If you’ve logged on to Twitch in the past week, you’ve likely seen everyone from Shroud to Summit1g playing an FPS called Wardogs. According to TwitchTracker, at the time of writing, Wardogs has reached a peak of 344,092 viewers and 670 average streams since its early access launch on September 10th – all this for a game that seems like it just materialized out of thin air.
And I know what you’re thinking: “What is this, ANOTHER battle royale or extraction shooter? We have those at home!”
Well, Wardogs wants you to know it is NOT another battle royale or extraction shooter. Rather, it bills itself as a king-of-the-hill style, “All-Out Warfare” FPS where 100 players are dropped into one huge map to fight for position over randomized Control Zones. Whichever team has the most players within the Control Zone earns points, and the first team to 100 points wins the match.
If you’re an Arma player, this may remind you of Arma 3’s King of the Hill mode – and for good reason. Bulkhead, the company behind Wardogs, has the original creator of the Arma 3 KotH mod on their team. Bulkhead’s developers say they are taking active inspiration from the mod while also evolving the gameplay with new systems and features.
Those features include a so-called “persistent cash metagame” where in-game currency that is used for buying things like weapons, gear, and vehicles is carried over from match to match. This resembles economy systems from games like Escape from Tarkov and Counter-Strike, adding an extra layer of depth to your strategic decision-making.
Even if you’re not the best head clicker in the world, there are many unique roles that allow you to help out your squad without firing a single shot, including a recon class that allows you to mark enemies for your team, builders who construct and fortify bases (quite useful since environments are destructible in this game), and pilots who help you traverse the game’s giant maps quickly and (hopefully) safely.
Okay that all sounds fun, but where can I play Wardogs?
Right now, the game is only on PC as part of Steam early access. However, the developers are planning to release a console port sometime in 2028.
What do I need to play Wardogs?
The minimum requirements for Wardogs include:
· Processor: Intel® Core i5 8600, AMD Ryzen 5 3500
· Memory: 16 GB RAM
· Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1660, Radeon RX 590
· Windows 10
With recommended specs being:
· Processor: Intel® Core i7 12700k, AMD Ryzen 7 5700x
· Memory: 16 GB RAM
· Graphics: Nvidia RTX 3070, AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
· Windows 11
The game will also take up about 50GB of hard drive space – on the smaller side for a modern FPS on PC, all things considered. If you’re already a PC player, chances are your rig can handle it.
However, before you drop in, there’s one game-changing factor that goes extremely underrated for shooters like Wardogs: a good audio setup. In a game with 100 players in it, enemy troops, vehicles, and gunshots can come at you from any angle. A headset like Stealth Pro II with superior audio positioning capabilities will allow you to hear even the faintest footsteps from any direction, which can quite literally save your life (in a video game).
So are you ready to drop in to the hottest new FPS?
