One of the bigger surprise announcements during the Summer of Gaming, WARDOGS’s last trailer showed off some unpredictable gameplay on a battlefield with 100 players, all looking to eliminate the opposition to earn a big fat paycheck.
That’s an interesting premise made even more intriguing by the 2×2 km map called the Control Zone, where assaults from land, water, and air are commonplace, requiring smart combatants to balance offense and defense. The odds are definitely NOT in your favor, but that’s exactly what makes this one so potentially thrilling.
The developers at Bulkhead seem pretty confident about it, with a new peek behind the curtain showcasing how designing the Control Zone required some visits to real-world Georgia, while getting it to behave as intended even on low-end PCs required a trip to a nearby hardware store, which was the origin story of the game’s Potato Mode.
That’s essentially a way to sustain 60 FPS gameplay even on low-end PCs, which was what the team set out to do when it picked up that computer. On the other extreme is Overkill Mode, a setting reserved only for high-end PCs. If your rig doesn’t make the cut, this won’t even show up as an option. Considering how exquisite the Control Zone looks at the highest possible graphical settings, it may be worthwhile for graphics connoisseurs.
All in all, this was a very entertaining and enlightening watch. Be warned that you’re going to be sorely tempted to pick up a copy when early access goes live, but in the meantime, you could also try to get on the Closed Playtesting program.
