War Zone

How modders and veterans created SQUAD, a military sim like no other.

- Morgan Park

Teamwork is a hard thing to pull off in a competitive military FPS. In Battlefield, a friend with an ammo bag or medic kit is nice to have around, but ultimately unnecessary when lives are brief and you can simply start fresh with a respawn. In Rainbow Six Siege, teamwork means providing intel with surveillance cameras or synergising your gadget with another. In Call of Duty, it means… well, not a whole lot. This is by design – coordination in shooters ranges from a nice bonus in a game ultimately decided by individual skill, to a compelling but highly gamified act that lays out clear combos between player abilities.

That is not how Squad, a tactical FPS soon leaving Early Access after years on Steam, sees teamwork. Squad is about being a cog in a grand machine. Matches are long, two-hour struggles over territory where you don’t know if you’re winning until it’s over. Teams are spread across the kilometres-wide map working towards different goals. Maps are so big, in fact, that it’s common to chat with someone at the main base in the staging phase and then not see them again for the rest of the match.

Squad’s sheer scale is a crucial factor in what makes organisation and coordination paramount. You can’t just respawn on a squadmate or at a captured objective. Squad leaders have to construct FOBs (forward operating bases) for the team to use.

Because efficient redeployment is so powerful, strategic FOB placement is hugely important. They need to be close to the action, but difficult to access for enemies.

BULLET DROP