Not So Quiet on the Western Front

True story: back in 2007 I wrote in to the readers’ letters segment of Official PlayStation Magazine with a request. It wasn’t for the magazine staff, but for the game developers that I assumed all read OPM religiously: Please, please won’t somebody make a game about the First World War. I don’t remember the details of what I wrote, but suffice to say that it was as convincing an argument as a 13-year-old could possibly muster. Their reply was, in hindsight, a little harsh. They basically joked about it and said that writing wartime poetry would probably be the most fun element. The joy of having my words published for the first time nullified any disappointment I felt over their reply, but their pessimism over the concept has, as these words prove, remained in my mind for a long time.

For years I was suggesting a WW1 FPS to just about everyone I knew who was vaguely interested in gaming. It just seemed like a humongous hole in the market that had a lot of potential. Games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty had proven that WW2 could be one of, if not the very best, settings for a First Person Shooter. If the Second World War had proven to be such a conceptually rich setting, why could the same not be done with WW1? People came up with some decent responses; the primary and most common was that compared to the fast-paced nature of WW2, the First World War saw a slow, grinding style of warfare that probably wouldn’t work so well in videogame form. There’s also an argument that the variety of combat in WW1 was a little lacking. Essentially, there’s only so many times you can play as the attack or defence of a full frontal assault.

All valid points, but in my long-standing opinion they’re not sufficient to prevent a WW1 game from being a success. Proving my point, the setting hasn’t been completely untouched over the years: the brilliant mobile game Trenches and its sequel prove that there’s plenty of life in the setting. In fact, there are numerous strategy games based on the conflict, including the ingeniously titled World War One and the hugely underrated The Entente (or, as I named it in my youth, Ent-Ent-Tay). Then there’s the collection of unofficial mods for games like Battlefield 1942 and even a WW1 mod for Company of Heroes (which I have just discovered and am now downloading with glee). Basically, there are people out there who know that the First World War has yet to be truly explored.

Well seven years on from my plucky little letter to OPM, a turning point has been reached. Verdun is, believe it or not, a fully fledged WW1 FPS being developed as a standalone game by the three chaps at Blackmill Games. I, for one, am extremely excited. The game takes the form of an online multiplayer shooter set across various maps all based on the bloody battle of Verdun and skirmishes around it. It’s a familiar concept wrapped up in a tragically unfamiliar setting. “Right now it feels like it’s something special already (...) With a lot more to come from this game yet, I’d keep an eye on Verdun; we may just see something different and popular pop up from nowhere.” The words of our own James Furlong in his recent preview of the game.

Verdun has fallen into ranks as one of the numerous games available as part of Steam’s early access programme, so if you’re just as excited about the prospect of a WW1 FPS as I am then you can support the devs by buying the early version. Personally, I’m going to wait until the full game is released so that I can launch into it as a totally new and finished game. There’s certainly no reason not to give it a go, mind. It looks absolutely stunning even in its pre-release stage; plenty of beautiful, but battered, landscapes that are only possible on PC. The gameplay also looks to be super satisfying and places great importance on team tactics; it’s all looking rather Red Orchestra 2 in WW1 - but that is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad thing.

It’s a fantastic step in the right direction and one that I will be watching and supporting keenly. Still, I can’t help but ask the question; is there even more to be explored? A single-player campaign, for one thing, would be a brilliant feature of any WW1 FPS. Of course, the three man development team at Blackmill Games would have been more than a little ambitious to aim for a fully functional (and decent) campaign, but I’d love to see the heroic and horrific stories of WW1 told in videogame form. There are some terrific events and tales from the period that could be easily adapted to a game: the battles of The Somme, Cambrai, Marne, Ypres, Arras, all on the western front, or Gallipoli, Gaza and the various battles to the east. There’s so much well documented source material; a story-focused WW1 FPS would be truly spectacular, I have little doubt.

So in short: I’m ecstatic to see that Verdun is finally showing the gaming community that the battlefields of WW1 are a great point of interest, but I think that there’s so much more to be explored. I contacted Blackmill Games, asking if they had considered developing a single-player campaign at any point; this was their understandable reply:

@RGDfleet We certainly thought of it, however creating an immersive SP campaign is way too much work for a tiny team.

— BlackMill Games (@BlackMillGame) February 8, 2014

Which leads me to consider the possibilities of larger, more established developers taking on the concept. I’m not really expecting Call of Duty: First World War or Battlefield: 1917, but there are plenty of established developers out there with FPS experience that could easily take a crack at it. Or imagine if some of the best narrative-focused devs took on a WW1 theme; a Naughty Dog or Quantic Dream World War One game would be a tricky, but possibly incredible piece of game design.

I just believe that there’s so much untapped potential in the WW1 setting. Millions of people gave their lives for this war of horror and destruction. Put simply, if I were a game developer I would love the opportunity to show my respects to the men who fought for what they believed in by translating their incredible tales to videogame form. It’s previously been quiet on the Western Front, but it’s about time it got a little louder.