Squad (video game)

Squad is a tactical first-person shooter video game "set in the current modern day environment"[2] developed by the Canadian studio Offworld Industries. It is self-published through Steam and is a spiritual successor to the multi-award-winning Project Reality modification for Battlefield 2. The game features several playable factions, including various insurgent and state forces. Squad became available on Steam Early Access on December 15, 2015,[3] and was officially released on Steam on September 23, 2020.[4]

Squad
Digital edition frontcover
Developer(s)Offworld Industries
Publisher(s)Offworld Industries
Director(s)Will Stahl (2014–2015), Chris Greig (2015–2016), Dave Mason (2017–2018), Phil Merricks (2019–2020), Tom Fancsy (2020), Phil Merricks (2020–2022), Dustin Ross (2022–present)
Producer(s)Arnaud Lebesnerais, Martijn Sinnema, Norbert Rothermel
Designer(s)Tom Fancsy, Tim Head, Dustin Ross
Programmer(s)Kimmo Kotajärvi, Joe Hurst, Francisco Inacio, Will Stahl
Artist(s)Alastair Sew Hoy, Anders Jacobsson, Bruno Gorostiaga, Justin Vanson, Tom Jensen
Composer(s)Scott Tobin
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows[1]
Release23 September 2020
Genre(s)First-person shooter, tactical shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Gameplay

Squad is a squad-based warfare game. A single match consists of two belligerent factions, each divided among smaller squads that could have a maximum of nine players. Each squad is made up of individual classes selected by the individual players. Available classes include medic, combat engineer, anti-tank specialists and various types of riflemen. A squad of players are led by one squad leader who can communicate with other allied squad leaders and construct firebases and defensive emplacements like crew-served weapons and sandbags.[5]

Squad borrows its gameplay from its predecessor Project Reality, placing heavy emphasis on communication, coordination and teamwork,[6] with matches occurring on large-scale maps up to 16 km2 in size featuring many different land vehicles such as MRAPs, IFVs, APCs and tanks, as well as transport helicopters. The two teams fight to complete various objectives such as capturing tactical locations, destroying weapon caches, and depleting enemy reinforcements.[7]

The eight current playable factions in the game are the Australian Army, British Army, the Canadian Army, the United States Army, the Russian Ground Forces, and the semi-fictional Insurgents, Irregular Militia, and Middle Eastern Alliance.

Development

Development of Squad was announced in October 2014 when Project Reality developer Sniperdog (a.k.a. Will Stahl[8]) made a post on the Project Reality forums.[9] The announcement carried the news that the team of fifteen was making a spiritual successor to Project Reality on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4.

On April 5, 2015, Squad appeared in Steam's Greenlight service and was announced in an update called "Vote For Us".[10] It was officially greenlit eight days later.[11][12]

Squad was released on Steam Early Access on December 15, 2015,[3] and officially released on Steam on September 23, 2020.[4]

Squad is currently in version 2.14 which released in March 2022.[13]

Kickstarter

The Kickstarter campaign started on May 26, 2015. It featured six backer levels with various rewards such as merchandise, in-game rewards, and pre-alpha testing access.[14][15] Five days after the Kickstarter launch, the game had raised over $200,000.[16]

References
  1. "Squad for Linux?". Archived from the original on 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
  2. "FAQ – Squad". joinsquad.com/faq. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  3. "Squad Greenlight Page". Archived from the original on 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
  4. "Squad v1.0 release notes". Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  5. Birnbaum, Ian (20 October 2016). "Squad has grown into a deep military shooter". pcgamer.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  6. Tiscali. "Tvůrci modu Project Reality představili svou vlastní online střílečku Squad". Games.cz. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  7. Savage, Phil (7 April 2015). "Squad is a team FPS from the makers of Battlefield 2 mod Project Reality". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 2018-12-23. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  8. "Sniperdog's forum profile" (Website). Project Reality Forums. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  9. Merlin / Sniperdog. "Squad: A commercial game made by developers of and inspired by PR:BF2" (Website). Project Reality Forums. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  10. Developer (5 April 2015). "Vote For Us" (Website). joinsquad.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  11. "Steam Community :: Discussions". steamcommunity.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  12. "Squad od twórców moda Project Reality trafiło do Steam Greenlight". Eurogamer.pl. 6 April 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  13. "SQUAD V2.14 IS LIVE NOW : Squad – Communicate. Coordinate. Conquer". joinsquad.com. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  14. Developer (21 May 2015). "Kickstarter Announcement" (Website). joinsquad.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  15. "Squad – Communicate. Coordinate. Conquer". Kickstarter. Archived from the original on 2018-12-28. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
  16. Holtmann, Matthias (June 2015). "Squad - »Project Reality«-Nachfolger erfolgreich auf Kickstarter [Update]". Gamestar. Archived from the original on 2018-12-23. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
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