Battlefield 6 has big plans for the coming weeks, kicking off a Top Gun collaboration that you’ll be able to dive into for free. EA has some serious competition on its hands, however. Wardogs, the hundred-player realistic FPS that launches in September, is preparing to kick off a playtest of its own, and it’s been racking up a lot of attention. Six months since its reveal and one out from release, developer Bulkhead confirms that it’s “humbled” to announce that Wardogs has now made it onto a million Steam wishlists. Despite this, it’s still cautioning players to consider whether they should actually buy it on day one.
Steam wishlists aren’t a guarantee of success, but they’re a big indicator of one of the most important factors in getting there: an audience that’s noticed you exist. Wardogs now has at least a million people who cared enough about it to mark it in their calendars, and it’s easy to see why. Paul recently spent some time digging into its new spin on multiplayer military action, and ended up having a blast. He described it as “half Battlefield, half ARMA, and a bit of king of the hill,” praising its player freedom and incentives for teamwork.
In case you aren’t among that million enthusiasts, Wardogs is all about fighting for control of randomly chosen ‘action zones’ across its massive maps. One hundred players are split across three teams, and whichever side has the most people inside the zone earns points towards the victory target. On a personal level, everyone carries a stack of cash that’s used to buy your loadout each time you respawn. More can be earned through good team play – whether that’s helping capture the objective, transporting your teammates, or reviving allies.
The result is a game that offers a lot of freedom in how you play, but still encourages working together towards your team’s goals. Perhaps you’ll become a lone wolf sniper like Paul did, forcing the enemy’s backline troops to start worrying about the safety of their approach. Maybe you’d prefer to be a professional chopper pilot, ferrying troops and supplies back and forth to the frontlines, or an engineer erecting temporary bunkers and anti-air batteries to help lock down regions of the hot zone.
That mix of familiarity, innovation, and ambition is clearly paying off, as those wishlist numbers show. Its Early Access launch is now set for September 10, and pre-orders are already live, with a guaranteed spot in the upcoming closed beta as one of the key benefits. Bulkhead explains that this helps the team judge server requirements for launch and ensure stability. “After the insane response to our closed alpha, we just thought, “Why not? Our time is now,” UX Director Howard Philpott says.
Despite this, Bulkhead is being up-front about what it’s offering, and has even posted a video called ‘Ten Reasons Not to Buy Wardogs.’ It explains that it wanted to “be as clear as possible about what Wardogs is, what it isn’t, and what you should expect from us during Early Access.” The developer cautions that this initial release might not be for you yet, depending on what you’re looking for, and even encourages players to refund the game if it doesn’t meet their early expectations.
Despite the 37 weapons, 27 vehicles, and three maps at launch with one more to come, Philpott warns that early access adopters “should not expect regular content drops.” The team will be focused on the core experience and metagame for much of the early access period. Some of the development priorities are also likely to shift based on the response from players. The team adds that, while features like controller support will be available, Wardogs is built from the ground-up as a PC-first, mouse and keyboard shooter.
Wardogs launches into Early Access via Steam on Thursday September 10, priced at $39.99 / £36.99. A closed beta is running from August 21-23. If you want to take part, you can click the ‘Request Access’ button on the Steam store page for a chance to be invited, or guarantee a spot with a pre-order. Bulkhead adds that it’s “okay” if you do this but then cancel before release: “We actively encourage refunding if the beta doesn’t live up to your expectations.”
The price will be gradually increased to $49.99 as more is added, and then $59.99 for 1.0. Bulkhead is also offering a special ‘supporter edition’ with some bonus cosmetic content, but notes that this will be the only instance of monetization that the game will have during its time in Early Access, although some may be introduced after the full release. It also adds that the team will “never” monetize in-game cash or gold bars, nor allow the direct purchase of camos, because it wants these to indicate “that a player has worked hard to unlock that item, not how much money they have.”