The shooter Days of War will leave Early Access at the end of January. It is praised for its visuals and gameplay on Steam, but also criticized. We reveal what lies behind the game.
What is Days of War? Days of War is a first-person shooter set in the setting of World War II. The developers describe it as very competitive. It is rated for ages 18 and up.
Days of War is expected to offer the following content at release on Steam:
- Six playable classes and an arsenal with a total of 60 different weapons.
- 12 playable maps, including areas in Europe, Africa, and the Eastern Front.
- Multiplayer battles with matchmaking and a dedicated server system.
- A map editor with Steam Workshop support.
- Bots for offline training.
The shooter already started Early Access on January 26, 2017, on Steam and is set to leave it on January 30, 2020, about three years later.
Praise for Graphics and Gameplay, Frustration in Player Search
How did Days of War perform in Early Access? The Early Access of Days of War ended without attracting much attention. In the 3 years, the game has only garnered 1,093 reviews, of which only 42% were positive.
However, players generally paint a fairly positive picture of the shooter in the reviews.
Many are reminded of Day of Defeat, a successful game by Valve, which was also mentioned by members of the MeinMMO community in our survey of the best multiplayer games.
What do players praise? The following aspects are praised in Days of War:
- The good gunplay
- The graphics
- The sound
- The maps and weapons
- The fair price
It hardly matters when you look at the reviews. User Christian Bale praised these points on January 26, 2017, shortly after the release, while psychopata described them similarly on January 8, 2020. However, both also criticize the same points.
What do players criticize? During Early Access, there were hardly any players who regularly used the shooter. Often, no matches were formed at all. This was compounded by the fact that the shooter had no bots throughout EA.
Additionally, some features that have now been confirmed for the release version were missing, including a ranking system and map editor.
These factors resulted in many negative reviews like this one:
- Jack6673: “I find it unfortunate that I have to say this, but there are simply no players anymore, even though updates are delivered every month. It is, in itself, a very good game with a lot of potential. The developers just can’t manage to bring the players back. It could be because there is still no ranking system.”
- Tactical Cheese Straws: “The game has no bots and no player base, and this is not communicated externally. [..] The gameplay is good, the graphics are nice, the player models are okay. I will try it again sometime in January 2020.”
Developers Announce Missing Updates
What do the developers say about it? On the Steam page for Days of War, there is a reference that they plan to completely overhaul the game for the release in 2020.
As a result, the EA version was not updated for a long time and is not intended to be expanded before release.
Upswing from new publisher? Days of War is developed by Driven Arts, a small studio. Via Kickstarter, just under $70,000 was raised.
In August 2019, however, the studio announced that they had found a publisher in Graffitigames. Together, they released new trailers and announced the release date.
What is the conclusion about Days of War? The fact that the finished game will likely differ significantly from Early Access makes it difficult to draw a conclusion about Days of War.
However, reviewers were already satisfied with graphics and gunplay. Both play an important role in shooters. It is therefore possible that Days of War will be a successful shooter when released in January.
Major competition in the shooter segment will again emerge with Doom Eternal in March.
A different shooter was released in Early Access on Steam in November:
