A week or so ago, I got to participate in one of WARDOGS‘ closed betas, which, despite not being open to the public in full, still managed to attract around 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. The devs were kind enough to treat me with extra keys to bring party members, and our squad journey through this mercenary war was one that genuinely brought back my love for tactical shooters.
WARDOGS takes liberally from every major military shooter out there: There are elements from ARMA, Squad, PUBG, Battlefield, and Call of Duty in here, to name just a few, and the developers cleverly cherry-picked mechanics from each to blend them together into a fresh, cohesive experience that puts 100 players smack dab in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.
Three teams go against each other, breaking the traditional dichotomy of “us versus them.” We constantly had to pay attention to the entire world around us; gameplay simply does not transpire in the same way as it would with two teams. It’s not that this hill is ours and that one over there is where the enemies are. Enemies are everywhere, at least in three different positions, and when players intermix, then danger becomes ubiquitous.
Every team starts at their home base, which is far away from the Zone, a place where you need to stand to gain points for your team. It’s a very large King of the Hill game; the more people you have within the circle, the better. Whoever holds the majority of players in the circle gains points. Simple.
But the developers came up with a great plan to make this loop much more exciting. Sprinkled throughout the Zone are towers, which any team can capture and turn into their own forward base. With heavy base-building mechanics in the game (yes, really, there’s Rust DNA here, too), your team can set up shop in one of the towers and basically always have a strong presence in the Zone.
Taking out others’ towers thus becomes a new mission, in addition to simply standing in the circle. There’s a strong incentive to pursue enemy forward bases and to destroy them, which can be done in a number of different ways, and that’s where those aforementioned Battlefield mechanics come in. Tanks, helicopters, planes: all of these are your go-to tools to destroy towers, but without infantry support, it is excruciatingly difficult to pull off.
And, so, Squad and ARMA levels of communication and tactics between squads are necessary to successfully take out enemy towers. And that’s just one side of the whole conflict, with infantry battles between players, anti-tank and anti-air measures, and a myriad of other different fights happening at the same time.
The map is massive to accommodate 100 players and three full squads, but the devs’ decision to force everyone into a very confined Zone as a win condition creates a spot on the map that is total all-out warfare where pressure and tension do not let off until the match ends.
And on top of that, there is a moving, smaller Zone called the “Hotzone” where players can earn extra money. And speaking of money, it adds a layer of extraction shooters to the mix, too, since you have to purchase your loadout every time you’re taken out, and if you’re out of money, you’re basically forced to use a free loadout, which is markedly weaker.
That creates a line of thought for you, the player, that you should conserve ammo, make every shot count, and not blaze into every battle mindlessly. There are a lot of tactics that need to be taken into account if you want to have the cash to buy the guns and vehicles you require and want, which just adds another layer to this already deep gameplay loop.
We could not put it down for the entirety of the beta. I’m eagerly awaiting the full release since this is the first time I’ve felt so hyped for a tactical shooter in a very long time.
How long has it been since Insurgency Sandstorm came out?
