Task Force Admiral Review – A Masterpiece In The Making

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I’ve covered the development of Task Force Admiral more extensively than anyone else, starting with initial news reports, a lengthy three-part interview with the creator, Amiral, and previews of both the teaser and a demo. I recently had the chance to try the newest demo, and now I’m ready to fully experience the game – taking to the skies over the Pacific!

What Is Task Force Admiral?

  • Genre: Wargame | Historical | Naval Strategy
  • Developer: Drydock Dreams Games
  • Publisher: MicroProse Software
  • Price: $35.99 | 30,59€ | £27.89
  • Release Date: 27 January, 2026
  • Reviewer: Nuno Marques (PC)
  • Target Audience: Wargamers; Naval Wargamers; WW2 History Buffs, History buffs in general
  • Final Score: 9/10

Task Force Admiral is a World War II naval wargame that puts you in command of a U.S. Navy task force in the Pacific Theater of 1942. You’ll take on the role of an Admiral and lead your forces against the Japanese Navy in historically accurate battles that defined naval warfare. The game features detailed 3D models of every ship, plane, bomb, and torpedo, and battles play out in real-time (with adjustable speed). Gameplay focuses on strategic tasks like charting courses, establishing defenses, scouting enemy positions, and launching attacks.

Task Force Admiral sounds complex – you’re in charge of large forces, managing equipment and preparing for battle. However, the game cleverly reduces tedious tasks, letting you focus on strategy for a smooth, clear experience. I was able to win the historical battles of Coral Sea and Midway using only basic commands like scouting and forming strike forces. While the game offers detailed control over every aspect if you want it, its real strength is how accessible it is. Even without being a naval history expert or needing tutorials, I found it easy to pick up and enjoy.

So, the question is, does my most anticipated wargame for 2026 deliver?

Great Fundamentals, But Thin In Content

Task Force Admiral is easily the most realistic recreation of World War II carrier combat available. It’s clear the developers poured their hearts into accurately depicting the ships, planes, equipment, formations, and tactics of the era, and they’ve clearly succeeded thanks to their skill and passion. I was curious about how realistic the flight felt, so I contacted the developers, who confirmed the game features a full flight engine. Planes behave dynamically – they gain speed when diving and lose it when climbing – making the aerial combat feel fluid and not just like pre-scripted animations. I even saw planes realistically stumble and recover from near collisions during a demo last year, which was incredibly impressive. This level of detail sets Task Force Admiral apart, giving its air combat a unique sense of unpredictability and realism that other games simply can’t match.

Despite all its strengths, Task Force Admiral is a promising game that has the potential to become the best World War 2 naval combat experience available. However, potential buyers should be aware of a couple of important things before purchasing. First, the game lacks tutorials. While it’s relatively easy to learn if you already understand how aircraft carrier combat works, newcomers might find it challenging, not because of a complicated interface, but because the game assumes prior knowledge of these types of operations and expects you to jump right in.

Currently, the biggest problem is the limited number of missions – only four are available: the Coral Sea and Midway historical battles, plus two hypothetical scenarios. While this might seem like a problem for long-term replayability in other games, it’s not a major issue here. The game’s dynamic features mean you can replay the same battles multiple times and still have different experiences, forcing you to constantly adjust your strategy. I’ve replayed the Coral Sea battle several times, experimenting with different approaches each time, and found it engaging. Each of the four battles offers at least 5 to 10 hours of gameplay before it starts to feel repetitive.

The game does have a battle generator, but it’s pretty basic. You can only change a few things, like how many ships you have, where the battle starts, and how skilled the pilots are. If you want to try a naval battle without any aircraft, you can’t – at least not yet. Hopefully, the developers will add more options to the generator in the future, allowing for the same level of detail and customization found in games like Sea Power: Naval Combat In The Missile Age.

The game’s controls are straightforward. Giving orders is easy: open the 2D map, select the action you want, and the order details appear. For example, to search for enemy forces, you define the search area’s direction and size, choose how many planes to use, set a departure time, and optionally have them follow any potential targets. Sending planes on strike missions works similarly: select a target, choose the number and type of planes, set a time, and launch them. One odd thing is the lack of an option to send fighters alone to intercept a suspected enemy force. It’s possible I’ve overlooked something, or perhaps this reflects a historical limitation – I’m not an expert in naval history. The game seems to require including at least one bomber with your fighters for any strike, meaning you have to select a target, choose a mix of fighters and a bomber, and then send them out. I might still be missing a setting, though.

Don’t worry, you have ways to protect yourself from attacks. First, create a defensive zone around your fleet. If an enemy attacks, your fighters will automatically launch to intercept them. You can customize which targets they prioritize, and even arrange your ships to suit your strategy if you like. But if you prefer, you can skip all that and jump straight into battle. Task Force Admiral, like games such as Distant Worlds 2 and Europa Universalis 5, focuses on letting the game handle routine tasks so you can focus on the bigger picture.

Tally Ho! The Air Combat In Task Force Admiral

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s talk about how the aerial combat actually works. Once your planes launch, they’ll automatically organize and head towards the target you’ve chosen. It’s designed to feel very realistic, with lots of planes circling and preparing for takeoff. Fighters will automatically defend your bombers by attacking enemy fighters, and will switch to engaging enemy bombers if there are no fighters nearby. Importantly, all of this happens without any player input. You can manually control a plane, but it’s a little clunky right now and isn’t needed to enjoy the action.

Dogfights can last a long time, with pilots constantly trying to gain an edge on their opponents. Sometimes, a single, accurate shot is all it takes to take a plane down. The combat feels well-executed overall, and while I can’t say how realistic the flying is, it looks convincing. I didn’t see the frequent mid-air collisions from the demo in the final game, which is a good thing.

Dive and torpedo bombers attack in groups, attempting to break through enemy defenses. Watching a torpedo bomber fly just above the water as it prepares to strike is thrilling and visually impressive. The battles are always action-packed and a fantastic spectacle.

I’ve noticed the AI doesn’t just automatically target and bomb locations. For example, in a recent Midway battle, heavy cloud cover completely obscured the enemy fleet from my planes. They couldn’t see the ships until a gap in the clouds appeared, and only then did my strike force attack and successfully bomb the carrier, as shown in the image. It made me think that clouds aren’t just a visual effect – they actually impact how the AI operates. If anyone else has experienced something similar, please share your observations!

Awesome Looking Naval Wargame

I often see people online arguing that graphics aren’t important in strategy and wargames, and while I understand where they’re coming from, I think Task Force Admiral proves them wrong. Good graphics really do make a difference. They make a game easier to understand by reducing confusing symbols and just generally make it more engaging than simply moving pieces around on a board.

As a huge fan of naval wargames, I can confidently say Task Force Admiral is stunning – it really joins the ranks of the best-looking titles ever made, like Sea Power and Graviteam Tactics. The ships themselves look incredible, with really sharp models and realistic paint schemes. And the effects – explosions, smoke, everything – are just so satisfying to watch, they have a proper 3D feel! The water and skies are gorgeous too. If I had to pick something to improve, it would be the ground detail, especially on the Midway map – it doesn’t quite match the rest of the game’s quality. But it’s still in Early Access, so I’m hopeful that’ll get some attention. One thing missing right now is crew moving around on the ships, but that was a stretch goal on their Kickstarter – at $45,000 and then again at $130,000 – so it’s planned to be added later on, which is great!

The game features voice acting for the mission briefings, which is a welcome touch. The voice actor does a good job of capturing a 1940s radio announcer style – enthusiastic but serious. Beyond that, the sound design is exactly what you’d expect from a game like this: crashing waves, engine noise, and explosions, all of which are well done.

How a game looks is especially crucial when it aims for realism and wants to show everything directly to the player, rather than just telling them through text. Task Force Admiral is a complicated game with many elements, and while the interface helps make sense of it all, the 3D graphics do the real work. For example, simply receiving a message that scouts have been sent isn’t as immersive as seeing the flight deck come alive as planes are moved around to prepare for takeoff. Similarly, watching air battles unfold in real-time, seeing each plane maneuver and attack, is far more engaging than just getting a message reporting the results and any losses.

Honestly, this game is gorgeous, but it does need a pretty good computer to really shine. I was able to play it on my older machine, though it had a few hiccups now and then. But now that I’ve upgraded to a more powerful PC, it’s absolutely stunning and runs perfectly. Definitely check the minimum system requirements before you buy to make sure you can enjoy it!

Final Score 9/10

As long-time readers know, I only review games I genuinely enjoy – life’s too short to waste time on things I don’t! Right now, Task Force Admiral is a really strong 9 out of 10 for me, thanks to its impressive detail, realistic carrier combat, and the obvious passion the developers put into it. However, considering the limited amount of content and the lack of helpful tutorials, I’d rate it a 7 or 8 if you’re thinking of buying it. Still, no other naval strategy game has ever grabbed my attention quite like Task Force Admiral did – it was hard to put down!

To be fair, beyond the content itself, my main criticism of Task Force Admiral is that the gameplay can become repetitive. The core loop of managing your fleet – setting up patrols, defenses, and launching attacks – doesn’t change much, and that can get old. However, it’s worth noting that this closely mirrors the reality of WWII carrier operations. If you’re a dedicated history enthusiast, you likely won’t find this repetitiveness bothersome.

Task Force Admiral is clearly a passion project, built on one person’s incredible commitment to historical accuracy and brought to life by a very skilled development team. It’s currently the most realistic and detailed simulation of World War II carrier combat we’ve seen, and I’m really looking forward to what the developers do with it next – I have high expectations!

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2026-02-04 03:45