At the Steam Next Fest, you can test a free extraction shooter that focuses on realism but skips an important feature of Escape from Tarkov.
Which game is it about? It is about Incursion: Red River, which was previously known under the working title “Project Quarantine” and is set to be released on Steam.
The principle of Incursion: Red River is familiar to anyone who has played Escape from Tarkov (EFT): you enter a match, search and gather loot, complete missions, and then disappear again.
If you die during a match, you lose your loot and your equipment. Similar to Escape from Tarkov, you also have a hideout (Hideout) and can buy new weapons in a shop if you have lost your gear due to death. Furthermore, the weapons can be customized with attachments, allowing you to build your own loadout.
Thus, Incursion: Red River is a classic extraction shooter and, like Escape from Tarkov, focuses on realistic gameplay. Both the weapons and their recoil are inspired by their real-world counterparts. There is also no minimap or any assistance such as glowing hit markers.
Incursion: Red River skips a fundamental feature of EFT
What is the big difference? Incursion: Red River is a pure PvE shooter, and as the developers revealed on their Discord server, there are no plans to add PvP. Thus, the title follows a similar path as Ready or Not, which also offers only PvE.
The game is aimed at players who want to experience the “Escape from Tarkov” feeling solo and in a more relaxed way, for example, in the evening after a long workday, and possibly also enjoy Ready or Not alongside EFT. In the future, Incursion: Red River is also set to be playable in online co-op with up to 4 players.
If you prefer it a bit more challenging, the shooter at least offers different difficulty levels that allow you to adjust the strength of the NPC opponents.
Here you can see a trailer for Incursion: Red River
What do we know about the release of Incursion: Red River? Incursion Red River has been available on Steam since April 10, 2024, and costs €16.49 there.
- Here is the link to Incursion: Red River on Steam:
MeinMMO editor Dariusz Müller looked at an early demo of Incursion Red River in February and gives you an initial assessment here. However, please note that the game has significantly evolved since then and is no longer particularly comparable.
Good to decide whether you want to keep an eye on the game
Should you check out the demo? Maybe. It is a demo, so you can play it for free. Therefore, there is no risk in testing the game if you are uncertain about its quality. The shooter is expected to cost around 20-30 euros at release.
However, if you are low on hard drive space or have little time to game, you are not missing out too much if you skip the Incursion: Red River demo.
The demo definitely makes it clear that the game is not finished yet. There are a few short missions. The weapon arsenal is not large, the enemies can be a bit buggy, and overall, many things still do not feel quite right. Especially, the sound had issues during my first play and performance could still be optimized further.
Nevertheless, it is a shooter that fans of Escape From Tarkov and Ready or Not should keep an eye on. After all, a good alternative to the mentioned shooters could emerge here in the future – provided you are interested in an EFT-like game with co-op gameplay and without PvP.
With Gray Zone Warfare, another extraction shooter is planned that focuses on realism, but unlike Incursion: Red River, will also offer PvP. You can learn more on MeinMMO: New shooter on Steam focuses on realism and jungle battles – Shows new gameplay
