Total Conflict: Resistance combines grand strategy, tactics and first-person action in a realistic environment. The title allows gamers to lead any state and lead it to greatness, while facing the problems of war, diplomacy, economics and politics. The project features four formats: Campaign, Arena, Search and Sandbox. In Campaign, users can choose from several scenarios depicting various historical or fictional conflicts, such as World War II, Cold War, Modern War, or Alien Invasion. Each scenario has its own goals, events and results.

In the Arena format, users can compete against other gamers or artificial intelligence in various modes such as Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag or King of the Hill. In Prospecting, users will explore and extract resources on different planets, while fighting hostile creatures and environmental hazards. In Sandbox, users will create their own scenarios and customize game settings. Total Conflict: Resistance features a unique symbiosis of global strategy and first-person action. Users can switch between strategic and tactical views at any time and control any unit on the battlefield. There are a variety of combat units, such as infantry, tanks, helicopters, jets, ships and submarines.