World War 3, the “more hardcore Battlefield,” is back from the dead

This is the first video of development in over a year and shows some major changes to the multiplayer FPS.

In late 2018, we stated that World War 3 is a multiplayer military shooter currently being developed by The Farm 51. Although it wasn’t perfect, it was only a few weeks into Early Access. Morgan, our in-house shooter expert, thought it provided a promising prerelease experience.

The development process was moving along smoothly for a while with new content and weekends to draw new players. However, in June 2020, the studio announced a new partnership and stopped selling the game on Steam in advance of a revamp and relaunch. It was almost forgotten about, and The Farm 51 began to focus on the new Stalker-like Chernobylite.

It turns out that World War 3 is still being worked on. Today, the studio released a new video that showcases all that has changed. Maps have been updated to be more accessible and “interesting”, some animations for movement and weapons have been changed, and scopes have received a “big overhaul to meet modern military standards.”

It has been updated to allow players to double sprint, climb, vault over obstacles and slide. There are also new character and weapon customization options, improved interfaces to aid navigation, enemy detection, and, of course, a kill cam.

The update may give the impression that The Farm 51 is moving away from the “hardcore” approach to the game. However, the studio stated that it still believes in balancing accessibility and realism.

It states that World War 3 has “aim to provide realistic simulations with an entirely enjoyable experience.” This is what we call “playable realism”: Features that increase immersion and believability without compromising the fun.

This announcement is made at the same time as an infodump about the next Battlefield video game. It’s oddly coincidental and probably unfortunate timing. It’s encouraging to see the World War Three wheels still turning. With any luck, Morgan will be able to get back in to check how things are going. There is no way to know when, unfortunately. A date has not been set for the resumption in World War 3 sales via Steam. According to Farm 51, more information on the game’s progress would be available in the coming months.