In the lead-up to the launch ofGray Zone Warfare,people were already calling it aTarkovkiller.Escape From Tarkov, if you aren’t aware, is the leading extraction shooter on the market, and while it often falls foul of its own PR, it has steadily sat atop the extraction throne for years. Many have come for the crown and many have fallen. The problem with labelling this game in such a way is that it does a disservice to whatGray Zone Warfareis trying to be. Yes, it has extraction elements, but it is not black and white.
You see, this military sim is moreDayZthanTarkov, more Ghost Recon than Call of Duty. It shares elements with a number of games but in essence, you play solo or in a group - it’s really easy to group up with strangers via VOIP - and you explore a persistent world map completing tasks and looking for PvP battles. More on this latter point, well, later.
Yes, you enter the target zone with gear that can be lost when you die, and you’ll loot plenty of containers, dead bodies, and buildings in order to ‘extract’ back to base, and ‘relative safety’, where you can hand in quests and store your gear. So far, it’s an extraction shooter. However, because this is a persistent world rather than a loaded instance - a raid, inTarkovterms - it plays very differently to what you might expect. Bodies linger in the streets for a while until the enemies respawn, dropped items will still be there if you circle back, and even bullet holes will remain in situ for a short time.
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Gray Zone Warfare
It’s also very slow-paced compared to other games on the market. If you go storming into a neighbourhood inGray Zone Warfare, you’ll find yourself dead in seconds. It is, for lack of a better term, a hardcore shooter. AI enemies do not mess around and without careful preparation, you will spend most of your time catching helicopter rides back to your body to see if your gear is still there, or whether some chancer has looted your still-warm corpse.
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Gray Zone Warfare
At this point, I want to make one thing clear, this is very much a preview of the game. You saw the thumbnail, but I’m reiterating, becauseGray Zone Warfareis an alpha product in Early Access on Steam. According to the development team, there’s about 20-30% of the planned content currently in the game. It’s bare bones. There’s no day/night cycle, no weather systems, not even flashlights for your guns. This isn’t a bad thing, but you need to know exactly what you’re buying before you dive in.
It’s also worth noting, this is PC only, although there are console versions planned if the game does well. Because it’s PC only, you’re going to need a good rig to play it. It’s very CPU heavy, so even if you’re sporting a 40 series GPU, you could end up running into a bottleneck.
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Now, back to the game.
Of course, the reason most of us are here is the gunplay which, at the moment, is fine, if a little rough around the edges. Recoil, aiming, and movement while aiming down sights feel great, and there’s a certain heft to be felt. However, the lean mechanic feels shallow, literally. There doesn’t seem to be enough extension to lean around corners and find your enemy, plus the position you hold your weapon at feels stiff and unnatural.
Gray Zone Warfare
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Gray Zone Warfarewill be a very good game but it’s going to take time. For now, the UI looks a little bland, the options in-game for items to find, missions to complete, and places to visit all feel a bit samey. As a showcase for what’s to come, this is a great experience and if you’re buying into the game now you’ll be able to watch it evolve over the coming months into something quite special.
It’s impossible to review the game as it stands, but you can certainly walk away from this preview knowing whether the game is for you; if you prefer slow and methodical, then you’re going to enjoy what’s on offer. If you prefer the run-and-gun style of modern Call of Duty, it’s likely you’re going to feel restricted and a little bored.
If you’re already playing games likeEscape from Tarkov, then you’ll see some of what you love already entrenched inGray Zone Warfare, but be warned, this isn’t going to feature the same gameplay loop and you’ll be left wanting more in this comparison.
Topics:Call Of Duty,PC,Preview,Steam
