Wardogs took seemingly no time to find its feet. Pre-release playtests exploded; players, streamers, and content creators flocked to it in droves – it was quite good. I enjoyed it immensely; a healthy dose of milsim without much of the faff that goes along with it. Effort is the reward in those types of games, and I enjoy a round or two of Arma from time to time, but occasionally I want my realism with a dose of immediate action.
Season 1 is nearly up, and what have we learned? Well, blue team struggles sometimes, players now have access to unheard-of levels of destruction, and gold prices aren’t what they used to be. A wipe is coming, though, and Bulkhead is looking for evolution with Wardogs Season 2, rather than revolution.
So, the nitty-gritty. Four new weapons will find their way into the hands of the players: TCX Spear, M14, PP-19 Bizon, and the Evo-3 Ultra. One for each of the main classes. Along with these, there is a suite of new attachments available, including new optics, muzzles, foregrips, and so on.
There are some new vehicles, too. A fast, wheeled transport called the Wolf-110, which comes in regular and assault versions, with the latter sporting an M2 Browning on top. There’s the T-72, a tank that is reportedly slower than the Leopard, but a lot cheaper. Lastly, we have the Flakpanzer Gepard, an anti-air vehicle, which is music to my ears.
For the builders amongst us, there are three new base options, including an MG Nest, a large shelter, and some wooden steps. If you need the last two explained, then I feel for you – the first is a machine gun emplacement, which in theory sounds great for base defense, but really sounds like a sniper’s dream.
Two more huge additions are coming; bear with me. Wardogs now has weather. It can rain, which not only offers a new visual experience, with everything being wet and all, but thunderstorms roll over the battlefield, potentially masking noise and light gunfire. A well-timed shot could stay unnoticed in these conditions, which is quite fun, isn’t it?
Last, but very much not least, there is the new Wager Vendor. For a game based around money, I’m surprised it took this long for gambling to show itself. It’s only based on your own performance, so there’s no real gaming the system here, but the Wager Vendor in base allows you to build a wager based on stuff you want to achieve (securing kills, taking towers, etc.). Add more things to the betting slip, and the return on your investment goes up, but then so does the difficulty. Could be huge; could result in me losing a lot of my in-game cash – who knows.
Perhaps the most appealing part of this update, however, is the ideology behind it: Bulkhead is not afraid of the meta; it embraces it, and perhaps wants to poke a few players in the side while it’s at it.
Wardogs is still in early access, and although the overall polish and presentation doesn’t scream of something still in development, the non-committal nature of this pre-1.0 means that Bulkhead can basically do whatever it likes. I mean, it can anyway, but anything that goes wrong can be attributed to the fact that the game isn’t actually out-out yet. I believe this is one of its biggest strengths.
Wardogs Season 2 is out Thursday, October 15, which is also when your bank account goes back to zero, so make sure you make the most of the last days and buy that tank. You deserve it.