Divided We Fall is a Second World War RTS—”a strategic close-combat multiplayer game that emphasizes the importance of building an effective cohesive squad and executing well thought-out tactics on the battlefield,” is how the developers describe it on Steam—that launched on Steam Early Access in September 2016. Today it went into full release, and to celebrate the big moment developer Kava Game Studio is making it free to play until Thursday.
It’s a small-scale game, as you can see from the launch trailer, but it supports “massive conflicts” of up to 120 soldiers commanded up by to 15 players per side. “Working together is paramount! If you are the highest ranking officer, you will draw out your battle plan and distribute weapons to your subordinates through an in-game map board interface,” the Steam listing states. “But as a lower ranking leader you still have the responsibility to lead your squad to achieve the objective set by your commander, and coordinate with friendly players to adapt the plan within the chaos of battle.”
The Divided We Fall launch announcement also brings with it a “surprise coop mode reveal,” which Kava said was “one of the community’s most highly demanded features.” The new mode will enable players to team up against AI enemies, and will also allow solo play—not exactly a campaign, but at least a way to play on your own. For the future, Kava aims to incorporate more nations, theaters, and weapons, destructible terrain, a morale system, and “special character DLCs.”
Steam user reviews are “mixed,” but the biggest issue appears to be the fact that there are very few people actually playing it, which is a pretty big problem for a multiplayer-focused game. The free weekend may or may not help with that, but if nothing else it’s a risk-free way to see if Divided We Fall stands up.