How far should a state be willing to go to defend democracy? That is the question at the heart of SOKO 1977: Anti-Terror Task Force, the new project from Berlin-based studio Paintbucket Games, developed in cooperation with the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung).
Set for release in early 2027, the game takes us back to West Germany in the 1970s, during a period known as the “German Autumn” — a time when terrorism, political extremism, assassinations, kidnappings and enormous public pressure placed the young democracy under one of its greatest tests.
But SOKO 1977 is not simply trying to tell a historical story. It puts you in the position of someone who has to make decisions at a time when there is no completely right answer.
West Germany in the 1970s – A Time When Everything Was at Stake
In the game, you take on the role of the head of a special police unit in Cologne. You are faced with cases involving political violence and terrorism, but your job is not simply to find the culprit.
You have to analyze evidence, build profiles of suspects, plan operations, conduct interrogations and answer questions from journalists. At the same time, pressure comes from every direction — politicians, the media, the public, and even the people working alongside you.
The game does not recreate specific historical events. Instead, it uses fictionalized but historically grounded scenarios. Procedurally generated elements also allow cases, suspects and dilemmas to change across different playthroughs. And this is where the game's central idea really comes into focus. Will you break the rules to prevent an attack? Will you risk your unit's reputation for results? And most importantly — at what point does defending democracy begin to threaten the very thing you are trying to protect?
An Art Style That Doesn't Shout, But Stays With You
Visually, SOKO 1977 immediately catches your attention, but it does not try to impress you with spectacle.
The art style is stylized, clean and atmospheric. Offices, documents, suspects and media pressure are presented through a restrained visual identity that manages to capture the period without insisting on complete realism.
Muted colors and carefully composed scenes create the feeling of the 1970s, while the overall design remains modern enough that the game never feels like a historical simulation.
It is one of those visual styles that does not try to be the star of the show. Its purpose is to support the atmosphere and the story — and that is precisely why it works.
Why This Game Makes You Think
SOKO 1977 does not try to give you a history or politics lecture. Instead, it puts you in situations where you have to make the decisions yourself.
And that is where the game's greatest strength lies. When you have to decide whether someone should be followed, interrogated, arrested or whether you should perhaps cross a line in order to prevent something much worse, the question is no longer simply what is right in theory. The question becomes what you would do if you had to make the decision immediately.
How much freedom can be sacrificed for security?
Where does legitimate state protection end and the undermining of democracy begin?
And how should a democracy respond when confronted by people who want to destroy it?
What makes this particularly interesting is that the game does not try to tell you what the “correct” answer is. The developers want SOKO 1977 to first and foremost be a good and engaging game, while its political and educational layer emerges naturally through the experience of playing it.
That is probably the best way for a subject like this to work in a video game. When the game does not tell you what to think, but instead forces you to make the decision yourself, reflection comes naturally.
Conclusion
SOKO 1977 does not feel like a game that will offer simple answers. After all, the question it explores does not have a simple answer.
Instead, Paintbucket Games places you in the middle of one of the most tense periods in post-war German history and gives you the responsibility of deciding how far you are willing to go to protect democracy. And that is what interested me most during my time with the game.
It is not about whether you make the “right” or “wrong” decision. It is about having to live with the consequences of your choices.
SOKO 1977: Anti-Terror Task Force is scheduled to release in early 2027 for PC and Mac.
If Paintbucket Games manages to develop this concept throughout the full campaign in the same way it is presented in the demo, we could be looking at one of the more interesting political and historical games of next year.
