It’s not Squad without a Nano video
Almost five years after Early Access began, Squad has reached version 1.0!!!
Version 1.0 Release Notes!
The best thing about that trailer is that unlike 99% of them these days, it actually showed a bunch of GAMEPLAY.
A lot of that gameplay is from users who posted their videos on social media. I recognize some of those clips. The Devs must have asked to use them for the trailer.
I watch these clips and wonder why the heck I stopped playing after 40 hours. I loved every second of it and that was a while back. I reinstalled it today and will dive in tomorrow. What I loved about this game more than pretty much any other online game was how well people actually tried to work together.
Sure you sometimes get a crappy squad, but when you get a good one it’s just bliss. And this game has the best comms system of any game that I’m aware of. I remember once wandering up on another squad that was complaining about their leader in the local comms. It was hilarious and super immersive at the same time.
I averaged about 400 hours per year during Early Access. This is my favorite game, and easily my favorite multiplayer game of all time.
Here’s a YouTuber who got sponsored to do his first time experience in Squad
This is such an up and down game for me as someone who doesn’t have squadmates and has to go in solo. If you get a good squad leader than it’s an absolutely sublime experience but it’s a real die roll and if you get a bad SL then it’s just a waste of 30 minutes.
The game is so good when it’s good that it stays on my hard drive but the difference between a good round and a bad one (I mean beyond simple win/loss) is so wide it’s frustrating.
I generally play on the SquadOps public servers. SquadOps is a great community; a lot of these guys have been playing since Early Access began. It’s also a thriving community, thanks to their separate one-life events. They hold these about three times a week. All you have to do to participate is sign-up, and conduct a short, one-hour orientation session.
It may seem pretty complex, but we’re also viewing it from the perspective of veteran squad leads. (Also, that video is from Dorf’s perspective, and he’s an Army officer in the Guard). And squad leading can be pretty intense. You’re basically having several conversations at once, while playing chess, while engaging in combat, while herding cats. But you can have a lot of fun just being a rifleman. The job is a lot easier; you just do what you’re told!
They’re also starting up weekly Arma 3 one-life events.
More sponsored videos for version 1.0.
Here’s OperatorDrewski. He just a hit a million subscribers. He’s been playing Squad for years. Drewski plays on The Playground servers.
Karmakut, probably the most famous Squad YouTuber. Karma was the founder of SquadOps, so he plays on the SquadOps public servers.
And Nano is huge Squad fan! Not sure where he plays. He’s Portuguese, so he’s mainly on European servers.
I’m curious to see if this game blows up now that it went to 1.0. It’s VERY content creator friendly and it’s one of those games that is as much fun to watch as it is to play. For example if you watch clips of pubg at least for me it’s very entertaining. Actually playing it is not nearly as fun most of the time.
With this game since it’s not a BR and you have the whole revive system there isn’t a huge pressure or downside to getting killed aside from losing your team tickets. I actually can’t play PUBG anymore as I would just get so upset sometimes.
Servers are so packed that getting into a game takes a longggggg time. I’m guessing that will die down a bit in a couple of weeks.
Yeah, that usually happens a lot during Squad sales. An influx of new players who don’t know how to play, but more importantly, aren’t used to using microphones and coordinating. You can’t play Squad like you play a Battlefield game. And there’s usually someone who complains that his squamates treated him badly, but then also admits they don’t have a mic.
It’s especially bad this time because it’s gone Release, so there’s a lot more visibility courtesy of all these sponsored streams. And they announced that the game will go up in price to $49.99 after the sale is over, so a lot of people are jumping in before the price bump.
Ya the squad I was just in was barely talking. The game is impossible if people are talking. Right now I’m just running around as a medic as that’s the only thing I’m useful at. It takes a while to start figuring out where everyone is and spotting people.
Shroud getting in on the action
Ya Shroud keeps on blowing up the Playground server. It had like a 100 person queue last night.
I booted this up when it hit 1.0, ran through the tutorial, then jumped into the most crowded server I could find. What a fascinating game. More friendly than ARMA, but not as splashy as a Battlefield game. If I were to take the time to play this sort of game, I would definitely play this one.
Thanks for the heads-up on the SquadOps community, Woolen. That’s awfully tempting.
-Tom
That’s great to hear, Tom. This is most definitely a game that lives and dies upon the quality of the community, but most especially the quality of the squad leaders. Glad you found a good server.
Now Dr Disrespect is in the house. Sigh
Oh great him and Shroud will blow up all the good servers. Don’t worry they get bored and move on quickly, but the game will be a mess with idiots for a few months.
How does this game compare to the Arma series?