It definitely doesn’t play like fortnite, that’s for sure.
It’s not meant to be a superior battlefield btw. It just has old battlefield team members making it, so things like the gunplay, destruction, class structure and game balance are similar in style (though not 1-1)
The setting is that you’re playing in a video game, so things aren’t realistic, that’s for sure. It’s not supposed to be though. The issue with the crazy skins in CoD is that they’re portraying themselves as a “hardcore realistic military shooter”, but then you have the American Dad characters running around.
The Finals being not realistic allows them to do so much, from level design to mechanics. It does not play like Battlefield at all, but it does have better destruction than it’s ever had. The gameplay is that of a fast paced movement shooter, and it’s very cerebral, with a lot of ways to outplay your enemy and use them and the environment to your advantage. Even without the reaction time and skill of some people, you can play smarter and win.
Made by a team that originated as the mod developers behind Project Reality for BF2.
Currently though, it is going through a bit of an awkward phase as they are trying to transition from UE4 to UE5… but the UE4 version is still pretty solid.
Squad has less of an arcady gameplay style to it than BF proper, more milsim or milsim lite, the gameplay systems themselves reward and revolve more around being in a squad…
…fancier kit loadouts are limited for a whole team, takes multiple people to fully operate a tank or IFV, you actually have to be a pilot or crewman class to fly or drive something more conplex than basically a truck, lower TTK as weapon damages are more realistic, but also more fleshed out medical system…
… there are more gamemodes, many of which revolve much more around logistics and setting u0 and defending FOBs, you got AAS which roughly simulates a frontline by preventing the sort of willy nilly flag backcapping from BF games… flags are grouped together in sort of layers, and you can’t capture any flag thats more than one layer away from the layer your team currently has…
Whole lotta gameplay tweaks, vehicles tend to respawn more slowly and players respawn more slowly, but anyway yeah, its a sort of hypothetical roughly modern era war setting, tons of factions.
Also I think there is a Starwars themed mod for it lol, there’s ww2 mods for it, etc.
…
EDIT: As strongarm mentions, Hell Let Loose and the Arma series are also good choices, I am just biased because I was once part of the Project Reality team, way way back, hehehe.
I want to play more often than my close friends want to play because I’m a tryhard meaning that if squad play is crucial I’d have to coordinate with random people on the internet over voice chat and that sounds… potentially unpleasant.
Maybe 99% of the time my interactions will be nice, but that 1% of bad times with randoms over voice chat will unfortunately stick in my brain.
For me, the nice thing about BF is that I can team up with my friends in a squad or play asocial solo and have a great time either way.
Unfortunately, also as a tryhard, I despise Engagement Based Match Making. And it seems the main mode of BF6 is also going to have that and I just have zero desire to play a pvp game with Engagement Based Match Making after the experiences I’ve had with it. Skill Based Match Making can be ok if I get to at least see my rank. I just want to know how much I’m improving as a player and I can’t get that with Engagement Based Match Making. I only experience what is essentially hollow algorithmic match fixing.
Well uh, TF|2, with old school… emulated, just pick a server and join it from a browser… doesn’t have any matchmaking.
It can be played as or with a squad, and you’ll probably do better, but it doesn’t have to be done.
Also,… you may wanna just check out Squad, the game.
Basically, started as Project Reality for BF2, evolved into its whole own game, is much, much more focused on realism and teamwork, has a generally friendly community, literally is just a refinement or maybe a ‘realism oriented’ take on Battlefield’s gameplay.
Also has an old school server browser.
I think it tracks your global stats, but… I don’t think they really do anything? Beyond bragging rights?
Also, not sure if it works or can be made to work on a Steam Deck / Linux… also also, they’re focusing right now on migrating from UE4 to UE5, and from what I hear, the UE5 version is probably gonna need some more time in the oven for bug fixes, but the old UE4 version is solid.
Ha. I really wanted to play BF2+Project Reality back in the day but it never quite ran right on my PC (more the fault of the PC than the game or mod I think).
It was some good times, we have better graphics now lol.
Yeah I dunno if you remember any of the … now super old trailers for PR, but I was a beta tester from almost day 1, and I can still point out which clips of footage in which trailers are ‘me’, lol.
Looks more like Fortnite than BF.
I want another game like BF1942+Desert combat, or possibly BF2142
It definitely doesn’t play like fortnite, that’s for sure.
It’s not meant to be a superior battlefield btw. It just has old battlefield team members making it, so things like the gunplay, destruction, class structure and game balance are similar in style (though not 1-1)
Yeah but I don’t like the clownsy look, I want the nitty gritty battlefield realism
The setting is that you’re playing in a video game, so things aren’t realistic, that’s for sure. It’s not supposed to be though. The issue with the crazy skins in CoD is that they’re portraying themselves as a “hardcore realistic military shooter”, but then you have the American Dad characters running around.
The Finals being not realistic allows them to do so much, from level design to mechanics. It does not play like Battlefield at all, but it does have better destruction than it’s ever had. The gameplay is that of a fast paced movement shooter, and it’s very cerebral, with a lot of ways to outplay your enemy and use them and the environment to your advantage. Even without the reaction time and skill of some people, you can play smarter and win.
Fair. It can still be a good game but I was so miss the old BF games
Then what you’re looking for is roughly Squad.
Made by a team that originated as the mod developers behind Project Reality for BF2.
Currently though, it is going through a bit of an awkward phase as they are trying to transition from UE4 to UE5… but the UE4 version is still pretty solid.
Squad has less of an arcady gameplay style to it than BF proper, more milsim or milsim lite, the gameplay systems themselves reward and revolve more around being in a squad…
…fancier kit loadouts are limited for a whole team, takes multiple people to fully operate a tank or IFV, you actually have to be a pilot or crewman class to fly or drive something more conplex than basically a truck, lower TTK as weapon damages are more realistic, but also more fleshed out medical system…
… there are more gamemodes, many of which revolve much more around logistics and setting u0 and defending FOBs, you got AAS which roughly simulates a frontline by preventing the sort of willy nilly flag backcapping from BF games… flags are grouped together in sort of layers, and you can’t capture any flag thats more than one layer away from the layer your team currently has…
Whole lotta gameplay tweaks, vehicles tend to respawn more slowly and players respawn more slowly, but anyway yeah, its a sort of hypothetical roughly modern era war setting, tons of factions.
Also I think there is a Starwars themed mod for it lol, there’s ww2 mods for it, etc.
…
EDIT: As strongarm mentions, Hell Let Loose and the Arma series are also good choices, I am just biased because I was once part of the Project Reality team, way way back, hehehe.
I want to play more often than my close friends want to play because I’m a tryhard meaning that if squad play is crucial I’d have to coordinate with random people on the internet over voice chat and that sounds… potentially unpleasant.
Maybe 99% of the time my interactions will be nice, but that 1% of bad times with randoms over voice chat will unfortunately stick in my brain.
For me, the nice thing about BF is that I can team up with my friends in a squad or play asocial solo and have a great time either way.
Unfortunately, also as a tryhard, I despise Engagement Based Match Making. And it seems the main mode of BF6 is also going to have that and I just have zero desire to play a pvp game with Engagement Based Match Making after the experiences I’ve had with it. Skill Based Match Making can be ok if I get to at least see my rank. I just want to know how much I’m improving as a player and I can’t get that with Engagement Based Match Making. I only experience what is essentially hollow algorithmic match fixing.
Well uh, TF|2, with old school… emulated, just pick a server and join it from a browser… doesn’t have any matchmaking.
It can be played as or with a squad, and you’ll probably do better, but it doesn’t have to be done.
Also,… you may wanna just check out Squad, the game.
Basically, started as Project Reality for BF2, evolved into its whole own game, is much, much more focused on realism and teamwork, has a generally friendly community, literally is just a refinement or maybe a ‘realism oriented’ take on Battlefield’s gameplay.
Also has an old school server browser.
I think it tracks your global stats, but… I don’t think they really do anything? Beyond bragging rights?
Also, not sure if it works or can be made to work on a Steam Deck / Linux… also also, they’re focusing right now on migrating from UE4 to UE5, and from what I hear, the UE5 version is probably gonna need some more time in the oven for bug fixes, but the old UE4 version is solid.
Ha. I really wanted to play BF2+Project Reality back in the day but it never quite ran right on my PC (more the fault of the PC than the game or mod I think).
I’ll check Squad out
It was some good times, we have better graphics now lol.
Yeah I dunno if you remember any of the … now super old trailers for PR, but I was a beta tester from almost day 1, and I can still point out which clips of footage in which trailers are ‘me’, lol.
Have you tried the milsims like Hell Let Loose, Squad or the Arma series?
They definitely play differently, but once you get into the groove I find them more rewarding.