This being a WW1 game and that I have a keen interest in it's history, I was determined to look for any historical flaws or gameplay flaws that contradicted anything from WW1. Well I have to say, based on those factors and the gameplay itself, I am very impressed!

The maps are designed in a way that would either mean the player has to resort to trench warfare, long distance warfare or even a mixture of both, getting the player to adapt to their surroundings and making them become more tactical in their decisions and how they would approah the enemy, which is an excellent feature! The maps also contain a lot of hidden elemnts and restricitons that relate to the kinds of conditions of WW1 (e.g. barbed wire hazards and execution for desertion), which make the game very knowledgable to its historical context as well as adding challenge for players.

The weapons are also historically accurate as they should be and although there is not much variety in weapon types (5-7 rifles, 1 pistol type each team, 1 MG type each team), there is definitely a sense of competitivity through its ranking systems for weapons, classes and overall all personel rank. This makes the game a hell of a lot more addicting and can make players determined to reach target ranks to unlock more classes for frontline gameplay and unlocks for more rifles in deathmatch gameplay. Although most weapon damage is quite powerful since most rifles tend to kill either instantly or sometimes after 2 shots (depedning on player distance from target), they do allow the player to experiment with different fighting tactics in which pistol classes can be used in trench combat and MGs for defensive purposes as examples.

Squad systems are also a good element which gets the player to think greatly about his fellow team members rather than his own killstreaks. Squad ranking is used in each game and the more experience points recieved together as a group, the more bonus perks can be used to give them greater advantages in frontline combat. There are also a set of 4 classes in the squadron which each have different roles and weapons like the commander, who can give movement orders, mortar strikes andrecon planes but is only equiped with a pistol and binoculars. These types of loadouts in squads allow the player to think more about their class role and how they assist their team members in different situations

All these features do make quite an interesting game on it's own, however it is an early access game and it of course will have its flaws. Aside animation errors and sudden lags during or other glitches during gameplay, the game itself does not offer you much choice as to what game modes you can play or how you can play. A the moment, there are only 2 game modes, both of which require many people to just run around and shoot people. That's more or less it. Even objectives in Frontlines is obtained through killing players, it doesnt allow player much to do and can easily become quite a boring process for most. If it were to add more game modes with extra objective features that require players to for example arm bombs, use artillery equipement or maybe even use chlorine gas artilery to get players to use gas masks or avoid certain areas of the battlefield. It could do with graphic improvement and model improvements to, but like I said, it is an early access. As far as I'm aware, apparently a free download of the game can be aquired legally on the internet somewhere, which leaves reason to suggest why they would con people to pay money for a free access beta.

All things aside, this game has definitely been through a thoughtful and well put development process and is generally a great war based game. We could do with more WW1 games, and this seems to pull of it's aspects brilliantly.

Ah, the good old days. Until we lost all was fine. Damn Socialists.

Good little game, great details was given to weapons, they look the real thing, uniforms and sceneries are ok. Could improve artillery, quite limited, only one player has grenades which is inaccurate for the days, no trench knife or club, limited use of bayonet, they could introduce tanks, gas, make the trenches more complex and have more than 5 players per side. There are hardly any games relating to WWI which is a shame considering it is a very interesting era, the end of a romanticised type of conflict with flamboyant uniforms and cavalry, lancers and swords, and the emergence of mechanised armies, modernised weaponry and for the first time use of camouflage. There would be more interest in the game if it was made more realistic also, anyway I like it, I recommend it and would like to see more people play it

Gas comes in and obscures everything around you. You're nearly blind, choking to death, gasping for air. You manage to get your mask on in time to save yourself, then out of the mist.......a shadow.
A Shot.
Then everything goes black.

Small Squads, fighting intimate and frightening skirmishes.

So, I don't usually write reviews, but on this one, I thought I would finally write one.

First off, I like the WW1 setting and the trench warfare gamemode, Frontlines. Attacking and defending trenches, back and forth. Some games become quite intense.

And, just a reminder: this review is about if I can "Recommend" this game, or not, for others to buy. Liking the game and recommending it are two different things.

**As of 161, this is more of a middle-thumb review for recommendation, less of a thumbs down. A little more hard work from the great Dev team, and this will change to a "Recommended!"

The Good:
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*Frontlines: Fun trench warfare (Each side randomly attacks the enemy's trench, or defends their own at the start of battle. You get 1 point for a successful attack/defense. Team with the highest points wins the match, regardless of who got the most kills. After each successful attack, you have to defend your newly-earned trench. After each successful defense, you get to attack the next trench line. The more players you have in the trench line over the other team, the faster you capture the trench. =Teamwork is what it's all about!= Just because you can single-handedly sneak in to an enemy trench and wipe them out yourself, (I've done it before on several occasions) doesn't mean you'll capture the trench, or your teammates will come up to join you quick-enough to stop the flood of enemy players from swamping you and taking back their trench from your lone-assault. Always communicate with your team, via team-chat "U" and let them know where the enemy is, where you should charge, etc!)
*Authentic voices (french/german)
*Attention to detail when it comes to historical accuracy
*Classes which vary per squad type (currently, there are infantry squads, recon squads and assault squads, each with their own load-outs. This generates a lot of replayability trying to gain all the class unlocks for each squad type on each side)
*Each gun has its own sighting (learning how to properly aim each gun is a fun, and rewarding, part of the learning curve)
*As you play more with the same players, you unlock higher squad levels which have varying effects on everyone's classes. Most-notably, the mortar upgrade. (which can be extremely devastating)
*Overall, it can be very fun to play, especially with a few friends. (best with VOIP, of course)
*Small, attentive development team that really listens to their playerbase! (I count this as a plus, personally)
*Gas! There are four different types of gas attacks to use. The gas clouds linger for several minutes and basically lock-out a portion of the battlefield. Try battling in the gas with your gas mask on at your own risk!

The Bad:
-----------
*Some Sync/net-code issues ("dancing" sometimes works now, unless they are fairly close, but zig-zagging is your best bet. Some times, you will see the bullet zoom past you, then you will drop dead. Getting shot when you're behind a corner, or already standing in a trench from someone who is shooting over the trench)
*Shot Processing (Shots are chronologically sent to the server as fast as possible. Whichever shot reaches the server first, no matter if both shots were kill shots, the shot that wins kills its target, and the remaining bullet is completely deleted. Sometimes you will see your gun go off, full animation, sound effect, everything... Then, you drop dead. Your opponent, however? Perfectly fine. This "bullet erasure" is unacceptable, if a bullet is in the air, it is live, and should stay as such until it strikes something, in my opinion) ("Pass-through Shots"... this could be related to this, but I'm unsure. It seems since about 158 or 159, hit detection doesn't quite work right. You'll find yourself making point-blank, no movement, breath-held shots, only to see the round impact directly behind them with no effect at all. Recently, you can press F7 to see if you've actually hit and dealt damage to someone)
*Gas is slightly too weak. (considering the lethal nature of gas attacks, especially Mustard gas, the gas attacks which you can now call down every 4+ minutes are... a littleunderwhelming, however they will be improved over time) (Gas still feels a little weak (specifically Mustard) and is currently more-used as a smoke-screen)
*Assault (gas) squads mostly only have pistols, with a few exceptions and melee weapons. Rifles are fairly high unlocks for them, unless you're a one of a couple specific classes)
*A few gun/squad balance issues
**Numerous other small issues/bugs/character rest/Ghost/Reload/Graphics at long distance

My take: Personally, I love the game--when I don't run into tons of sync/net-code/shot processing. Some times, I find myself making perfectly aimed shots, only to have the bullet pass through my opponent, without it even registering, or some of the other Shot Processing problems. That being said, I've had many, many, many fun, and quite intense, games of Verdun. It's just, when the BS starts to mount up, its better to put the game down for a while, and come back in a few hours.

So, with all that said...

Do I like the game? Yes.
Can I recommend this game? (At list price) Almost! Gas squads add interesting gameplay, but needs slight improvement!
Can I recommend this game during a sale? Sure! You'll have a lot of fun, (and some frustration) but it's definitely worth picking up!

Do I regret buying this game? The game has come a long way since I started playing it. I have A LOT of fun sometimes. Other nights, it's just pure frustration. However, when I first started playing, the issues that used to exist overwhelmed me and I would rarely have higher than 10 kills with some 30+ deaths... Now, I'm usually around a 2:1 k/d ratio per game, sometimes higher. This varies of course... But, on average, it's about that. I fought through the issues the game once had, because there was just "something" that kept calling me back to it. I improved and learned to deal with the issues, until how I feel about the game now and many of the issues were fixed. Some nights, I am more-than happy I bought the game, even at list price. Other nights, I'd like nothing more than to uninstall it and never play it again. Moderating the frustration I have some nights, I find myself coming back to the game over and over again... Of late, with the responsiveness of a great Dev team, the game is constantly improving and issues are getting adressed. The game is a lot smoother than it once was, and the shooting feels much better. However, it does still have its problems--which, I'm sure will be solved over time.

Recently, a change to the unlocking system has made it so that you can unlock each loadout for each class after only a handful of games. While this varies combat a lot, and can provide more intense battles... This makes playing matches/getting kills a little less rewarding. Used to, having an '08/15 as a French (Entente) MG was a big deal. Now, you'll find most of them using it.

On a personal note: I would like to see a larger variety of weapons in the future, most-of-all. However, a smooth, stable, balanced, bug-free (as much as possible) game is more important to me, than shiney new weapons. Also, most-immediately, I'd like iron-sight accuracy to be improved. A while back there was an accuracy nerf to hipshots (much needed) and iron-sighting AND breath-holding. (increasing accuracy) Later, the breath-holding nerf was rolled-back a bit, but the other changes remain.

This game is considered Early Access, and will change, and improve over time. Should the game improve and/or my recommendation change, I'll change this review.

7/10 -- Very fun, but a little too buggy sometimes. Make sure you grab some friends with some VOIP, or make friends in-game! Squad-play and teamwork is key!

(Review was updated to v172 of the game)

(REVIEW UPDATED 12/7/14) **I would give this game the middle of the road if I could.** I also understand that this game is early access I'm not recommending this game for the moment because there are some things that the devs really should focus on before finishing the game.

Btw I died while playing as a Canadian soldier and screamed EH as I died. 12 out of 10 xD.
________________________________________________________________________________
The Good:

All jokes aside, Verdun is a squad based game that lets you chose to play from 7 squad types in total (at least for now) that are from the British, Canadian, French, or German militaries. This might not seem like a good thing if you're someone who doesn't like a challenge but Verdun is a tough online shooter. Typically I hate online muliplayer shooters because I'm terrible at them and I find them kind of boring due to the fact that I die so often yet I die all the time in this title and I'm more drawn to it than any other multiplayer shooter. This game makes you suffer through a lot but like in other challenging and tough games out there, for instance Dark Souls and KSP, it's oh so rewarding when you achieve something in this game :D! Though the guns from WWI weren't as bad as guns from the 1800's, the guns that you start off with have at least adequate accuracy so actually shooting and killing another player is not easy at first. When you finally defeat another player it's incredibly satisfying and though you may only have gotten one kill in your first match, you want to play more and you can put hours into this game if you have the patience of course.

The graphics look fantastic and despite having only 5 or 6 maps for the frontlines and rifle deathmatch modes, the maps feel lifelike in terms of looks and sheer size. I'll admit the trenches could be made deeper and given more static objects to add to realism but that's very nitpicky and this title is indeed a gorgeous game. This game will ooze with grit and realism in each pixel, plus, this is an indie developer we're talking about, not some half ♥♥♥♥♥ triple A company. The most overlooked features in this game are that the weapons and overall character design are some of the best I've seen. I'm not saying that the character models look beyond next gen or something but the quality of the faces and outfits look so authentic because there's so much detail to them. Most models look the same facially but they all look like authentic soldiers who are fighting in grimy and unsanitary conditions like men who fought in the Great War.
________________________________________________________________________________
The Bad:

Speaking of authenticism, the most crippling flaw in Verdun is that THE TRENCH WARFARE ISN'T HISTORICALLY ACCURATE. Trench warfare was fought like this: low ranking officers, who lived in the trenches with soldiers, were given orders by higher ranking officers who were safe and sound and far away from the trenches. These high ranking officers almost always gave commands that low ranking officers got their men to charge straight into enemy lines. This gave the opposition the ability to easily fire rounds at the charging faction killing off many of the men who were charging into enemy flanks. In summation, the goal of trench warfare was to take over the enemy trench so that way the invading faction would be able to gain more land than the enemy. Both the Allies and even the Axis powers didn't know how to deal with Germany's new invention, the machinegun. Both sides were so used to fighting in rows with inaccurate guns and this is largely what made the Great War so unique. WWI is one of the most bloody wars that the world has ever seen and one could argue that it was foreshadowing of the brutal wars to come after it, especially the second world war. For a game that's advertising itself as an immersive WWI multiplayer, I feel like I'm fighting a WWI themed game instead of the real world war.
________________________________________________________________________________
The Ugly:

I think that in order to solve this issue the dev team has to add a new gameplay mechanic to really immerse players in the battlefields of Verdun. A set of high ranking npc officers should be added to the game and they should order all players to charge the enemy by advancing straight into enemy lines. I know that this might infuriate players because they would most likely get shot and killed often so perhaps instead of having all players charge, there should be a squad that specializes in charging straight forward into enemy lines. There should be plenty of npc soldiers that are apart of this squad that follow the players into enemy lines so that way the chance that a player in that squad will decrease by a lot. In order for players to feel like they're fighting the first world war proper and realistic trench warfare needs to be added to this game because this game really should be more focussed on realism, not to mention this is the only semi realistic WWI fps game that I know of.

This issue with Verdun is fairly less of an issue in comparision with the issue of authentic trench warfare but the performance for the game can be really terrible at times. My graphics card isn't spectacular or anything since it's an AMD radeon with only 5000 mb of ram or so but I think it'd be best if the devs did their best to make the game more performance friendly for people with computers/laptops that don't have Nvidia Geforce or GTX graphics cards and huge amounts of ram. Once again this is a minor complaint but it's one that needs to be adressed nontheless. I'm hoping to get a better laptop for the holidays with a GTX graphics card, 8 gb ram, and 1 tb hardrive so I can see how well Verdun runs on a higher end pc laptop. I'll update my review again, at least regarding performance, should I get a better laptop.

________________________________________________________________________________
Food for Thought:

If i could give this game a thumb that was IN THE MIDDLE, I would but honestly I can't recommend it as of now because this game needs more polishing. Verdun can be very offputting for many new players due to the performance issues with lower end pcs, lack of some crucial elements true to the nature of WWI, and the fact that this game has a learning curve and requires lots of patience. These cons are actually issues that 2 my friends brought up to me, I gifted them Verdun so we could all play together. My rating for Verdun may have gone down by a fair amount but my love for Verdun hasn't, I want this game to stand as one of the best pc titles of the decade when it's finished instead of just some pc indie game. I admire this game so much that it ACTUALLY INSPIRED ME to learn about WWI. Not much can compare to Verdun because it's the only online fps squad based shooter out there that's set in the first world war, buy it only if you feel comfortable with the pros and cons it currently has for the time being.

**My Rating (as of 12/7/14): 7/10**

Verdun is a historical WWI first person shooter that brings that nostalgia back from the days of storming the beach of Normandy in Medal of Honor. Set in the Western front, you fight as either the French or the Germans.

You find your typical FPS gamemodes here though (at least not yet). Although they do have a free-for-all mode, you will find most people in what can be best desribed as a domination type game mode, but much, much better. At the start of battle, either team fights or defends for the middle of the battlefield. Defenders using the trench as cover while the attackers pour in 1 and 1 attempting to overrun the trench to claim it as their own. If you can't capture/defend a trench for a certain period of time then the enemy will push forward until you are completely defeated. Unlike other games though, if defending and a point is lost, you must fall back or risk desertion (death). This prevents players from running up behind everyone, which is very unrealistic in the first place. If you're someone who hates camping, you might as well just forget this game. This is not a run-n-gun game like COD. This is tactical warfare that require patience at times in order to get that pesky sniper or to take out the MG nest.

The devs really went for historical accuracy here, and are doing a great job. Names of "classes" are no longer "sniper" or "assault". You get authentic names for units and weapons.

Weapons are currently very limited and most feel fairly similar, but there are no "OP" weapons and it usually comes down to skill rather than who has the better gun.

Graphics are not anything next gen, but is currently still being worked on. Currently I can run at high level graphics on a decent PC, but nothing overly special. Animations are accurate when loading weapons and using grenades, although the running currently looks a little silly.

Currently there are (of course) bugs, but nothing gamebreaking. Occasionally you will go "how the hell did I die?" or "how did I not kill him?", but I know I'm not the only person that has said those same things in every other FPS.

One of the coolest parts of the game is the Devs. They actively join in on games and will talk back to you, answering questions, or simply just to chat. They seem like they love their work and will really make this game into something. If the game is on sale, without a doubt, get it. If its full price and you still aren't sure, or you're wary of early access games, then wait. If that doesn't bother you, and you love Online FPS, and enjoy a great historical setting, this game is worth every penny whether its on sale or not.

Join German squad.
Slaughter French and British and capture their trench.
French and British players disconnect.
We all run around and shoot trees.
Constant "DEUTSCHLAND ÜBER ALLES GOTT MIT UNS" spammed in chat.
New player connects, joins Entente.
"DEUTSCHLAND #1 REMOVE FRENCH"
10v1 French player destroyed.
He disconnects.
Capture all remaining trenches unopposed.
Match about to end
"BAYONET CHARGE INTO THEIR SPAWN"
Charge with entire army.
Killed instantly when I accidentally step on some barbed wire with my left foot.
Game ends, Central Powers victorious.
"DEUTSCHLANDDEUTSCHLANDDEUTSCHLANDDEUTSCHLAND"

10/10 Best WWI game I ever played, seriously.

Kaiser Wilhelm II would be proud.

I recommend this game only if you ACTUALLY enjoy tactical shooters. This game makes RO2 look like COD:MW. It's like that.
The game in general as well as the classes seem really well thought out, historical settings and detail seem paramount here. Not for the faint at heart or casual FPS player.



I will update as I progress through the game/ put in more hours

Pure trench warfare! Your fightin in the mud, clawing the ground, inching forward to take enemy positions, just to get caught in barbed wire. Lots of fun. I have fps issues, freezes and lag from time to time. You need really good rig if you wanna run it on high settings. There are a few buggy spots on the map where u can get stuck in places where you shouldn't. It also seems sometimes you get shot through areas you shouldnt. Could use a little polish, but i reccomend. Frenchies. ;)

Trench warfare ww1 game.
Bolt action slaughter house. It's worth the price.
Also there are still more improvements to come.

When I first downloaded this game it felt like I was shooting guns made out of play doh at polygon nightmares, but has to be one of the most fun and intense FPS games in the store. The updates don't disapoint in content and dispite it being early access they keep adding too it.

In short I can slap people with a shovel while running in mustard gas.
9/10

It's a good game, but you just have to get use to the game.
http://youtu.be/OtOytwQ_f48
Verdun is a squad-based multiplayer FPS set in First World War (WW1) . It may take some time to, but you will have your fun. Although you will also have the times were you don't have fun in the battle(s) that you are in. So, you could have great battles or bad battles, either way it is a good game to play. You just need to learn.

An awesome game, it is a very different experience from your traditional shooter. The main weapon that you use is a bolt action rifle, so there is absolutely no spray and pray idiots. There are machine guns, but you can't sprint and move much slower when wielding one, also you have to deploy it like in RO. Each team has a few squads and each squad has very different members. Some have a sniper, an observer and a scout, and some squads have a grenadier (guy with grenades not launchers) a machine gunner and a rifleman. All squads have an officer. An officer can call in gas, mortars or observation planes depending on what type of squad he is in.
The maps deeply compliment the class system by having (hint WWI): trenches and barbed wire. The maps have several sets of trenches with fairly open stretches of land in-between, and when you are on the offense it is your job to charge across that land, from crater to crater and over the final hump into the enemy trenches. That gets challenging sometimes, but by coordinating attacks with your team you can successfully storm a fortified trench fairly easily.
As a defender your job its to stop the enemy from capturing your trench. As you sit behind some cover with only your rifle and head poking out you are a fairly hard target to reach and you pick off attackers as they charge at you. But then you are gassed and you can't see, or a mortar hits you and your corpse goes flying, or a teammate says: BREACH LEFT and you look to your left to see an enemy rifle pointed down the trench line at your head, and sometimes simply you are sniped from a guy in the trenches the enemy just captured.
I have been in a few games with the devs even! They are kind and open to any feedback, positve or negative.
Overall 11/10 would recommend.

First of all: congratulations to the devs!
Secondly, I've seen this game grow day by day... It really is awesome to see it now the way it is, even if it isn't finished yet.
It's a great game, really fun to play and quite easy to get in to.
Graphics are good and the gameplay is being upgraded frequently.
I seriously recommend this game to y'all!

Have fun, but remember to keep your head low and your bayonets fixed :)

See you at no man's land!

Awesome game, slightly biased review ;)

By now, I can safely say this is one of the best WW1 first-person shooters I have ever played; and continues to improve day on day. Through little over a year, the game has come on leaps and bounds with the addition of various new factions including the Tommies and Canadians, as well as the German assasult Strosstrupen squad. Various additions to the game are also in the works including a new melee system, and other, highly anticipated map releases. Although this game is not finished - with it being in Early Access - through having slight bugs or glitches, I can safely say this game is going to be a huge success with the steam community, and if you are thinking of buying the game, know you are going to jump right in with a dedicated and reassuring community fighting it out in the muddy depths of World War one. 9/10.

I was very fortunant to get this game! Verdun is a WW1 history buff's wet dream as long as they love online multiplayer, a great community that is full of philosophical history buffs and awesome trolls, and first person shooters. It updates from time to time like minecraft. You fight on 5 maps so far; can play as the French, Germans, Canadians, and British. It is mainly a squad based game that requires the strategy and cooperation of your teammates ranging up to games that can maximize to 32 people per server. It requires a lot of patience because it is a long paced game since it tries and succeeds in creating a WW1 atmosphere. You can unlock different weapons as you level up your different squad classes. I argue however, that the squad-class rank-ups are too easy now; you can now rank up all 4 tires in one match if you do well enough while as before it used to take way longer which balanced out the game and formed as a prestiege mode for your progression. Other than that, it is a great game, definantly one of my top-favorites especially out of my steam library. Just know that back then there were mostly bolt-action rifles without scopes, so don't expect so many mobile machine guns in this game. Have fun and enjoy it, the game's price increases the more it updates so hurry up and get it while you still can!

The BEST WW1 FPS out there. This is a truly beautiful game, which very accurately depicts the "mud-and-blood" fighting on the western front. 10/10.