// PC GAMER — GAMING
Believe the hype for Wardogs, possibly the next great multiplayer FPS
A 100-player milsim that's inspired by Arma but plays like Battlefield.
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While I do appreciate a crunchy milsim here and there, my credentials are modest: 50 hours in Squad, 40 hours of Red Orchestra 2, and 100 hours in Arma 3 (the majority of which was PlayerUnkown's pre-PUBG battle royale mod).
I'm seated on the edge of a transport helicopter, legs dangling in the breeze, when our pilot flips on the radio to Flight of the Valkyries. "Duh duh duh duh, duh, duh duh duh duh, duh" three passengers sing in non-unison, their VOIP lagging two seconds behind the actual song. The pilot interrupts the performance with an announcement: "Jump quick once you see grass, because we're headed to the hot zone. How many of you bought a parachute?" The chopper goes silent. "Well then."
I realize this is the same pilot who taxied me to the frontline at the very beginning of the match over 40 minutes ago. He's been doing this the whole time, has zero kills, and according to his top five position on the scoreboard, has made over $35,000 of in-game currency. Bullets immediately start whizzing past the chopper as we reach the middle of the gigantic map. Our pilot descends toward an LZ with a practiced corkscrew maneuver that, from the inside, could've been mistaken for crashing.
But we land with zero casualties. I touch grass, tip the pilot $25, then get shot in the head about six seconds later. I lay there, bullet in brain, weighing my options: give up and lose the $2,600 I spent on this loadout, or wait for a revive. Were this Battlefield, I'd get impatient and respawn after the first samaritan passed me by. But in this game, money talks: I press F1 to "bribe" anyone in the vicinity. Now, whoever risks their life to save mine gets $100. Ok maybe $150. $300? Yes. At $300 someone took notice, dragged my body to safety, and brought me back.
That is Wardogs, the upcoming milsim FPS from the team behind Battalion 1944 that's entering early access in September. I entered the closed playtest held this past weekend with no expectations—I'm a fan of similar games like Squad, but haven't regularly played a milsim in years. I jumped in because Wardogs has slowly built up a lot of buzz, and five hours of playtime later, I can see why.
Wardogs is PvP only and supports 100-player servers. The main mode in the playtest is three teams (still not sure how they're dividing 100 players in three) fighting over the same circle of territory on a gigantic map. The team with the most bodies in the zone scores, but you can make your body count as two by occupying the "hot zone" within the circle—that's where the most killing happens. The format is directly inspired by a popular Arma 3 mod, Arma: King of the Hill.
On the spectrum between "hardcore Arma stuff" and "basically Battlefield," Wardogs finds an exact middle ground. Weapons are snappy and the gunplay is approachable. At a basic level, all you really need to know to contribute is to stand in the capture zone and shoot the other teams—if you get Battlefield, Wardogs won't be a huge leap.
Peeling back another layer reveals a logistical metagame familiar to milsims: building FOBs (forward operating bases), constructing defenses, transporting supplies, and controlling strategic locations.