Wargaming recently invited us to their Tokyo Studios in Shibuya to reveal the next exciting expansion to their World of Tanks Console line up.
If you’ve never entered the historically-driven universe of World of Tanks Console, then imagine this:
15 vs 15 online tank warfare combat with 465 vehicles from 8 different nations at your mercy, all customisable including camo, emblems and inscriptions. Hold up though, there’s more. You can go as far as customising your entire crew (from names, voices, gender and even portraits) as well as play on 85 different maps with minor climate changes. Did I mention it was Free to Play too? If you’ve been a fan of the series since it emerged on PC, it’s important to note that the console version boasts a number of exclusive features that make it not just a simple PC port like 30 more maps, 40 more vehicles and monthly Spec Ops missions to earn premium tanks.
Where do I enlist?!
The next level for the Wargaming franchise is a campaign expansion – World of Tanks: War Stories. The expansion brings the launch of new single player and co-op PvE story-driven campaigns with challenging, original and deep storylines for new players to develop their skills in becoming a tanking badass before hitting the big leagues in online matchmaking. Upon release, there will be two campaigns to experience: ‘Brothers in Armor’ (an introductory campaign based on the Battle of Romania), and ‘Flashpoint Berlin’ (an alternative history storyline with the collapse of the Berlin Blockade). In total, we’ll see 4 War Stories playable each with 3 chapters (including boss-based style combat), with objective-based missions and full progression and award systems included. In an interview with Darold Higa, Producer of War Stories, he told me about the ongoing support the team plan on giving War Stories and the new direction,
“We don’t have the exact release cadence yet, but the idea is that this is not just a “one-off update”, we’re gonna keep updating this and build that library of content so that the single player experience is very very robust. In the same way we’ve been doing monthly updates for our online players, I think we should…not that we’re gonna release one every month, but the idea that we are constantly adding new content to the War Stories side of the World of Tanks Console equation.”
Wargaming is all about being as historically accurate as possible, not only in their creation of the playable vehicles but also in the timeline that the gameplay surrounds; that’s what makes World of Tanks such a unique experience. Players will find themselves on a map, or in an event, or in War Stories’ case, a campaign mission that will have a narrative driven by historic facts, but the team like to have fun with it too. Alternative timelines, like what is found in the campaign ‘Flashpoint Berlin’, will be a key factor in War Stories’ deep narrative, as well as some fun fantasy based missions,
“In terms of fantasy, one of most popular event modes was fighting on the moon, so ah…this is not something that is planned yet, but you can imagine us revisiting the moon as one of these war stories that’s more of a fantastical story.”
The War Stories team mentioned that there’ll be plenty of features that will allow gamers nothing but endless enjoyment and challenges through the expansion:
- Completing Story mode will unlock a Challenge Mode for higher earnings.
- Pickups will be available in-game such as repair tokens, missile types etc.
- Climate changes will be even more impacting than previously seen (ie. affecting visibility, strategy and gameplay mechanics).
- Comic book styled cutscenes for an appealing and in-depth narrative.
On top of this, War Stories will be a Xbox One X launch title come 7th November 2017, and it looks real good in 4K! The Xbox One X version will have you driving tanks and blasting enemies in enhanced and immersive Full 4K gaming, smooth and steady 30fps with faster load times, Full Range HDR support, increased shadow resolution and incredible life like detail for environments and tanks.
If that’s not enough to get your turrets turning, War Stories’ music will be composed by none other than Inon Zur, the legend behind the scores for favourites like Fallout, Dragon Age and Prince of Persia.
For gamers who are unaware of the World of Tanks franchise, War Stories is the perfect opportunity to get on the battlefield, with more information to come later in the month at Gamescom.
