Multiplayer FPS Rising Storm 2: Vietnam is getting an ambitious 64-player campaign that spans 11 battles. Between battles, each side votes on tactical decisions, such as where to attack, where to defend, and what faction they want to put on the frontline.
To win, you have to capture every territory on the overall tactical map or accrue more victory points, which you gain for winning individual maps. As you proceed through the battles, spread over 11 years, the equipment and commander abilities for both the northern and southern Vietnamese forces will change to reflect the real-life technological advancements and political events that happened during the Vietnam War.
Each side will have a special ability that will grant "unique, asymmetric advantages for a single battle", but they can only use it once every three battles. That should throw up some interesting tactical decisions: in a close campaign, do you counter your enemy's ability with your own, or wait until the enemy has used theirs so you get a clear shot?
I'm absolutely intrigued by it. I haven't played Rising Storm 2 in a good six months, but this is definitely going to pull me back. If you want more detail, the devs have set out a full hypothetical flow of how a single campaign would work here.
Alongside the new campaign comes a big update in its own right that adds a new map called Highway 14. It's for the Territories game mode, and sees both sides clash along a highway and in several small towns. The map came from a modding competition, which is nice to see. Don't expect it to be perfect just yet: it's still technically in beta, so you might find a few bugs.
Tripwire and Antimatter Games have also reduced overall weapon recoil while crouching and prone, and tweaked individual weapon mechanics. You can read about them, as well as big fixes and more minor changes to the UI, animations and player roles, in the full patch notes.
Read Tyler's review of the game here.
