Something is in the water in the Czech Republic. The central European country is angling for a monopoly onrealistic action on large-scale maps.
This year looks particularly busy with the release of the medieval epicKingdom Come: Deliverance 2(Warhorse Studios), the upcoming 1.3 update to Cold War tactical shooterARMA Reforger(Bohemia Interactive), and a big shift in the roadmap ofmodern mercenary shooterGray Zone Warfare(Madfinger Games).
Released in 2024,Gray Zone Warfarehad a rough launch butclosed the year on a high with the 0.2 ‘Night Ops’ updatethat added a day/night cycle, one of the best recreations of night vision goggles in the gaming industry, and made the game playable on average gaming PCs.
ARMA Reforger Hits 172,000 Daily Users Thanks To Full Crossplay
The numbers don’t lie: crossplay sells.
Although the overall experience in the game is finally closer to initial community expectations,players still frequently struggle to find actual player-versus-player action.
Most PvP encounters happen when two people stumble over each other on a helicopter extraction point, which is then reported in panic over team chat. By the time others arrive in the area for their PvP fix, the enemy is typically long gone.
According to the developers,update 0.3 will be a capital restructuring of the game to make faction clashes more frequent and meaningful.
Winds of War: Gray Zone Warfare Update 0.3
The new update hopes to make inter-faction violence happen more organically. The biggest drive for this will be the COP mechanic, turning the map of Lamang into one huge territory control warzone.
TheCombat Outposts, or COPs, will be small forward bases that help factions increase their footprint on the game map. Players within outposts will have access to the same services as they do in the base camp, including the ability to spawn there in select cases.
Some outposts will be built-up areas, while others are little more than a couple of shacks or sheds, similar to the areas typically controlled by AI patrols right now.
These areas start under the control of local non-player factions, but the players can ‘evict’ them and each other to claim the area for their team.
Unlike the base camp, PMC-operated COPs rely exclusively on players for their defense.STALKERveterans will be right at homehere, thanks to the faction warfare inSTALKER: Clear Sky.
Original Stalker 2 Development Failed After Trying To Reach “Pixar Level Of Quality” According To Developer
Despite the success of Stalker 2, the original plans for the game fell through years ago due to large ambitions and burnout.
Besides the addition of outposts, players will now have a map indicator whenever a PvP hot zone emerges, similar toFortnite’s yellow circle denoting an enemy team is nearby.
The PvP zone will only appear if there is protracted combat between two or more players, i.e., you will not get a marker if Timmy shoots Billy in the back of the head without him ever noticing.
To avoid more friendly fire, players in the same faction will have access to radios and identification bands to make coordination easier.
Players will also be able to drag downed friendlies into safety before administering first aid, a feature that has proven popular amongBattlefieldfans inleaked playest footage.
The changes should makeGray Zone WarfarePvP encounters a lot more frequent, though players after a more peaceful gaming experience will still be able to load up the PvE mode that disables player-on-player damage.
Raining On Your Parade
Even if you are not too bothered by PvP combat, theGray Zone Warfare0.3 update will bring some goodies that everyone can enjoy.
The most noticeable one is the addition of a dynamic weather system. As anyone who’sspent time in tropical junglescan tell you, there are two kinds of weather: it’ll rain soon, or it’s raining right now.
New weather will also come with clouds that can obscure the moon at night, making NVGs indispensable fornocturnal outings.
Pending last-minute snags,the devs also want to have on-call mortar strikes implemented in the next patch. In the context of outpost warfare, this could be a crucial tool for outnumbered defenders or for attackers to soften up the enemy before pushing in.
TheGray Zone Warfarepatch 0.3, codenamed Winds of War, is scheduled to come out this spring, with a later title update planned for the second half of the year. A more detailed changelog will become available with the patch release.
10 Best Tactical Shooters, Ranked
From Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to PUBG, these are the best tactical shooters ever made.
