WW1 Game Series: Isonzo - the game that Battlefield 1 should have been

[ADL]

Isonzo is a tactical WW1 Italian Front shooter.

WW1 FPS Isonzo is the third game in the WW1 Game Series, this time set on the Italian Front. Experience mountain warfare during the First World War as Italy clashes with the Austro-Hungarian Empire! A new Offensive game mode with multi-map battles offers a novel experience for fresh recruits and returning veterans alike!

Authentic WW1 FPS​

Ferocious Alpine warfare will test your tactical skills in this authentic WW1 FPS. Battle among scenic peaks, rugged valleys and idyllic towns in northern Italy. The Great War on the Italian Front is brought to life and elevated to unexpected heights!
War broke out between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the 23rd of May 1915. It would involve millions of men and several pitched battles – including not one, not two, but twelve Battles of the Isonzo. Combat occurred at heights of up to 12,000 feet (3,600 meters) with the beautiful but deadly mountains posing challenges totally unlike those seen on the Western and Eastern Fronts.

New Offensive Game Mode​

The new Offensive game mode puts you right in the middle of key historical offensives on the Italian Front – lead the charge across stunning Italian landscapes on the attack, or prepare your defense on dynamic battlefields.
One team is tasked with capturing a series of defensive positions while the defenders must stop that happening. These defenses range from concrete bunkers dug into mountainsides to shallow foxholes – but don’t forget that the rugged terrain itself can pose problems for the attackers.

Experience Alpine Warfare​

Choose your role and loadout carefully to survive this high altitude combat – play a sniper to pick off the enemy engineers before they can cut your wire, use rifle grenades to clear enemy machine guns, and much more.
Blow your enemies away at range with mortars, artillery and air support, or finish the job at close quarters with a bayonet. Watch out for the dreaded poison gas…

Definitely the most game-y and casual-friendly of the three but even on launch day there's a lot of communication and team play going on and every server is full at 48/48. The mechanics encourage teamplay and I can't imagine solo weirdos having much of a good time so that's nice. Runs well on my system and no one in chat is complaining about performance. Very good map design and the weapons are all fun to shoot and I'm having a blast.

Mack's review tl;dw it's a thumbs up but the day one DLC cosmetic mustaches are expensive and annoying

If Isonzo is anything like Verdun and Tannenberg, it'll be a ghost town in three months and you'll be relying on bots outside peak hours but I just played a couple matches of Tannenberg and Verdun a couple weeks ago and that was fun even with 4 players and the rest being bots. Recommend all the games regardless but if you want the ideal experience for Isonzo, buy now and enjoy it while it lasts.

Focus Interactive bought the developer yesterday so hopefully the next one they do will have a higher budget and get some decent marketing.

FOCUS ENTERTAINMENT Announces the Acquisition of Dutch Studio WW1 Game Series B.V., Developer of the Multiplayer FPS Games

FOCUS ENTERTAINMENT (FR0012419307 - ALFOC) is very pleased to announce the
agreement for the acquisition of M2H's majority stake in WW1 Game Series B.V.

Jos Hoebe (BlackMill Games), WW1 Game Series' Founder and Creative Director
will own the remaining 33,33% stake and will continue to run the studio. The
studio will proceed solely as BlackMill Games B.V.

Based in the Netherlands and composed of 15 passionate creators, WW1 Game
Series becomes the 6th development studio to join the Focus group.

WW1 Game Series throws players into intense warfare inspired by the chaos and
fury of iconic battles from the First World War. After Verdun in 2015, then
Tannenberg in 2017, the million-seller franchise will be enriched by Isonzo’s
release on September 13th, 2022, on PC and consoles.

WW1 FPS Isonzo is the third game in WW1 Game Series, this time set on the
Italian Front. Players will experience mountain warfare during the First World
War as Italy clashes with the Austro-Hungarian Empire! A new Offensive game
mode with multi-map battles offers a novel experience for fresh recruits and
returning veterans alike!

“This acquisition constitutes a great addition to Focus Entertainment
portfolio and its federation of talents. The studio has already shown strong
DNA and identity, and has proven to be expert on delivering immersive,
authentic, and realistic multiplayer FPS experiences with its WW1 Game Series
- one of the references of First World War shooters.” declares Christophe
Nobileau, CEO of Focus Entertainment. “We’re looking forward to working with
Jos and his team, and to continue delivering new unique experiences.”

"I’m proud and excited for the upcoming launch of Isonzo, and by teaming up
with Focus Entertainment, which is a larger and more experienced partner, and
will help the series to reach its full potential. WW1 Games Series will
undoubtedly benefit from Focus’s track record on FPS genre.” says Jos Hoebe,
CEO of BlackMill Games. “The fans of our games can expect the same dedication
and passion that we have delivered the past ten years with Verdun and
Tannenberg but elevated to new heights with Isonzo and this partnership.”

"It’s an exciting time with this acquisition, the Isonzo launch and on top of
that the opportunity to begin full focus on our new adventure with M2H.”adds
Matt Hergaarden of M2H. “We know the WW1 Game Series is in the capable hands
of Jos and Focus Entertainment and believe that together they can make the
series bigger than ever. While we’re eager to start to work on an exciting new
project, we will make sure to hand over our knowledge and expertise in the
coming year so that there is a smooth transition. We’re looking forward to
seeing where the new owners will bring the WW1 Game Series."

 

[Tacgnol]

If Isonzo is anything like Verdun and Tannenberg, it'll be a ghost town in three months and you'll be relying on bots outside peak hours but I just played a couple matches of Tannenberg and Verdun a couple weeks ago and that was fun even with 4 players and the rest being bots.

Sadly seems to be the way of things with multiplayer FPS that try non standard settings. The plebs just want modern warfare with a different skin to keep things fresh.

I guess it's why WW2 is the only other setting that seems to attract wide appeal, it mostly plays identical to modern warfare games (with the exception of some games like the Red Orchestra series).

 

[Catacombs]

Who cares about the Italian front? Most people are still on Verdun.

 

[Shadowfang]

Zoomed out iron sights look like shit, like every other game done by devs who never aimed a gun in their lives.

 

[vota DC]

There aren't many maps, I think free expansion maps have been from the release.
No idea why Arditi don't start with a dagger but they have to unlock it. They should start with dagger+grenade and unlock the carbine. I guess it was done for balance.

 

[Wunderbar]

 

[Valestein]

So will the fourth game be Ottoman related?

(I bought Iszonzo btw)

 

[likash]

Luigi Cadorna stans will "devour" this game.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

I am a veteran of the series - played the shit out of both Verdun and Tannenberg. Now I am playing the shit out of Isonzo and finally I can play for the KuK army and not feel bad about killing the Entente troops lmao.

Isonzo takes the best from both previous games - the trench warfare of Verdun and the heavy weapons and manoeuvring from Tannenberg. You still assault the enemy tranches or defend them most of the time, but there are specific objectives rather than just having to break/hold the defences (sometimes you have to take a specific point behind the the trench line, on other times you have to blow up enemy bunkers or artillery pieces). This allows you to infiltrate past the enemy line and go directly for these objectives and rewards smart gameplay, which elevates the game very much.

One of the great new features is the engineer class that can build all kinds of barricades, spawn points and heavy weapons. Noobs underestimate engineers, but they are key especially on the defence (it makes a huge difference if you defend the barebones line that you start with or if you build it up). Mortars and field guns are now in the game as well (again, engineers can build them) and I love trolling the enemy with them, managed to get over 100 kills while getting only like 15 deaths yesterday by mostly using mortars. The other team was constantly crying about it in the chat - shit was sooo cash.

Anyway, if you want to see a proper WWI MP tactical shooter you need to fucking get this.

 

[Silva]

This is on sale for PS5. Looks like the game I always wished Battlfield 1 to be.

So, is performance on PS5 good? Are the console servers still active? Should I get it?

 

[Fedora Master]

Get a PC instead

 

[Silva]

How are Verdun and Tannenberg servers these days? The entire series bundle is on a sale and it would be cool playing in some western trenches and eastern plains (and playing with the MP18 would be cool). Assuming there are active servers for them, of course.

 

[Silva]

Ok, I must be reaching 20 hours and I'm completely addicted to Isonzo.

It's not really a milsim, it's more of a tacshooter mixing casual and sim elements. It offers a casual "quickie after work" for those who just want to shoot stuff (though not by run-and-gun as that will kill you fast here), while also offering some teamplay and coordination for those communicating with online friends (like in my case - me and my brother like to play synergizing classes like Officer-Engineer or Spotter-Sniper, etc).

The caveat is that the game is janky as fuck. These guys are far from AAA and it shows. Engine is badly optimized for PS5, game has a good dose of glitches, and even badly thought out functions (like why the Officer must directly look at the objectives to give orders instead of simply opening the map and clicking?).

In resume, decent game with potential to become great with further polish. It's the Battlefield 1 I've always wanted.

 

[Silva]

Reaching 60h and sadly, I'm taking back my initial praise. Isonzo is a fun game but awfully SHALLOW, which is unfortunate considering all the historical bits it got right. It seems the devs came up with this great formula on paper... that they never managed to execute well. I mean, what's the point of having so many cool, potentially tactical bits like classes and map features when the gameplay is defined by twitchy skills and zerg-rushes? Shooting is so easy/accurate and running so fast, rendering any serious attempt at coordination and teamwork moot. In the end, the experience is exactly like BF1, only with more bolt action and historical veneer.

What I would do if I were the devs: shift the game a couple notches to the milsim side. No need to go all the way to ARMA and SQUADs levels, but only enough for coordination and teamwork to shine. The elements are already here, they just need to be tweaked toward that goal. Make gameplay slower (running, building/sabotaging, spawning) by around 20%, rework comms system to be more effective (how come there's no visual PING ?), rearrange map features like HMGs and barbwires to be more impactful (HMGs are noob traps right now and needed more open spaces to make sense, barbwires should never be created/destroyed in a couple seconds), make each round results affect the next in some way (why the attackers tickets reset 100% between rounds?), give more time between rounds for defense side to organize, rebalance some class abilities (nerf the Mountaineer hyper speed and Officer charge whistle), make shooting harder somehow (perhaps implementing a bracing mechanic like Red Orchestra, while keeping shooting as is when braced but much more swayey/innacurate when not), increase suppression effect for everything (specially artillery, it should make the screen tremble more wildly, for longer and perhaps throw nearby players to the ground/sit position), etc, etc.

_ _ _

TL;DR: Fun for casual ww1 LARP romps, Isonzo is terribly shallow for any serious tactical pastime. My reviewed grade: 6/10. The formula has potential though, and could result in a great game if better executed in the future.