Developers M2H and Blackmill Games have released a “remastered” update for World War I first-person shooter Verdun for Xbox One, which “touuches almost every part of the game,” adding new content, updated graphics, audio, interface, AI, and more. The PlayStation 4 version of the update is also nearing completing and will be released “soon.”
Here are some of the key features of the update:
New look and feel
Verdun has been revamped from top to bottom, with a new presentation, overhauled user interface, an optimized control scheme… and that’s just the menus! Graphical improvements include new character models, and an enhanced gore system to better capture the brutality of frontline combat. A whole new audio system and soundscapes have been implemented, with many weapon sounds rerecorded, often with genuine WW1 weapons for the most authentic audio possible.
St. Mihiel Map, and two new squads with new weapons
During the Battle of St. Mihiel the American Expeditionary Force (with French support) defeated the German 5th Army. The new map is set on the fiercely contested St. Mihiel salient, with trenches running between the trees of a shelled out forest.
The Senegalese Tirailleurs are French colonial troops, armed with distinctive variants of the Berthier rifle and fearsome machetes. They are an assault squad, specialized at breaking the enemy line. The second new squad have travelled from even further abroad to fight on the Western Front – the ANZACs are an engineer squad with balanced loadouts allowing them to fight in close quarters or offer fire support at range. Weapon options include the Lewis Gun and the Webley-Fosbery: an unusual recoil operated automatic revolver.
Play anytime with AI allies and opponents
New AI bots will join Frontlines battles, fighting alongside for control of the trenches. Up to 24 bots can be part of a battle and will join servers. You can even start offline battles and choose which squads you want the AI to use. There are also welcome gameplay adjustments and additions, such as tutorial hints, bullet penetration, a better deathcam, reworked spawning system, and an end to frustrating barbed wire deaths – it will now slow and wound you, but not kill you.
The full list of changes is available here.
Watch the update launch trailer below.