The Rats

About

The Rats is a 1985 strategy sim that casts you as London’s last hope against a rodent apocalypse. Manage squads of exterminators, firefighters, and later soldiers to contain spreading infestations while assigning researchers to build better weapons and defenses. Progress hinges on keeping the rat threat from breaching key locations and wiping out your forces. The game runs on Commodore and Spectrum hardware, blending resource management with tense base defense. What sets it apart is the unpredictable shift to text adventure segments. Suddenly you’re controlling a lone character in a random scenario, choosing dialogue and actions to survive rat attacks. While you can let these characters die, saving them gives you bonus resources and a grim sense of consequence. The mix of simulation and narrative interludes creates a chaotic, old-school experience. With its dual playstyles and punishing difficulty, it’s a cult classic for retro strategy fans who like their challenges uncompromising.