As a bit of setup, Fraser Brown tried it out all the way back in 2018 and didn’t have the best time of it. In his World War 3 premature evaluation he did compliment the feel of its various guns and the distinctions between them, but everything else needed quite a bit of work. “These maps don’t tell a story, and the battles that play out in them aren’t very coherent. Even in a genre not exactly famed for is charismatic games, World War 3 is very grey, in tone as well as aesthetic,” he said. It spent a good time in early access between then and summer 2020, of course, but here’s how The Farm 51 say it’s changed since their efforts to double down on development. On the subject of maps, they say that they’ve spent time “improving navigation, select areas, and making them more interesting battlegrounds.” Their other big topic is movement around the map with additions like a double sprint, climbing, vaulting, going prone, and slides. The gunplay, which sounds like it was one of WW3’s strengths even in its earliest versions, has also gotten a tune-up. Farm 51 say they’ve revamped weapon scopes and also player animations for recoiling and grenade throwing. They also spend a bit of time talking about the new Backpack feature, which lets you swap scopes and other gun attachments during a match. Farm 51 didn’t mention anything in their update about putting the game back on sale (on Steam) just yet, simply offering a “we can’t wait for you to get your hands on all this amazing content.” Oh yes, good ol’ FPS content. Their survival shooter Chernobylite is leaving early access later this month on July 28th, also on Steam. Player reviews during early access for that one have been quite a bit more positive, though Max Cox called it rather clunky in his Chernobylite early access review back in 2019. At a guess, Farm 51 will likely see that one safely out of the early access drop zone before committing to any dates on World War 3’s future. At least we know for sure it does have a future.
