Let me tell you a story about Wardogs. It’s a little long, but I think it demonstrates the vibes and feel of this game. Keep in mind that this event isn’t anything out of the ordinary for Wardogs. It’s the kind of thing I experienced all the time in this newly released MMO FPS blowing up on Steam with over 300k concurrent players.
I was riding shotgun on an ATV with a random person. We were speeding through the woods. I could hear gunshots in the distance. That was our destination. War. But before we could get there, my driver screwed up a jump and we got stuck on a log. After trying to dislodge the ATV, we gave up and, luckily, flagged down a supply truck heading to our FOB about a kilometer away. The driver stopped, laughed at our situation, and gave us a ride into the war zone. We chatted about how close the battle was, and he said all he’d done this match was drive supplies from HQ to our smaller base out on the frontline.
Soon we arrived at our base and I spotted over a dozen soldiers buzzing about behind large walls of concrete and steel. The truck pulled up to the gate and stopped as the driver shouted out for someone to open the way forward. A moment later, a man with a British accent hopped over the player-constructed wall and opened up the big gate, letting us (and the valuable supplies we were carrying) into the base. Inside, I could hear a radio playing music. People were chatting as they grabbed supplies from the vehicle. I got out of the truck and tipped my driver for the ride. He turned around and drove off. Someone in the base had told him we needed more ammo, and so off he went to make another supply run.
My AK-47 and I made our way to the far side of the base to find more player-created walls and barriers. Suddenly, gunshots cracked the air. Two players dropped. I crawled over to one and helped him back up. I got a $100 tip for doing so. A moment later, two enemy players squeezed through a gap in the makeshift outer wall of the base. I used my last mag to drop them both before getting downed by a sniper I didn’t even see. As I was lying on the ground, a player dragged me away, and I could hear him talking to someone else. “Shit, we need more men over here and higher walls!” The other player agreed. I was revived and grabbed some bullets from the men I’d killed, then found a safe spot behind the wall to watch for more intruders.
The match I had joined wouldn’t end for another hour. This is Wardogs. It’s great. It’s also not going to be for everyone, but for those who crave a massive military shooter that plays as easily as modern Battlefield but with more tactical options, a slower pace, and moments of quiet, this might be the game you’ve been looking for. Wardogs will make the hours fly by before you suddenly realize it’s 3:00 in the morning.
Okay, but what is Wardogs?
Wardogs is a 100-player milsim shooter built around three teams of mercs trying to hold a zone located inside a massive map. What makes Wardogs different from many other games of this type is the economy.
Holding the control zone, killing players, healing others, building walls, and doing other assorted actions that help your team or hurt the enemy awards you with in-game cash. This cash is then used to buy weapons, gear, and other useful items like health kits each time you spawn. You can also use cash to tip people in your game. For example, if someone heals you, you can tip them with a quick button press. If a heli pilot gives you a ride and doesn’t get you killed, you can tip them after hopping out. And if you get downed, you can tip people for getting you back up.
What this all means is that every time you spawn into a Wardogs match, you want to make sure you make more money than you spent to buy your gear and guns. A little ticker in the upper right of the screen lets you know when your life has become profitable.
©Bulkhead / Kotaku
That might sound stressful, but really, making money in Wardogs isn’t that hard as long as you’re a team player. You don’t even need to get kills to make money. Remember that guy who picked me up in that story above? He played the whole match as a truck driver, ferrying supplies and people around the map, and made thousands of dollars in tips alone.
During one match, I made a ton of money building up walls. In another match, I noticed one of the highest-earning players on my team had mostly just spent his time flying around the map as an air taxi. You can even make money just being a medic. And if you’re a decent shot and don’t mind the risk, you can make a ton of cash fast by racking up kills. Wardogs really is a war shooter for all the battledads in your life.
Adding this economic element to the FPS formula makes people just a bit more nervous to step out if there’s a lot of gunfire. Especially if you’ve been doing poorly and grabbed some pricey gear off an enemy, you might think twice about running out to help up a teammate. Then again, that teammate might be offering a big bonus to revive them. Is it worth it? That’s a question you’ll ask yourself a lot while playing Wardogs, and it adds an extra layer to every fight. And it’s not a question that only pops into my head when it comes to cash.
Another wrinkle with Wardogs is that if you die and don’t let someone revive you (and you can wait around for many minutes if you want), then you’ll spawn back at base. And getting from HQ to the war is quite the trek. On foot, it would likely take five to six minutes of running. Maybe more? I don’t know because testing that sounds awful. I had to run just a kilometer and a half in this game after my truck spun out in some mud, and that trek to the fight felt so long. Running the whole way seems wild. That’s why heli pilots and drivers are great.
Of course, if you have the cash, you can just buy your own vehicle. But if that thing gets destroyed, you don’t get the money back. Again, is it worth it? Or do you just catch a ride with some randos and tip them for the trip? This all means that death matters, and getting a few kills feels really good because you know that those people, assuming a friend doesn’t revive them, are out of the fight for a bit.
More please
Beyond the cash mechanics, the rest of Wardogs, even in this Early Access state, is damn good FPS. It doesn’t move as fast as many other modern shooters, so you won’t be able to slide-cancel-bunny-hop your way out of every fight. Instead, cover and careful movement is the name of the game. Guns also feel extremely deadly. If you don’t buy some armor, you can go down in just a few hits. It makes firefights truly scary, but also means that even a newbie with the starting rifle (which is free) has a chance to win if they’re careful and steady with their shots.
Oh, and if they do win that fight, they can just loot the body of the soldier they killed and suddenly have a much better gun and armor. This does mean that when an enemy is killed, you’ll often see a small group of players surround the corpse like zombies in a desperate attempt to get more ammo or a cool new rifle that they won’t have access to back at base until they level up more.
©Bulkhead / Kotaku
And the funniest part is that the downed soldier is still able to talk and hear the grave robbers as they wait for an ally to possibly revive them while watching their inventory get picked clean.
The game’s hard-hitting guns, quick time-to-kill, long journey back, and high stakes fueled by the potential loss of cash and gear, mean that people aren’t always willing to go full Rambo. This leads to lots of quiet moments. Sometimes during a Wardogs match, I’d just be standing around the base, maybe fixing up a turret or a wall or chatting with someone while watching for enemy soldiers. And nothing happened. Off in the distance, I could hear gunfire. But in our corner of the map, for a few moments, it was just a quiet day. And these moments help give Wardogs breathing room, something desperately missing in recent Battlefield games with smaller maps and a focus on constant action.
After playing a few hours of Wardogs, I think this is something special. The kind of multiplayer shooter I can see myself losing many hours in. And considering matches can last over an hour, that’s likely to happen. For some, playing Wardogs will be like pulling teeth or doing taxes. And I get it. But for me, the game is a blast. I feel like there’s always something I can do in Wardogs to help my team win or at least to make some more cash. And I’m excited to hop back in and experience more wild, intense moments as well as some quieter ones, too.