Inspired by the Project Reality modification for Battlefield 2, the game will place its players in a realistic environment and encourage them to work together. Doing so tends to be an excellent way to build an immersive and visceral combat atmosphere. To those familiar with PC shooters, the best way to describe this would be as a middle ground between the Battlefield and Arma series.

Built from the ground up in the Unreal Engine 4, Squad pits teams of up to 50 players against each other in white knuckle modern day combined-arms combat scenarios, with both conventional and unconventional forces. The players dictate how the scenarios unfold with base-building and interactive environments, intuitive squad command and management tools and large-scale warfare where strategy and leadership are just as important as a quick trigger finger.

The battlefield of Squad is built around organized teams using both the environment and the assets available within the game to wage a tactical battle against an opposing team. From role organization to base building to vehicle mechanics, teamwork amplifies the effectiveness of the tools at your disposal. Supported by intuitive positional VOIP and navigation systems players will be able to maintain situational awareness and seamlessly interact with others. Dedicated chain of command channels and localized voice will be an effective tool for communication and organization.

As Squad reaches a year and half of development, and 10 months since public reveal, Offworld Industries have delivered the game to their 3000+ Kickstarter backers with Closed Pre-Alpha reward levels and with significant updates since the crowdfunding campaign concluded.

Since the conclusion of the successful Kickstarter campaign on June 27th, the team has been rapidly adding and improving features, a few highlights:

• Added Night layers and Dawn layers to all maps
• Added multiple flag layout layers to each map
• Rebuilt the Forest map
• Added the Light Anti-Tank Kit to the US Army and the M72A7 LAW
• Added tracers, improved audio looping, and improved animations for all weapons
• Added gravity, bullet drop and damage models to all projectiles
• Added dozens of small statics and filled out the world
• Added a third type of player movement to test, added stamina system to all movement tests
• Tested a conventional Russian Forces infantry faction

Over the next 6 to 8 weeks the Developers will be running servers for 72 hours a weekend, rapidly adding and testing features building up to the Closed Alpha set to start in September shortly after Pax Prime.  The Closed Pre-Alpha sold beyond expectations and has been closed to further sales, there is still at this time a chance to buy limited Squad Leader Tier Packages with access to the Closed Alpha.

Squad seeks to establish a culture of camaraderie that is unparalleled in competitive multiplayer shooters. This is a game where you can work together and coordinate with your team: players from around the world, often that you just met.

Squad will support up to 100 players in competitive multiplayer. This broad scope serves to immerse the player into a rich battle environment filled with challenges and opportunities. With teams of sufficient size, some players can perform supporting roles while leaving enough front-line combatants to provide fun and challenging gameplay across the full expanse of the battlefield.

A wide variety of support vehicles and aircraft will be included. Tanks and close support helicopters will spearhead a team’s assault into enemy lines while transport helicopters and APCs will provide much needed logistics and transportation support.

Commanders and squad leaders will be given the ability to shape the battlefield through construction of defensive and offensive fortifications as well as control of battlefield planning and supplemental combined arms assets. Coupled with this, spawn dynamics will be affected by occupation of territories and level of supply each objective is receiving. Organized control of the battlefield will ensure a properly supported supply structure and pave the way for a strategic victory.

It’s all about teamwork.

Key Features:

• Massive Online 50 vs 50 Squad-Based Combined Arms Warfare
• Organic and Emergent Gameplay, this won’t be a linear shooter
• Maps based on Geographic Information System satellite data of real world locales
• True First Person (aka ‘body awareness’) character models, there won’t be walking gunheads here
• Integrated Positional and Chain of Command VOIP, no need for third party programs
• Simulated damage models and simulated ballistics
• NO grinding rewards system and no dress up dolls
• Constructible fortifications to provide player designed variations for every match
• Real world current time period armaments using highly accurate modelling
• Mod support from day one retail release