Isonzo: the interview with the game developers about the First World War

Isonzo

After having experienced the battles of the western front in Verdun and following the clashes of the east in Tannenberg, soon the line of video games dedicated to the First World War will also land on the Italian front near the Isonzo river. Altogether Verdun and Tannenberg have reached around 1,600,000 copies worldwide. A seemingly modest but actually great achievement for the two small development studios M2H and Blackmill Games. With their efforts, characterized by a budget certainly not typical of large productions such as the popular Battlefield, they conquered fans of the First World War, offering them sufficiently realistic titles based on exhaustive research and careful reproduction of details, from uniforms to the models of weapons, without neglecting the historical settings of the Great War.

The theater represented by these video games is the demanding trench warfare, in which tactical gameplay emerges, without neglecting the speed and reactivity of the action in combat. A game therefore not one of the simplest, which requires a certain experience and practice to be enjoyed to the fullest, but which manages to give emotions and a sense of unparalleled involvement in this specific historical scenario. Therefore, having arrived near their next release, we turned directly to the developers to try to understand something more about Isonzo, the title that will lead us to visit some of the most famous settings of the twelve battles on the Italian front. Intrigued by this project and also living a few hundred meters from the places seen in the launch trailer, we asked some specific questions to the developers to understand how the series and gameplay will evolve with this new chapter on the Soča River.

The new war scenario

Gameplay of Isonzo in a city clash On 23 May 1915, the war broke out between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Italian front was marked by twelve battles, which involved millions of men in undoubtedly brutal clashes. The war terrain was very different from the western and eastern front, characterized by heights of up to 3,600 meters in the splendid Alps, without forgetting the disputed valleys between the two armies and various stalking along the Isonzo. In short, the developers have found enough material to be able to indulge themselves in the creation of their next video game. The scenarios available on the Italian front are really many and given their variety they required a great deal of work in balancing the gameplay.

Fighting at high altitude will force us to choose the right equipment: snipers will be the masters of the Alpine peaks, engineers will try to build means of displacement such as small cableways, while it will be essential to destroy the enemy's machine guns in order to advance with the rest of the army, without neglecting the very dangerous poison gas.

Interview with the developers

Clash on the difficult alpine terrain Below you will find our questions and related answers received directly from the developers . Unfortunately, other information, such as the specific settings present in the video game, will only be revealed in the coming months when we get closer to the release date. So continue to follow us on the pages of sportsgaming.win to stay up to date on the WWI Series Isonzo video game developed by M2H and Blackmill Games.

How many people currently work behind this project?

We have around 20 core team members now working on the World War I game series.

How will the title in development be similar to the other two games (Verdun and Tannenberg)?

Isonzo takes its cue from Verdun and Tannenberg to take a further step forward. While some key elements of the game will be particularly familiar, such as the menus and interface, many others have been revamped with the addition of numerous features. The main similarity between Isonzo and the other games of the WWI Series is the continuous attention to the authenticity of the gameplay and the realism of the artwork in the 3D models. In fact, everything is based on in-depth research done directly by our development studios.

What is your main goal with this game, considering the evolution process compared to your latest works?

Our main goal is to capture the essence of WWI on the Italian front, taking gameplay to the next level by adding new features for greater immersion. By this we mean the presence of new equipment such as the wire cutters seen in the trailer, the new and historically more realistic Offensive mode, a more dynamic battlefield, the new loading system that allows greater flexibility and of course, all the weapons and equipment of the entire Italian army

High altitude clash in Isonzo's fast-paced gameplay How relevant is realism in this type of game? Or does the gameplay play a more important role?

Realism has always been important to our WWI game series, especially all of the graphics in the game. The material used is the result of our research and even field visits to ensure that weapons, uniforms and landscapes are as accurate as possible. For the gameplay, our goal is authenticity: players should feel as if they are experiencing combat on the Italian front, with all the challenges experienced in the War of the Alps. However, we have allowed ourselves some liberties as a 100% realistic game. % on World War I wouldn't be so much fun.

Will the game be available simultaneously on all platforms?

This is the goal! We want to release Isonzo simultaneously on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

Can we expect a major graphical update with next generation consoles?

Of course! Soil management takes place in a different way, with tessellation that allows us to recreate the characteristic Italian rock formations, particularly sharp, and have trenches with better details. Global lighting likewise enhances the atmosphere of ruined villages and open valleys, while also ensuring an increase in overall performance. Last, but definitely not least, we have updated our system to use IK-assisted animations, which make the player's movement smoother.

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