A developer from Derby wants to rekindle the WW2 shooter
UPDATE: They've done it - Battalion 1944 is funded.
UPDATE 5/2/16 10.25pm Battalion 1944 has been successfully funded on Kickstarter in just three days.
The project ticked over the £100k mark earlier today - and it still has 27 days to go.
Derby developer Bulkhead Interactive will now invest £100,000 of its own money to match the successful campaign and get the game made.
So, with the goal reached - what next? Bulkhead has said it will post stretch goals if and when the campaign becomes successful. We should be hearing about them shortly.
ORIGINAL STORY 2/2/16 12.15pm Remember the days when you couldn't move for World War 2 shooters? The days of Call of Duty 2, Day of Defeat and Medal of Honor (when it was good)? One developer from Derby wants to bring those days back.
Bulkhead Interactive, creator of Pneuma: Breath of Life, has announced Battalion 1944, a new multiplayer World War 2 first-person shooter planned for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The video, below, shows off gameplay and includes a raft of quotes from developers who all say the right things: World War 2 shooters were great and it would be awesome if they came back.
Battalion 1944 includes virtual versions of real-world locations such as the streets of Carentan and the forests of Bastogne. Weapons include the Kar98, the M1 Garand and, of course, the Thompson. The developers make a point of emphasising authenticity, which is what you'd want from the genre.
They also make a point of stressing the game revolves around "raw skill", with "no grinding, no 'exosuits', just you and your skill as a player". Nice thinly-veiled dig at modern-day Call of Duty there!
Now, for the small-print: there's a £100,000 Kickstarter. But before you rush to the comments to proclaim "I'm out", hear this: the developers promise to invest a minimum extra of £100,000 if the funding goal is reached. So, there's that, at least.
And it sounds like the developers have worked out a solid plan for the creation of the game. There's even a pie chart to prove it:
If all goes to plan, Battalion 1944 will be released May 2017.