Score: TBD ONLINE | VIOLENT | SIMULATION
With the Battle Royale genre being the flavour of the month at the moment, we’re going to take a bit of a detour from the “mainstream” and have a chat about what I believe will be one of the best releases on Steam this year… Post Scriptum.
“As a squad leader I was communicating with my commander, other squad leaders and my squad to coordinate everything”
For those playing at home, Post Scriptum is a 50v50 multiplayer WW2 simulation game being developed by Periscope Games. The whole basis of Post Scriptum is historical accuracy, large scale battle across massive maps, uniforms and equipment that have been modelled from historical archives & aerial photos. Seeing as it is dubbed as a simulation game, be prepared for a steep learning curve and a quick realisation that communication & teamwork is key.
Now you might be asking, who on Earth are Periscope Games? They are a very small studio based in Sweden that initially started out as a group of modders for another hardcore simulation shooter, Squad. They quickly came to the realisation that if they wanted to make their vision of Post Scriptum a reality, they would have to create their own studio and take their development work to the next level and make it a full time job.
That vision and what they are achieving with this project is what really impresses me here. Periscope have said from the get-go that Post Scriptum will have Commanders that will give orders to squad leaders to complete objectives, call in artillery or air support and coordinate their side to secure victory. The responsibility doesn’t just sit with your Commander, once you select your role you will be expected to fulfil that role for the better of your team. If you’re a medic you will have to revive and bandage up your teammates, if you’re an engineer you will have to build & maintain fortifications and vehicles for your teammates to use. Everyone in between will need to fight tooth and nail for every objective & even gather supplies for their team to keep the war machine going.
It’s games like this that really get my attention, but rarely do they live up to the hype. After playing the recent playtest on the weekend of 7th July it’s hard to not believe in the hype. Playing your role truly is crucial to your team’s victory. As a squad leader I was communicating with my commander, other squad leaders and my squad to coordinate everything from a simple flank manoeuvre to communicating a squad’s position for my commander to send in an artillery strike via coordinates on the map.
I was lucky enough to have a squad that were keen to work together and follow directions as they were fed down the chain of command. Unfortunately, we lost the game after a long, hard fought hour due to our supplies running low and our support options were no longer available. For the first time in a very long time in any online game played with random people the entire team accepted their faults, said “bad luck guys, lesson learnt here but good work anyway”. No doubt there will still be trolls or griefers in the future as there is in any game but to have a group of 50 people pat each other on the back was a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to get back on the field again.
If this tickles your fancy, Post Scriptum is available on Steam for $29.99 USD ($40.66 AUD) on pre-order which also gives you access to test weekends right up until it’s release on 18th July. As always, let us know of your experiences in Post Scriptum on the Game on Aus Facebook page and join in some games with myself at any time on our Discord.
See you on the battlefield!