Insurgency: Sandstorm to launch on PC this September
Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine
Despite having to drop its exciting-sounding solo campaign, upcoming competitive FPS Insurgency: Sandstorm remains firmly on our radar for its uncompromising, brutal and tactile depiction of modern urban combat. Today, developers New World Interactive outlined their launch plans in an extensive development blog post, although the part you're all wondering is the release date, right? Despite not having a specific day picked out, the game should be Steam this September.
The initial launch version of Insurgency: Sandstorm will have three competitive playmodes - Push, Firefight and Capture the Base - plus Checkpoint mode for co-op. Two additional modes, Operation and Outpost (the former being from the original Insurgency) will be coming at a later time. While there's no mention of how many maps are planned for release, New World do estimate that there should be around 40 weapons to play around with, and another 40 upgrades that you can bolt onto them.
While insurgency is a pure infantry-focused game (with occasional bits of driving around), there will be a bunch of mechanised units that can be called in for support, including jet and helicopter gunship fire-support, suicide drones, artillery and - pushing the boundaries a little - chemical mortar strikes. In short, war is going to feel properly hellish, and the world is going to be burning down around you. Given everything else we've seen and heard of the game, that sounds about right.
Insurgency has had a bit of a rough time in development lately. Not only did they have to cut the solo campaign, but the studio lost their Creative Director back in January. It's good to see them back on their feet and the game coming along nicely. In keeping with current trends, the developers plan for all post-launch gameplay content updates to be free in order to keep the community together. There will be no item trading, Steam marketplace support or loot crates, so no worries about that either.
Insurgency: Sandstorm will be launching on the Steam this September, priced at $30, minus 20% for owners of the original Insurgency, which is currently discounted down to £1.74/$2.50. You can see more on this announcement, as well as a fresh gallery of screenshots on New World Interactive's site here.