You may have heard about Gray Zone Warfare in passing over the past week, especially after Escape from Tarkov’s latest controversy. Developed by Madfinger Games, it’s a tactical FPS sandbox with extraction elements that aims to give Tarkov a run for its money and includes a PvE mode without paying extra. Now that it’s out for PC via Steam Early Access, the results…could be better, but with 400,000 copies sold in just two days, there is potential.
Here are 15 things you should know about Gray Zone Warfare, from the basics and the complexities to ongoing issues and upcoming fixes.
Setting
The location is Lamang Island, a fictional island in Southeast Asia where a “mysterious event” has occurred. Information is sparse, and while it’s quarantined, that doesn’t stop three Private Military Companies from doing PMC things and sending their operatives to investigate. As a character in one such PMC, you must venture across the world – even as more and more hints indicate that it’s better to stay away – and find out what happened. There are different characters to interact with and a mature “engaging” storyline. It is early access, though, so don’t expect to learn everything immediately.
World Design
Lamang Island is 42km² in size with multiple key locations and landing zones. Each PMC has their own base game, helpfully stationed at different corners of this triangular map. Locations include the Blue Lagoon, Sawmill, Fort Narith, Hunter’s Paradise and the dreaded Ground Zero at the center. Things get more challenging as you venture further towards the center, though it’s currently not available in early access. The overall atmosphere is on point, though, and the locations are far from cosmetic – even the foliage can serve as camouflage if you’re crafty enough.
Vendors
Before heading out into the world, you can interact with vendors for different tasks, whether it’s conducting First Recon for Handshake and earning gear, marking caches for Gunny to receive ammo and grenades, or finding meds for Lab Rat in exchange for weapon sights. Each awards cash, reputation and XP for completing these tasks and can trade different items. Standard extraction shooter stuff, alongside a locker for storing your loot and gear.
Over 150 Quests
Early access features quite an array of content, with over 150 quests to pursue. There aren’t any “mundane item hunts or set events” per the developer (though you do recover items and hand them over to vendors, so take that as you will). While the quests provide more context on the island, alongside optional items like books and newspapers, they’re not compulsory for progressing. Pursue the story or do your own thing – the choice is yours.
PvP and PvE
Gray Zone Warfare offers PvP and PvE right out of the gate, supporting up to 48 players in a single game (16 per faction). You also have AI opponents running around and scaling in difficulty as you approach Ground Zero. Fair warning: Friendly fire is on in PvP, and there’s no penalty for teamkilling currently. You can effectively lose progress and gear if your squad insists on trolling.
PvE is a better experience since you can’t kill your squad-mates, though you can’t loot faction members (even if they’re your allies). If you want to play solo, that’s also an option, but given how challenging things can get, finding a squad is probably ideal.
Shared Progression
Another controversial mechanic is shared progression between PvE and PvP, meaning you can bring anything from the former into the latter. It may not seem like a big deal, but the issue is that of a level playing field. If players can farm their items in PvE without worrying about others, it puts PvP-only players at a disadvantage (and that’s not even factoring in exploits and whatnot). How this will change in the future remains to be seen, but diving into PvE to properly gear up isn’t a bad option currently.
Weapons
There are eight weapons in total (though there are seemingly reports of more). While that may not seem like much, Gray Zone Warfare offers extensive customization with over 400 parts. You can switch the sights, barrel, magazine, and much more. Of course, that’s only one part of the combat since there are also…
Ammo Types
There are four ammo types currently – Soft Point, which is good against targets without armor; Full Metal Jacket for penetrating through targets; Armor-Piercing for breaking through armored foes; and Hollow Point, which expand upon entering a surface, providing a solid middle ground between impact and penetration damage. Penetration is especially useful when shooting through environmental objects, allowing you to hit targets inside buildings.
Realistic Ballistics
But that’s not all – bullets can also ricochet depending on the surface, whether it’s wood or steel. Bullets also behave realistically with water. Given the gunplay, players also have to be prepared to handle recoil. The developer notes, “There can be up to a ten percent difference in recoil control with an AR15, depending on whether you are shooting with a full magazine or the last bullet.” Keeping all this in mind is crucial to success.
Stamina and its Effects
As you explore Lamong Island, you notice that excessive stamina usage by, say, running will hamper your aim’s stability and sway. Taking things at a measured pace, while considering your environment (especially higher elevations). Maintaining your energy and even arm strength is also necessary for success.
Realistic Injuries
Of course, you also need to consider injuries. You can bleed, leading to vision issues, face injuries that affect performance (from worse aim to limited hearing), and more. Bleed out, and your character enters a coma where only allies can revive you. Carrying health items and knowing when to patch yourself (or your teammates) up is crucial, and as such, running into encounters with guns blazing isn’t always the best approach.
Different Editions
The Standard Edition retails for $35 and provides a basic 10×25 locker, 2×2 lockbox, $10K currency and two each of assault rifles, pistols, stun grenades, backpacks, headsets, glasses, hats, the works.
If you’re keen on splurging some more, there’s the Tactical Edition for $57.99, the Elite Edition for $79.99 and the Supporter Edition for $99.99. Each provides additional equipment, currency, and locker space, with the Supporter Edition also offering a GZW shirt, trousers and gloves (in-game, of course). You also get a special color name and supporter badge, which is neat. What’s not neat are complaints from players who aren’t receiving the additional items, so be warned before splurging.
System Requirements
Before indulging in Gray Zone Warfare, it’s important to note the system requirements. The minimum requirements include an Intel Core i5-8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 16 GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, AMD Radeon RX 5700 or Intel Arc A770. Recommended requirements include a Core i7-9700K or Ryzen 5 3600X, a whopping 32 GB RAM and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti or Radeon RX 6800. Everyone needs 40 GB of installation space, Windows 10 64-bit with the latest update, DirectX 12, etc.
Performance Issues
One of the biggest complaints about early access currently is the performance. Madfinger Games suggests using FSR Frame Generation and Super Resolution Performance or Balanced for RTX 30 series and lower cards, while RTX 40 series GPUs should rely on DLSS. AMD GPU owners are advised to enable Frame Generation and Super Resolution with balanced performance settings in addition to FSR, while those with Intel GPUs should rely on XeSS.
When it comes to stuttering, the team notes, “Frame rate stuttering may occur during initial gameplay, including short frame lags when visiting some locations for the first time. In rare cases, those using weaker GPUs may experience longer stutters. Please be patient and do not close the game; it will stabilize, and performance should improve.” Sure, it’s early access and performance can improve over time, but it’s worth keeping in mind, even if your configuration exceeds the requirements.
The Future
Madfinger is currently working on various fixes, like GPU crashes when VRAM is full, and an initialization error on Windows. It’s also adding the option to wipe your account and start from the beginning. These will go live immediately, but it’s also working on fixing data corruption, an option to turn off hi-res textures on GPUs with only 8 GB VRAM, optimizations to improve performance and more. The next patch promises over a “hundred fixes,” though there’s no ETA on it currently.