Verdun

Gas! GAS! Quick boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

—An excerpt from Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

time to say auf wiedersehen

There was a time when the first person shooter genre was saturated with big-name games featuring a WWII setting. Wolfenstein, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, and Red Orchestra, just to name a few, became some of the most recognizable franchises within the genre. However, there aren't many WWI games that really come to mind. Just as an illustration, browsing Steam games using the "World War I" tag results in 28 entires versus using "World War II," which results in 177. If we then use the tag "Shooter" alongside both tags, we see WWII coming in at 44 entries and WWI with a whopping 6. Is there a reason why shooters don't feature WWI games as often? Is it because the subject matter of WWII is more recent and more captivating? Blackmill Games and M2H, the developers and publishers of Verdun, distributed Brodie helmets to players and boldly set forth back in April 2015, presenting audiences with the first WWI first person shooter in recent memory.

WWI is distinguished by the technological advances of the 20th century and the grueling trench warfare that has seared itself into the imaginations of many today who look back. Both aspects are prominent in Verdun as the developers have really done their homework. Weapon models, uniforms, speech, music, and even battlefield topography are highlighted in historical accuracy. Gun handling favors the realistic approach with full on physics for ballistics and takes into account each guns parameters and performance statistics, providing an authentic feel to all the rifles, pistols, machine guns, and other weapons found within the game. All of this combines with atmospheric variety in powerful recreations of the famous fronts of the Great War. The whistling and pounding of shells overhead; the distant sounds of rifles and machine guns; the rain patters and pools that dot the scorched landscape; the whistles signifying a charge across the top; the agony of the shot man besides you in the mud—make no mistake, historical and atmospheric presentation is superb.

tweet tweet tweet tweeeee— and then they took away my whistle

Verdun features a "tactical squad-based" first person shooter experience. Each squad consists of four players, each taking up a preset class offered within the different squad types. Class accoutrements depends on alliance (Allied or Central) and nationality or corps the squad is from. The general structure of each squad is roughly equal with key areas tweaked to differentiate squads based on their role on the battlefield. For example, the French Chasseur Alpins have access to reconnaissance planes and are well equipped to scout forward positions; the US Marines are equipped to tackle the trenches with shotguns and incendiary artillery; the German Pionieres can quickly clear sectors with the dreaded flamethrower. Squad types are distinguished by the types of weapons they carry as well as officer abilities on the battlefield. The officer gives aura based bonuses to the squad, provides forward spawns, and can call in support (artillery, gas, smoke screen, recon plane, etc.) depending on what type of squad they lead. Strategic use of officer abilities is paramount in mounting a successful attack or defense.

Verdun offers 4 different game modes: Attrition, Squad Defense, Rifle Deathmatch, and Frontlines. Attrition is your standard team deathmatch whereas Rifle Deathmatch offers its free-for-all counterpart. Squad Defense pits a single squad versus a horde of AI opponents in an effort to hold off as long as possible. Frontlines is the premier game mode and pits two teams against each other in grueling trench warfare. Slow and methodical would aptly describe Verdun with an emphasis on the slow aspect. Each team consists of 4 squads for a total of 16 players per team, 32 players per server, but action on the front varies depending on the battlefield. The Champagne front is mired with intense trench crawling and close quarters combat whereas the Aisne sectors will have the Allies trying to push through open fields into well defended locations.

never do this

Although the team sizes are relatively large and on smaller maps something is always happening, the game can enter a lull at times, especially with lower player counts. The game will detect imbalanced teams and ask players to switch sides once in awhile, but gives little to no incentive for players to actually switch over. It is not uncommon to see a 14 versus 6 match on a server of 20 people. Long fronts see small skirmishes break out along the trenches and team cohesion generally crumbles because of the imbalances. Voice and chat communication is available, but outside of those traditional means there are limited methods to coordinate and plan. Officers can generally direct the squad towards an area with attack orders but the lack of any other kind of pings or indicators makes communication difficult and clunky within squads and between squads as well.

Much like the definitive characteristics of the actual Great War, players are seemingly able to fully reenact sitting in a trench waiting for something to happen, climbing over the top, and being shot by an unseen enemy. There isn't any tutorial to orient players to the nuances of trench warfare or any kind of practice ground to hone skills. Instead, direction for new players is limited to tips that appear during the loading screens. What I would've liked to see was a co-op vs. AI mode that combines features from the Frontlines and Squad Defense modes in which human players take on a team of AI enemies in a Frontline manner. This would ensure balance while allowing newer players a more open area to experiment and experience the game before facing off against human players.

also features the metro 2033 dlc

From a technical perspective, Verdun is poorly optimized and even mid-tier machines will struggle to maintain a consistent 60 fps even at the lowest settings. Although the game shines and truly shows off the Unity engine's capabilities, I place emphasis on this because spotting the enemy is step one in Verdun. Sacrificing resolution for an increase in performance is met with difficulties in discerning enemies at a distance, making the game far more unenjoyable. Additionally, some textures and props pop into the world awkwardly while some are simply consistently broken. Verdun uses simplistic hit boxes will register shots to the head but no other body parts are considered. For example, shooting someone in the arm does not deter them from swinging around instantly and firing back at you in response.

Verdun is an interesting experiment in WWI shooters. Remarkable attention to historical details and relatively solid mechanics are put at odds with a shaky sense of gameplay. Verdun fills a niche category in first person shooters with its setting but succumbs to repetitive gameplay. A low player base means only a handful of well-populated servers exist while most servers suffer from team balance issues. Although the game feels more like a proof of concept rather than a complete game, Verdun displays solid potential as a precedent for other WWI shooters, demonstrating that it can indeed be done. Verdun is certainly impressive for an indie title but care should be afforded when considering a full-priced purchase: the game certainly has its moments but you're more likely to end up a statistic rather than the wartime hero everyone loves.

an early iteration of the pain train; targe technology didn't come around until ww2

--

We could see them in the trenches ahead of us. I dared to peek over the top. Forlorn shapes danced in the tree line ahead. A scorched and scarred earth.

"Wait for the gas to drop! Prepare your masks! On my order, advance—"

A sharp whistle overhead and we all ducked, hanging on to any amount of dirt and mud underneath us. Up and down the line he paced, pistol at his side, peering through his binoculars, undeterred.

A dull whistle this time and then shouts from a distance. A ghastly green-yellow haze shrouded the bombed out hills in front of us. And then the whistle.

A flurry of arms, legs, bayonets, and heavy breaths. Into the green sea, bounding, slowing, swimming, and then slowly crawling. A shape! A man! A man! A man! 

A fumbling of hands and feet, quick work with the blade, shot through his core and he floundered no more. Crawling, crawling, crawling... a witness to drowning.

And then a searing pain, the sound of a machine gun, and I was dragged to the depths.