange for Prestige Points. These permanent upgrades make your next playthrough faster and more profitable.
The game offers 35 plus prestige perks that fundamentally change how you approach each run. You might focus on automation efficiency one playthrough, then pivot to market manipulation strategies the next. This system gives the game serious replay value, encouraging multiple runs with different specializations.
Fear as Currency
One of the more satirical mechanics involves broadcasting fear messages globally. By inducing panic, you increase demand for weapons and drive up sale prices. It’s a darkly comedic commentary on real-world arms dealing wrapped in clicker game mechanics.
The game also introduces golden weapons that spawn randomly during production. Clicking these special items provides temporary profit boosts, especially when combined with the fear multiplier. It adds an active element that rewards players who stay engaged rather than letting the game run passively.
Stock Market Manipulation
Beyond production, you can enter the stock market to raise capital and grow your empire. The game features 9 different stocks to buy, each with 4 upgrades and passive dividends. You can invest strategically, buy out rival companies, or engage in straight-up market manipulation to maximize returns.
This economic layer adds depth beyond simple production optimization. Managing your portfolio alongside your factories creates interesting strategic decisions about where to allocate resources for maximum growth.
Lobby Your Way to Success
The game includes 6 different lobbying paths that provide significant boosts to your business. Want fewer regulations? Lobby for that. Need better government contracts? There’s a path for that too. You can literally shape policy to favor your weapons manufacturing empire.
This mechanic satirizes the real relationship between arms manufacturers and government while serving as a powerful progression system. Each lobbying path opens new opportunities and revenue streams, making political influence just as important as production efficiency.
The Research Tree
With over 120 research upgrades, Military Incremental Complex offers extensive customization. The research system was fully reworked during development to include trade-off decisions. Each technology presents two distinct upgrade paths, forcing you to specialize rather than just unlocking everything.
This design rewards strategic thinking. Do you focus on faster production or cheaper materials? Automated systems or manual efficiency bonuses? Higher sale prices or increased demand? These choices shape your playstyle and make each run feel different.
An Actual End Goal
Unlike many incremental games that continue infinitely, Military Incremental Complex has a defined end goal – launching a nuclear weapon. This gives players something concrete to work toward rather than just watching numbers grow forever.
That said, the game doesn’t force you to stop there. After reaching the goal, you can continue optimizing, prestige for better bonuses, and push for faster completion times. The speedrunning community has already started forming around the game, with Space Kraken Studios hosting community events via Discord.
Built with Godot
Military Incremental Complex was developed using the Godot Engine, the open-source game development tool that’s gained popularity as an alternative to Unity and Unreal Engine. The game sports a retro 90s aesthetic that fits its satirical tone perfectly.
Early versions of the game launched on itch.io in June 2025, where Space Kraken Studios gathered player feedback and refined mechanics. The Steam version released on November 22, 2025, represents the full 1.0 launch with all planned features implemented.
Price and Availability
Military Incremental Complex is available now on Steam for $8.99. The game also offers a free demo so you can try before buying. The demo includes a substantial portion of the game’s mechanics, giving you a real feel for whether the gameplay loop hooks you.
The full version includes all 11 weapons, the complete research tree, full stock market and lobbying systems, and the entire prestige progression. For fans of incremental games looking for something with more edge than cookie factories, that’s a pretty reasonable entry point.
Community Response
The Reddit gaming community has been discussing the launch, with players praising the game’s satirical edge and addictive progression systems. The developer has been actively engaged with the community, responding to feedback and already planning updates based on player suggestions.
Some players have noted that the game can get laggy when production scales up significantly, though the developer has been working on performance optimizations. Others have requested features like automated buying thresholds and bulk material purchases, which may appear in future updates.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Military Incremental Complex?
Military Incremental Complex is an active incremental game where you build a weapons manufacturing empire. Starting with hand-crafted bullets, you expand into producing guns, tanks, jets, and nuclear weapons while managing resources, researching upgrades, and maximizing profits through various morally questionable strategies.
When did Military Incremental Complex release?
The game launched on Steam on November 22, 2025, after 18 months of development. A free demo version is also available for players who want to try the game before purchasing.
How much does Military Incremental Complex cost?
The full game is priced at $8.99 on Steam. There’s also a free demo available that includes a significant portion of the gameplay mechanics and content.
What makes Military Incremental Complex different from other idle games?
Space Kraken Studios describes it as an active incremental rather than a passive idle game. While you can let it run in the background, the game is designed to keep you engaged with strategic decisions about production, research, stock manipulation, and lobbying. It also features a satirical edge focused on the military-industrial-complex theme.
How many weapons can you produce in the game?
The game features 11 different weapon types to manufacture, including bullets, grenades, guns, jeeps, tanks, jets, and nukes. Each weapon has multiple production improvements and upgrade paths.
Does Military Incremental Complex have a prestige system?
Yes, the game includes an extensive prestige system with 35 plus permanent upgrades. When your income reaches high levels, you can reset your progress to earn Prestige Points that make subsequent playthroughs faster and unlock new strategic options.
What is the end goal of Military Incremental Complex?
The primary goal is to launch a nuclear weapon, giving players a concrete objective to work toward. However, you can continue playing after reaching this goal to optimize your strategy, earn more prestige bonuses, and attempt speedruns.
Can you play Military Incremental Complex passively?
While the game is designed for active play with ongoing decisions and interactions, you can set it aside and let it progress passively. The automation systems allow your production to continue running even when you’re not actively clicking or managing.
Conclusion
Military Incremental Complex proves that incremental games can tackle darker themes while maintaining addictive gameplay. By wrapping arms dealing and war profiteering in satisfying progression mechanics, Space Kraken Studios has created something that’s simultaneously entertaining and uncomfortable.
The game succeeds because it doesn’t shy away from its satirical premise. Every mechanic reinforces the commentary – manipulating fear for profit, lobbying for favorable regulations, automating death production. It’s social criticism disguised as a number-go-up simulator, and it works surprisingly well.
For $8.99, you’re getting a fully-featured incremental game with depth that goes beyond most free-to-play alternatives. The research system provides meaningful choices, the prestige mechanics encourage replayability, and the defined end goal prevents the aimless feeling some idle games develop. If you’ve ever wondered what Cookie Clicker would look like with a military-industrial-complex theme and actual strategic depth, Military Incremental Complex delivers exactly that. Just don’t think too hard about what you’re building while those numbers tick upward.