Warface's Pripyat mission is more C&C than S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Get out of here, K.A.N.E.!
Crytek's name might not command quite the same respect as it did during the height of the Crysis series, but their free-to-play FPS Warface has maintained a steady (and slowly growing) player-base over the past year, in large part due to a steady influx of fresh content.
While the previous update to the game was a predictable me-too Battle Royale mode, the latest addition is a co-op story mission set in the irradiated wastes of Pripyat, and a bit of a genre-shift towards overt sci-fi silliness.
If you've never played it before, Warface plays kinda like Crysis 2/3 Lite. Less fancy special abilities, but plenty of pseudo-tactical sliding around and shooting baddies, up to and including some big chunky war-mechs. The competitive multiplayer is solid enough too. The business model for the game used to be quite abominable, based almost entirely around temporary rentals of gear, but it's now possible to permanently unlock a decent range of weapons and armor through casual play.
The trailer almost makes the narrator sound like he's disappointed in Warface's own thematic predictability. Something weird is going on in Pripyat, so of course it must be villainous organisation Blackwood, and this time they seem to have finished their metamorphosis into the Brotherhood of NOD, with perhaps a little dash of COBRA for flavor.
Blackwood have cyborg zombie slaves mining a mysterious green transformative substance, there's tanks with glowy red bits on, an ominous black-and-red tower in the middle of Pripyat and your obligatory boss fight against a laser-spraying, energy-shielded flying battleship. In gameplay terms, this mission is big, dumb and loud, with enemies jetpacking into the fight by the dozens, and each player should expect to be well into a triple-digit kill count by the time the job's done.
The launch of the Pripyat mission is happening in parallel with more traditional festive Christmas/New Years events, although whatever winter goodies they hope to serve up probably pale into comparison with the luminous green 'nuclear' weapons skins that the Pripyat mission brought along with it. Stealth is for cowards; stand out and be visible across the entire visible spectrum and then some.