Silent Storm sets you in the role of either an Axis or an Allied fighter. You can chose from Italy, Germany, Japan, USA, Britain, or Russia as your home country, and mod your body and face to look like you want. You then choose a team of 5 others, and they are your squad throughout the missions, unless they should die. Each squad member has special skills and weapons depending on his or her class. The classes are Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Engineer, Medic, and Grenadier. You should pick your team wisely, because like Pokemon (sorry, but it is true), you want to have a diverse team to cover all of the obstacles you might face. There is campaign you follow that is different for Axis and Allies, and consists of street fighting and the like.

The gameplay consists of an overhead view of your characters, and it usually involves you moving about streets and buildings to neutralize enemies and find clues to lead to your next mission. THere are two sorts of turns you take, as it is turn based strategy. One kind is your strategic turn, or when you don't see any enemies, and you have unlimited mobility. Should you spot an enemy (and you normally do have one in view) you go to a more tactical turn. In this you have limited AP, or action points. Every character has different amounts of these. They can be used to use a weapon (snipe, fire a submachine gun, toss a grenade, etc.), change your stance (run, walk, crouch, prone), move, aim, or heal with medical supplies.​