The recently released MMO war game Foxhole from Siege Camp has a pretty lofty idea. A massively multiplayer online game, where each server or “shard” is its war that is completely run by players. Every frontline is fed bullets and resources by logistics players working behind the lines to extract resources, refine them, create those items, and then ship them out to where the war is being bloodily fought by even more players. The concept seems disastrous, but I’m here to tell you that this 24/7 war is raging even in the dead of the night. With thousands of players per side mobilizing materials and themselves to attack, defend, and create this war in every way, it is amazing to behold and be a part of.
In Foxhole, there are many different roles. Even in frontline combat roles soldiers can be driving vehicles, firing artillery, building as combat engineers, or throwing a bayonet on a rifle and fighting in a variety of environments and landscapes. Cities, bridges, fields, trench lines, rivers, and islands all see their level of bloodshed, and some of these battles can rage for real-world days. Of course, the players behind the lines resupplying the front is also a huge endeavor, with the creation and shipment of vehicles and items to the frontline taking time. A frontline without logistics support will fall, and I’ve seen firsthand the horrors of a city with dwindling supplies and a seemingly endless horde of enemies descending upon it. Read on for the rest of my review and thoughts from my first few days playing Foxhole in the Release War, or War 96.
Gameplay
The primary draw of Foxhole is a dynamic war that is player-centric. The frontline is spread across 7 sectors, and each area has its mood and player base Regiments, similar to clans, hold specific sway over certain regions and you can see the Regiment tags in front of players’ names. In this massive war, one player can make a difference, but being a small part of the whole brings this game to the top of my multiplayer experiences in the last decade.
While the game was released two weeks ago, this war has been raging day and night and has stacked up almost 2.5 MILLION casualties in total on Able Shard as of this time of writing. With shards holding just over 4,000 players per and a community that is worldwide, this is an impressive amount of people playing this game and playing it on a schedule. One of the biggest draws of some of the larger Regiments and Coalitions (groups of Regiments) is the multi-time zone coverage. Losing a city you bled over while you’re sleeping is a reality in Foxhole, so having groups of players in Asia, Europe, and the Americas allows your position to remain strong over the night shift.
In my case, I fought in a region called Endless Shore and joined a Warden regiment called The Royal Spuds, referred to in-game as [SPUD]. As I wandered around the region and interacted with other players on Discord, it dawned on me the vastness of the war I was involved in. Spawning away from the frontline and making my way through a series of wooden bunkers and trenches as I moved towards the distant gunshots was made even cooler with the understanding that players built it all.
The “top-down” angle of gameplay made spotting and shooting a much more interesting dynamic. In the explosions and gunshots on the front line, running between trenches and firing at the green soldiers coming toward our lines, I marveled at the depth continually. As I respawned at a nearby base, a logistics player dropped off a large number of rifles, ammo, and grenades and cheered us on in the local voice chat. Later, a player-ranked Captain motivated my fellows on the left flank into a charge, and I ran with them through the heavy fire into the enemy trench where we threw high-explosive grenades at a bunker and quickly all died. Upon spawning, someone was right there to prep another charge.
As the days and nights went by, the Colonials pushed and we Wardens held the line, gritting our teeth though thousands of us were dying and respawning over and over. We held that position for the next few real-life days, and I got into the habit of checking the Royal Spud discord to keep track of our status when I wasn’t able to play or was off doing something else. In all my time with games, I’ve rarely felt that engaged with an MMO or online community, but here it is without thought. My phone buzzes with a request for aid, and I boot up Foxhole to join in an epic defense or a brutal attack.
As our tech level in-game advanced, the war went from men and rifles to artillery and tanks and got even more brutal. I will never forget my time in the city of Saltbrook Channel, dubbed Saltingrad by the Foxhole community in the region. After pushing into the city and capturing it, we began an extended defense effort while taking almost constant artillery strikes and attacks by infantry across 2 broken bridges to the south. The comrades I made, the battles we fought, and the hours and hours I spent running supplies, building defenses, and fighting in a close-range city battle with bayonets have impacted me so much more than any other game I’ve played. These dynamic stories of war 96 are also immortalized by the community with stories, memes, and even propaganda created by other players.
Audio and Visuals
With the top-down angle of the camera, players are given ample opportunity to look at the terrain and different views that exist across the region of Caovia. From snow-covered plains to valley passes, the war is quite pleasing to look at all over. The individual soldiers look great, and unique uniforms are spotted quite quickly due to their differences. Seeing a medic with a big green cross on their backpack can often be a relief in the heat of battle. The quality of explosions and the overall look gives a great feel to the game and can become very immersive despite the angle. Different sizes of shells have different sounds and visuals, and with headphones, the peace in a moment of quiet is totally distinct from the scream of artillery and thump of explosions.
While the visuals are crisp and interesting, this isn’t a graphically intense game with lots of options and light reactions. In the case of Foxhole this works out quite well, and the angle of view adds a lot to the way the game is experienced. Much of the intensity of gameplay actually comes from the audio, which is wildly impressive. Each weapon sounds distinct and identifying what is being fired at you comes quickly, and the moment of terror when you don’t recognize a noise is intense. The first mortars that landed on my position in this war had me terrified, dodging across a field as these grenade-sized explosions landed near us and killed some friendly players. 3 days later in the slog of Saltingrad, the boom of distant artillery and the subsequent panic from nearby players as massive 120mm shells landed on our town hall had us desperately trying to repair it before it was destroyed.
The chaos of the battlefield is truly explosive and epic, and the chatter of machine guns and vehicles adds to the symphony incredibly well. Some of the greatest moments in my time gaming came about while all this noise is going on, and one of the players near me rallies a group of us into a desperate fight while blaring bagpipes through their voice chat. These epic moments would not exist without the wonderful sound design, which really adds to the immersion and moment-by-moment brutality of this war.
Replayability
To me, this is a no-brainer. With this 1.0 release, the developers at Siege Camp added flame systems, trains, and new tanks. Flamethrowers and flame tanks and flame rockets are a crazy addition, and dropping everything to try to put out a fire on a base is pretty intense. According to veteran players, this has completely changed the tactics of a game that has already experienced 95 wars. Throughout Early Access, Foxhole has added features and items and the developers have promised to keep similar updates coming. On that level, there is already some deep replayability.
However, the biggest drive behind saying this game is hugely replayable is the dynamics of each war being its own distinct event. Other players swap stories about previous wars, tactics are generated based on successes in different wars, and different regiments have rivalries and alliances that might change or evolve as time goes on. In each war, the tech tiers and the initial map placement is modified to change how the overall war plays out. What that means is if you don’t like this war or fade out of it, coming back later for different weapons and tactics in the same war or for the start of a brand new one is a different experience. Along with that, with so much depth in the game already, there are so many ways to play. While I have spent the majority of my time on the frontlines holding ground or taking it, I have also spent time in different roles.
Taking a class (organized by the Royal Spuds and Sundial Initiative) on logistics was an interesting way to spend an hour, and I got whole new respect for players that build from the ground up and manage the backline factories and plants. Delivering supplies via ship or truck from our backline regions to the frontline, and understanding that my delivery of bullets kept the line from being pushed, is also incredibly cool. Taking part in partisan activities where we raid the enemies backline, destroy their deliveries, or even just scout out areas is also intense and really opens how much of a sandbox this game really is. What it comes down to is that there is as much replayability as you can possibly look for in Foxhole. If you look at the overall picture it might not seem that way (“The same war over and over? Boring!”) but if you truly engage with the game and the community you see a multi-leveled experience that can find new and exciting opportunities for emergent and dynamic gameplay and stories.
What It Could Have Done Better
As much fun as I had and as much love as I have for this game, a huge issue since launch has been server stability and queue times. I have been disconnected from the server along with many others quite a few times since the war started, and it can happen multiple times in a short amount of time. One day I disconnected 3 times in the span of two hours with half of the server also disconnecting, and on the last one, I simply switched games. While I think these server issues are already being resolved due to hotfixes from the developers and probably happened because of the huge uptick in players on release, it was a big enough issue I can not ignore it.
Another big issue that can’t be ignored is the queue system. Sometimes when attempting to join a server or region that is at capacity, the game will put players into a queue to wait until a slot opens for them. Whatever it is based on, like total population across both teams or specific team slots, seeing 20 people in the queue ahead of you can be a big bummer. These queues also move incredibly slowly and I once sat in a queue for an hour before I could join the region. While there might be balance reasons for this or it is a net code issue, it can be frustrating and definitely cut a game session early. I heard many similar stories in my time so far in Foxhole, but have also heard the veterans talk about how many new people are playing.
Verdict
If I haven’t made it clear, Foxhole is an incredible experience that I will be talking about for years to come. Despite some server issues and queue woes, I still happily wait in line to jump into the war effort and assist my regiment with whatever I can. Each day is a new experience, even when it is the exact same bridge you defended yesterday. Seeing comrades from previous days, swapping battle stories with the local chat, and calling for a medic while carrying that comrade over your shoulder make the experience even sweeter. War 96 has been my first war, but I can guarantee it won’t be my last.
I also want to extend a thank you to the Royal Spuds and The Sundial Initiative for welcoming a fresh recruit into their ranks and assisting with learning the game. My time in Foxhole thus far has been much smoother thanks to the help from veteran players, and laughing through my mistakes with them makes this game completely worthy of its MMO title. If you are considering joining up and need a regiment that will help you learn, check out the discord here. The Royal Spuds was created by Twitch Streamer MoiDawg, and his discord also acts as the landing page for a lot of other military-based games.
So, in conclusion, Foxhole is an incredible series of experiences and I would recommend picking it up. Being a small part of a massive war effort is almost indescribable, and the way the gameplay flows can completely engross and distract you, despite the current server issues and queueing pains. To put it into perspective, I put almost 40 hours into Foxhole within 5 days after I bought it, and am just putting this review out now. If the game reviewer gets so caught up on the game he is reviewing that he forms a backlog, you know it has to be good.
Foxhole is available now on Steam. Check it out and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
