Historical Authenticity
Since our first game Verdun, we've been committed to bringing history to life in a way that reflects something of the real WW1 experience. Uniforms and weapons are carefully recreated based on research and reference materials (including actually firing many of the guns in-game), and most of the time you'll be using a bolt-action rifle rather than the machine guns or prototype handguns that flood the battlefields in a lot of WW1 games. Of course we have machine guns, sniper rifles, rifle grenades, and other weapon types, but they're generally linked to specific classes or map specific heavy weapons rather than being available for anyone. This also means that melee combat takes center stage when you get into close quarters, for the same reasons it often did in real life.
This doesn't mean that Isonzo is trying to be a playable war documentary. It's a game, and we always keep gameplay in mind. Maps are based on real photos, drawings, and trench maps - but compressed where necessary so you aren't walking for 15 minutes between objectives and to maintain variety. You can see how we use reference material in the comparison shots below:
Verticality
Many of Isonzo's battles are set in or around the mountains of the Alps. To represent these accurately we had to design maps with a lot of variation in heights - for instance this early part of the Dolomites Offensive where the attackers must storm clifftop trenches:
In a lot of FPS games height differences are limited to two story buildings or gentle hills, but we needed a more epic scale for Isonzo. If you skip ahead to 1:30 in the Sabotino map flyover video below, you see how it transitions from a mountaintop objective to sweep down into the valley and bridge. While defenders are usually the ones occupying the high ground, in this map you fight your way up the mountain and then down the other side, giving the unusual experience of defending from below. Watch out for grenades...
[previewyoutube=Dp-luYJhe4w;full][/previewyoutube]
Mustaches!
The clothing and styles of the 1910s were far more varied than what you see in a lot of FPS games with a modern setting. During the war things progressed quickly as armies moved away from the more colorful uniforms of the last century and towards plainer, simpler uniforms that provided better camouflage. There was also a lot of variety, with less of the standardization seen with modern militaries. Last but not least, mustaches were in fashion - and what fashion!
In Isonzo we represent a wide variety of the clothing and accessories that troops might have worn on the frontlines. Uniforms and headgear are all linked to the different classes in the game to maintain that historical authenticity we mentioned earlier, while facial hair and items like glasses or smoking pipes can be used with any class. Players can expand their selection through our paid cosmetic DLCs which focus on specific themes, like veteran troops or high altitude cold weather gear. These DLCs are only visual, and we don't lock any gameplay features or updates behind them.
There's more coming!
We've already released a number of free updates for Isonzo with new maps, weapons, and even a whole new faction... and we're not done. There are more maps and weapons coming, alongside additional paid cosmetic DLC packs.
