New World Interactive’s Day of Infamy, a rather decent World War 2 shooter from the team that made Insurgency, is available to play free this weekend on Steam. Head on over to Steam now to play but keep in mind that it will only be free until April 30th, 1 PM EST.

Though it’s set during World War 2 like, say, Call of Duty: WW2, Day of Infamy is a lot more tactical and measured. It’ll take some getting used to but along with 14 player PvP modes, there are three co-op modes to play against the AI as well.

Among the things that New World Interactive is doing to welcome new players is increased XP earned in-game throughout the free weekend and a few livestreams with fans and other community members. There will be giveaways and such so tune into Twitch for more details, including some guides and tips.

Day of Infamy is also discounted by 70 percent for both the regular version and Deluxe Edition. If you enjoy the game and feel the urge to pick it up, that’s one more incentive for you.

NOMINEES

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy: 

Naughty Dog’s follow up to Uncharted 4 was better than it had any right to be. Freed from the shackles of following Drake’s increasing emotional baggage, the new game instead follows Nadine and Chloe on their adventures through the Western Ghats in India, delivering a short, snappy, and well paced and fun adventure that took on the best qualities of Uncharted 4’s gameplay to deliver one of the standout games of the year.

Cuphead: 

Truly the Dark Souls of shooters—and we don’t mean that as a joke. This side scrolling run and gun game is exacting and brutally difficult, relying on pattern recognition, and all too eager to punish sloppy players. Cuphead is a marvel- the gorgeous art is probably what will catch your eye at first, but it will be the incredible gunplay and the thrill of conquering a hard boss that will keep you playing for days to come.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands: 

GTA with friends- that’s the pitch of Wildlands, which puts you in an open world reimagining of Bolivia, and lets you buddy up with friends for all sorts of co-op mayhem. Mechanically, Wildlands is sound, if unremarkable—but it is the life it takes on when played with friends that makes it stand out. Throw in exceptional post launch support, such as the newly added PvP mode, and this is doubtless one game we will be talking about for a while to come.

Call of Duty WW2: 

After a few off years, Call of duty roared back into form this year, returning to its World War 2 roots and reminding us all why we fell in love with this franchise to begin with. Featuring a cinematic, thrilling campaign, combined with an excellent multiplayer offering with some truly forward thinking ideas, Call of Duty: WW2 is without a doubt one of the best shooters of 2017.

Destiny 2:

Bungie’s follow up to their troubled shared world shooter is flawed, but its flaws only grate more because of how sound the core offering is. Destiny 2 retains the fun gunplay and addictive systemization of the original game, while also removing a lot of the fluff that plagued the original game, and layering on an actual meaningful campaign. It still has a way to go, and Bungie has recently announced updates to the game to fix it and make it more compelling for series veterans—but that only cements our love for the game even more.

Wolfensien II – The New Colossus:

Bethesda and MachineGames followed up on the 2014’s Wolfenstein with The New Colossus, and the new title lives up to the legacy of the original game. Creating a terrifyingly realized rendition of an alternate history in which the Nazis won, and pairing it with some high octane action, Wolfenstein 2 is a gloriously fun shooter which has something meaningful to say—something that is increasingly rare in today’s day and age.

Splatoon 2: 

Nintendo’s follow up to their hit Wii U multiplayer shooter takes everything that was great about the original, and delivers it as is on the Nintendo Switch—but it adds some twists of its own. Whether via way of minor quality of life improvements, or the excellent Salmon Run co-op horde mode, or a great new campaign, or the amazing post launch support which has continued to add hundreds of new weapons, gear pieces, and many new maps—all for free, Splatoon 2 is a compelling, addictive shooter that remains one of the definitive experiences on the Switch.

Metroid: Samus Returns: 

Metroid Prime 4 may be a way away, but Nintendo brought back Samus Aran in a big way with the fittingly titled Samus Returns, a remake of Metroid 2: Return of Samus for the Nintendo 3DS. More a reimagining in the framework of the older game than a remake, Samus Returns reminds us of why the Metroid franchise was so great and beloved to begin with, by sidestepping the loss of focus and vision that had plagued the last few entires in the series, and delivering a pure, compelling Metroid adventure—and one of the best shooters of the year.

Sniper Elite 4: 

The long running fan favorite Sniper Elite 4 returned for its fourth outing this year, and delivered the best entry in the series yet. Adding in the scope for emergent dynamism from something like The Phantom Pain with the excellent gunplay and stealth the Sniper Elite series has always been known for, this is one game that deserves all the love and recognition that it can get- because warts and all, it is truly unique and compelling.

Nex Machina:

Nex Machina will be HouseMarque’s last arcade twin stick shooter, but what a way it is to sign off. Taking the same formula that made Resogun, Alienation, and Dead Nation so bloody compelling and thrilling, HouseMarque has delivered a frenetic, frantic shooter that demands a kind of mastery of the game’s rhythm that you can only get by relentless practice—truly in the tradition of old arcade games. It is not a stretch to say that New Machina is one of the best games of the year on the PS4—and that really is saying something.

Prey: 

Arkane Studios’ incredible reboot of the Prey IP delivers a haunting immersive-sim of the kin that we have not seen in over a decade. Prey is a game with an amazing atmosphere, incredible combat, and oodles of depth and emergence, so that no two players will ever have the same experience. It is Arkane’s masterpiece. 

Resident Evil 7: 

Capcom revived the Resident Evil franchise in a big way with Resident Evil 7, which, eschewing the third person viewpoint that the series has held, and indeed helped popularize, for years for a first person one, returned to the kind of thrills and horror that made the series os beloved to begin with. Resident Evil 7 delivered psychological horror and gory action in equal measure, and became one of the best games ever in a series that is known for having some of the greatest titles of all time.

Day of Infamy:

Before Call of Duty: WW2 brought World War 2 shooters back into the mainstream, New World Interacitve’s Day of Infamy had already delivered Day of Infamy, a fantastic multiplayer World War 2 shooter that challenges players by taking away their HUD, crosshairs, maps, and in many cases, even respawns—how you do and survive in Day of Infamy will come down to how well you play, and how well your team is coordinated. It’s really different, in a sea of increasingly homogenized shooters.

Get Even: 

Get Even is a hugely flawed game- there is no setting around it. And yet, for all of that, there is also no getting around how good it manages to be regardless. Whether it is because of its tense horror or incredible atmosphere, or the highly frantic combat situations that it puts players in, Get Even is an unpolished gem that we really hope gets a follow up so it cane tap into its full potential.

DOOM (Switch): 

DOOM gets nominated for this category for the second year straight, thanks to the Nintendo Switch port- which is a technical marvel. To get DOOM running on a 6.2 inch tablet is in and of itself a feat- but to have that compelling, fast paced action with labyrinthine level design that made us all fall in love with DOOM last year to begin with, and pair it with the instant pick up and play nature of the Switch, elevates the experience beyond whatever knocks the degraded graphics have.

And as for the WINNER:

Prey: 

Think of Prey as the Breath of the Wild of shooters—it is emergent, dynamic, and reactive to the player and their actions. If you think it, chances are you can do it. This potent gameplay formula, mixed with a haunting atmosphere that is almost second to none, a stunning art style, and a minimalist story that will actively make you uncomfortable, makes Prey the standout shooter of 2017.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

World War 2 shooter Day of Infamy has begun its free weekend for players on Steam. It kicked off at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET/6 PM BST/7 PM CEST and players can download the full game to try out till October 16th. The free weekend is meant to commemorate a new update that’s live for the game which brings a tutorial mission and a new map, Britanny.

If that weren’t enough, all players will earn double XP during the free weekend thus allowing for outfits and other cosmetic items to be purchased. The game is also 50 percent off on the Standard and Deluxe Editions. If competitive multiplayer isn’t your thing, then Day of Infamy also has co-op game modes where players can team up against bots.

With nine different classes to choose from and a number of different maps, there’s quite a bit to experience. Day of Infamy has been out on PC since March 23rd 2017 and has some decent critical acclaim on Metacritic. Will you partake in the free weekend? Let us know in the comments.

Day of Infamy distinguishes itself from better-known shooters by stripping the UI down to its bare minimum, and reducing the time-to-kill down to zero. These two design choices make it a tense experience were even small mistakes can get you killed. If and when you are killed, the game will give you very little information about where your enemy was shooting from, or how they did it. When you respawn you’ll have just as little information as you did in your last life, and you’ll have to carefully pick your way towards the objective, knowing that somewhere a sniper is waiting.

"Instead of penalizing players with an excessive timer in order to make death in game consequential, Day of Infamy ties respawning to objectives."

When and why you do respawn is one Day of Infamy’s most interesting systems. Instead of penalizing players with an excessive timer in order to make death in game consequential, Day of Infamy ties respawning to objectives. If your team is attacking, then your respawn will be earned upon capturing a point, meaning that the attacking team has a set pool with which to achieve the objective, and which is only replenished when they complete that objective. On the other side, defensive respawns are earned by regrouping, a process where at least one defender must return to the very back to the map to trigger their team’s respawn, meaning that a defender must abandon their position to bring their team back. Regroup too often and the team will run out of spawn points, fail to regroup and you’ll find yourself alone on the objective, unable to retrieve assistance without ceding the point.

Respawning is one system within Day of Infamy that is emblematic of the design direction. The one-bullet time-to-kill is another imposing factor on gameplay, that fundamentally shapes how the game functions. Because the consequences for dying are so steep, players work hard not to, and tactical gameplay that is a waste of time in faster moving shooters really shines in Day of Infamy.

Nowhere is this more felt than in the game’s officer and radio operator classes, which must work together to be effective. Officers in Day of Infamy have a binocular set, and can call in air strikes, artillery barrages, and smoke screens for their team. These are tremendously powerful abilities that can turn the tide of a game when used appropriately. The catch is that officers must have a radio in proximity, which are only carried by the radio operator class. The result is a demand that players work together, that the radio operator shadow his or her officer, and that the officer read the battlefield and apply their awesome power appropriately. Once I grew to understand this mechanic I started looking out for officers even when I wasn’t playing a radio operator, and set up behind or front of them in order to provide cover and security to that vital two man team.

"If Day on Infamy has a problem, it is that it fills its niche too well. The game is not accommodating towards new players. There is a learning playlist where new players can wet their feet, but the game graduates you out of this playlist quickly, and once it does you won’t be allowed to return."

As an aside, I highly recommend that new players looking to get into Day of Infamy but who are worried about the fast time to kill and the unforgiving mechanics play the radio operator class. Your primary job is to stand next to an officer, and players who choose the officer class tend to have at least a decent handle on the game’s mechanics and a working knowledge of the maps. If nothing else, playing the operator will force you to think and work as a team, which is crucial in the game.

Even when you’re not a member of the officer dream team, tactics are available at every level, with smoke grenades, dynamite, and rocket launchers spread out across the game’s classes. Even with a strict class system, I rarely felt completely helpless. The classes are well balanced, and even the flamethrower has enough drawbacks that it isn’t a guaranteed killing machine.

If Day on Infamy has a problem, it is that it fills its niche too well. The game is not accommodating towards new players. There is a learning playlist where new players can wet their feet, but the game graduates you out of this playlist quickly, and once it does you won’t be allowed to return. While this should prevent veterans from stomping the poor souls in the practice list, it also means that those very same souls are shoved into the real world a little too soon, and that the practice list is filled mostly by bots which give no real indication of what’s in store once players start matchmaking.

New, and even veteran, players should be prepared to spend much of their time dead. Its easy to die in Day of Infamy, and the consequence for doing so can be minutes long as you watch through a team-mates eyes while they painstakingly approach the objective, or stubbornly refuse to fall back and regroup.

"Day of Infamy succeeds in crafting a shooter experience where death feels present and real, and success comes in the form of surviving engagement after engagement through teamwork, a little luck, and the proper application of the tools at hand."

Even when you’re not dead, the game can still be a slow affair. Map knowledge is crucial to even find other players, and moments of frantic action are spaced by long stretches or run-die-run. The closest you’ll get to feeling like a badass will be surviving a house clearing. The tactical aspects of Day of Infamy also depend on a team with a strong sense of the game’s mechanics. Sometimes the game can feel truly hopeless when you’re matched against more experiences opponents and your own team flounders before capturing a single objective.

Still, despite the game’s narrow focus and steep learning curve, Day of Infamy delivers a brutal, intense, tactical shooter that is a joy to play once you narrow in on the game’s core mechanics. Day of Infamy seeks to choose one gameplay experience, and hone in on how that experience can be its best. With death so near at all times, and its consequences so deep (at least by video game standards) every moment in Day of Infamy is filled with anxious potential.

Every time I come out on top in a close quarters fight it feels wonderful. Every time I watch the man in front or to the side of me get blown away I feel fear. Every time I sprint across open ground I chant, “Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die,” under my breath. Day of Infamy succeeds in crafting a shooter experience where death feels present and real, and success comes in the form of surviving engagement after engagement through teamwork, a little luck, and the proper application of the tools at hand.

This game was reviewed on the PC.