Isonzo News

With the arrival of the frozen mountainside and ice tunnels of the Marmolada map we also released the Glacial Units Pack to provide improvised clothing for the extreme cold. But as the fighting continues with no sign of the conditions improving, it’s time to offer something a little more heavy-duty.

Today we’re excited to officially announce our next cosmetic DLC: say hello to the Altitude Units Pack!

Everything you’ll find in the Altitude Units Pack!


Compared with the Alpine Units Pack and even the Glacial Units Pack, these uniforms are thicker with more padding and layers. For instance, with the Alpine Units Pack the Austro-Hungarian troops got great coats and a scarf here or there, but they still had bare hands and regular boots. That won’t do in the extreme conditions like those seen fighting for the heights of Marmolada! With the Altitude Units you get fur lined coats, thick gloves, balaclavas, wool hats, and even some unusual wicker footwear…

An Austro-Hungarian Engineer and Sniper enjoy a moment’s clear weather.

Reference photo showing wicker shoe covers worn by an Austro-Hungarian rifleman.

The pack also includes ski jackets and their accompanying hoods, as you can see in the center-right soldier below. There’s a range of headgear choices, with many caps and helmets included with or without balaclavas and hoods. Often there are goggles or sunglasses in easy reach. Of course these are not modern sunglasses – instead they tend to use mesh or thin slits to try and limit the sun’s blinding impact.

Italian Assault and Mountaineer troops advance through the snow.

Italian mountaineers, one with ski hood.

This closeup on an Austro-Hungarian officer and rifleman shows off the full face sun goggles – very useful against snow blindness caused by UV light reflecting off the snow.

There are also a number of smoking pipes in the pack – including this one with has been customized with the addition of carved ‘trench art’.

Last but not least, there are three mustaches and two mustache-beard combos included, as well as two face options with the slightly haggard old soldier Giacomo and fresh faced Georg who has likely just arrived at the front. As always you will be free to mix and match these items within historical limits. We hope to announce the release date for the Altitude Units Pack soon!


We did say that a bigger teaser for the new game mode would be part of this week’s blog. Have a gander at this very small part of the ground you’ll be fighting over…


[h2]Make sure to wrap up warm out there![/h2]

We released an update today that makes several improvements to voice chat and allows Steam and Epic players to communicate with each other. Additionally, there's a host of additional fixes across the entire game.

Please keep in mind that people on different versions of the game cannot play together, so player numbers may be lower than usual shortly after the update.

The download size is expected to be around 1 GB.

[h2]Changes[/h2]

[h3]New[/h3]

• Steam and Epic players can now communicate through voice chat
  
• New Voice Chat Settings:
  - Added Voice Chat Modes setting - Players can now select between 3 different settings; Off, Listen and Talk and Listen
  - Added Audio Output Device setting
  - Added Voice Chat Input Device setting
  - Added Voice Chat Output Device setting
  
• Added a new indicator on the scoreboard to show if a player is muted or not
  
• Bots in squads - bots now join existing squads and are removed when real players join
  

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed players sometimes dying from desertion when they shouldn't be
  
• Further improvements to players sometimes being invisible and/or invincible
  
• Fixed players not always being able to use the periscope
  
• Fixed an issue where player aborting reloading wasn't visible in third person
  
• Fixed not being able to get the Sacro Egoismo achievement if any class was prestiged in the meantime
  
• Fixed some game sounds not responding properly to the Volume setting
  
• Fixed an issue where the base ability cooldowns weren't properly calculated upon use
  
• Fixed Shaken Not Stirred achievements not always properly tracking
  
• Fixed players sometimes not getting Damage done XP
  
• Fixed players sometimes not getting Assist XP
  
• Fixed flare gun showing the wrong prompt on first equip
  
• Scoped weapons now apply suppression to players
  
• Firing the Bodeo no longer has a big impact on performance
  
• Fixed twitching for the pistol holding animations
  
• Fixed players sometimes not being able to instantly spawn after Charge ability was used
  
• Fixed players getting resupply points when not supposed to
  
• Austro-Hungarian non-built Forward posts now show the correct preview
  
• Piave bridge no longer prevents bots from walking across the river until destroyed
  
• Fixed bots not being able to plant/defuse bombs on bridges
  
• Bot spawning improvements
  
• Fixed bots getting stuck in the last sector of Dolomiti
  
• Fixed an issue where players were sometimes not shown in their correct stance while on an HMG
  
• Fixed Longest distance kill Medal being overtaken by bots
  
• Fixed various medals not being achievable
  
• Game pop-ups can now be interacted with even if player spawned in the meantime
  
• Fixed Officer call-in screen remaining active when the match ends
  
• Fixed not being able to add spaces in player reports
  
• Fixed objective UI sometimes being visible in Settings menus
  
• Kill cam movement improvements
  
• Fixed sector cooldown UI appearing when the match ended with an Attacker victory
  
• Fixed Hunter challenge counting non-primary weapon kills
  
• Fix for long Custom Match name not being correctly displayed in menu
  
• Fixed Inventory Display in HUD settings missing the toggle option
  
• Fixed Lanciarazzi Very Flare gun name in kill feed
  
• Improved sector outline visibility
  
• Various Localization fixes
  
• General Performance improvements
  
• General map fixes and improvements
  

You get an extra blog this week, thanks in part to the tireless efforts of the fighters on the Western and Eastern Fronts in Verdun and Tannenberg. Last weekend we ran one of our multi-front Campaign events where battle casualties for both the Entente and Central Powers are tallied up, with the side taking the least losses winning.

The result means that we are sharing a mini-teaser about the upcoming new game mode in Isonzo. But first we have news of a small but significant feature update that will be arriving sooner.


Alongside a selection of bug fixes and general quality of life improvements for Isonzo, we will soon be improving our voice chat system on PC so that Steam and Epic players will be able to talk together – all the better to coordinate your attacks and defenses. At the same time we will be implementing voice chat on consoles for the first time, something we know the community has requested.

A US Army field radio station in 1919. Communication technology has come a long way! It would take 16 key presses to call someone a n00b in morse code.


Historically with the Battle of Verdun the Germans hoped to inflict heavy casualties on the French by taking vital ground and then smashing their counter-attacks. This plan failed, with both sides suffering enormous losses over the course of one of the longest battles in history.

In our games, so far the Entente always win the campaigns, so we challenged the community to see if they could give the Central Powers an ahistorical victory, with the potential prize a teaser about the upcoming new Isonzo game mode. The result…

[h2]Entente Victory! Again.[/h2]
It’s not so easy to change the course of history. But, if you look at the numbers below you’ll notice the Central Powers only lost around 7000 more troops during the campaign. In previous campaigns the difference would usually be closer to 40-50,000 more Central Powers casualties.

The final results from the campaign.

It’s still a good performance, and while you couldn’t quite beat our challenge we’ve still decided to share a very mini-teaser with you:

[h3]You can see part of the combat area of the new map from our most recently released map: Marmolada.[/h3]

It’s not much, but we know you can be resourceful when it comes to figuring out new game content. And if not - there will be a bigger teaser coming in next week’s blog.

[h2]See you then, soldiers![/h2]

It’s a very special day today, as we mark the anniversary of the start of the Battle of Verdun. Our very first game in the WW1 Game Series was named after this massive clash between the French and German armies, and it can certainly be considered one of the most significant battles of the war.

As well as looking back at the Battle of Verdun, we also have a new campaign event with the possibility to win a teaser reveal, another image from the upcoming Isonzo cosmetic DLC, and we compare the types of weapons you can use in each WW1 Game Series title. Off we go!

A map of the Verdun area.


The Battle of Verdun began on this day 108 years ago, on February 21st 1916. It was the longest battle of the war and one of the longest in history. The German plan was to capture strategic defensive positions from the French and then destroy their reserves when they tried to counter-attack.

It began well for the Germans with the stunning capture of Fort Douaumont without a shot being fired. French commanders had ordered the fortress almost entirely emptied of men after Belgian forts were destroyed early in the war, and small German patrols were able to climb inside through (unoccupied) firing slots intended for machine gunners. Once in German hands the extent of the mistake by French command became clear – Douaumont was a more modern fortress, and proved entirely capable of withstanding the kind of heavy artillery that had devastated the Belgian positions.

Fort Douaumont in Verdun.

However the attack soon bogged down, and French reinforcements organized a strong defense. French General Nivelle gave the famous ‘On ne passe pas’! declaration which can be translated as ‘they shall not pass.’ In the event of German advances immediate counter-attacks were to be organized. This might seem to be exactly what the Germans had hoped for, but they had not established the impenetrable defensive positions they hoped for. Instead, by late March French artillery was pounding their positions and causing heavy losses.

Fierce fighting continued even as both sides pulled troops away from Verdun in July to support the Battle of the Somme. The Germans gradually reduced their commitment further, until in September and December the French were able to recapture most of the ground lost earlier in the battle. It officially ended on December 18th, almost four months after it began.


For those who haven’t fought before, our campaign events are special multi-front battles in Verdun and Tannenberg, where every kill is tallied up, and the side which manages to lose the least troops wins. You can earn a medal for participating in the campaign, with a shinier medal for fighting on multiple fronts. The Battle of Verdun Weekend Campaign will run from Friday February 23 through (surprise!) the weekend, and end on Monday.

Did you know that the Central Powers haven’t been able to secure a win so far? To give them a bit of a boost, let’s up the stakes a little this time around: if the Central Powers manage to come out on top, we’ll give you the first big teaser for the upcoming new game mode in Isonzo!

We’ve been working on a grand map showing every battlefield in the series – here’s the Western Front part, with a bit of the Italian Front.

Can you change history and see the Central Powers win the battle for attrition as planned for Verdun? Or will they once again be unable to pass?


Every game in the WW1 Game Series so far features rifles, bayonets, pistols and grenades. But if you want a shotgun, you’ll need Verdun. Sabre? Tannenberg. Rifle grenades are only in Isonzo. Why the differences?

[h2]Verdun[/h2]
Our first game has quite the variety of weapons, and this is a function both of gameplay design choices and the setting: the Western Front saw some of the greatest weapon variety in the war. With some of the largest and most heavily industrialized countries gradually moving to a total war footing, all kinds of weapons were tested, improved, and invented.

Unique weapons to Verdun include the Winchester Model 1897 ‘trench gun’, the MP 18 submachine gun, flamethrowers, and even an anti-tank rifle, albeit only in the Attrition and Team Deathmatch game modes.


One notable omission is the heavy machine gun. On the sometimes narrow maps of Verdun there can be a fine line between places where an HMG would be overpowered and places where they would just be useless. In any case, the LMGs available to specific squads can provide weight of fire when needed. Heavy machine guns would become part of the WW1 Game Series though, with the release of...

[h2]Tannenberg[/h2]
Yes, heavy machine guns made their debut in Tannenberg, where more open maps and freedom of movement for players allowed for both better fields of fire and more flanking routes. They were part of a number of new map features alongside things like command posts for calling in support, and ammunition crates. Also new to the series were swords, used by specific members of specific squads and offering unrivalled close combat power.


A number of the more advanced or unusual weapons were not present in Tannenberg, like the flamethrower and light machine guns. While these did see use on the Eastern Front historically, they were less common than in the west. It was also an intentional design choice to increase the importance of maneuver and positioning rather than having special weapons breaking gaps in defensive lines as you sometimes saw in Verdun.

[h2]Isonzo[/h2]
Which brings us to the present day and Isonzo, which in many ways is the best of both worlds. Light machine guns and sniper rifles share the battlefield with heavy machine guns and the newly added mortars and field guns. One major factor was the new class / loadout system in Isonzo, where instead of players choosing squads and each squad having different roles each with different loadouts, you simply pick a class and a suitable loadout. The key difference is that class limits can be set as part of the map design – in Verdun there was nothing to stop every German squad going Landser and having their MG-Schütze take an LMG. In Isonzo the number of potential LMGs and snipers can be limited to prevent them getting out of hand.


There were also new utility weapons and equipment added, from the flare guns used by officers to target support call-ins to the canteens and instruments used for buffing yourself or others. Of course the bulk of the fighting is still done with trusty rifles, pistols, grenades and bayonets – but the more specialist weapons and map based heavy weapons can make all the difference if used right.

[h2]The Warming Continues[/h2]
We’ll round off with a few more teasers from the upcoming cosmetic DLC, full of extreme cold weather clothing. You enjoyed last week’s Sgt. Chungus Italian engineer, and we hope you’ll be as enthusiastic for this pair of Austro-Hungarian assault troops and their impeccable mustaches.

Both men have goggles ready in case of blinding sunlight off the snow, and the man on the left is wearing a ski suit and shoes.

[h2]Good luck with the campaign soldiers![/h2]
Let’s see if you can earn that teaser…

The team is hard at work on the new special game mode right now, and we’re hoping to share more about it with you as soon as possible! Alongside that release will be some new weapons and a new cosmetic DLC pack – and we do have a teaser about that. Of course, all our cosmetic DLCs use real uniforms and equipment which we strive to reproduce accurately, the same as our weaponry and battlefields – but how do you properly recreate a setting from more than 100 years ago?

We’ve talked before about how we use references and try to walk the line between making realistic content which is also fun to play – for instance our second ever Isonzo Dev Blog from before the game was even released!

Here’s a comparison image from our blog about the creation of the Gorizia map. Things like trenches, barbed wire, and constructions like those seen here might seem less exciting than big-ticket items like the train station that serves as an objective… but they’re much more common and getting them right is vital to establishing an authentic atmosphere.

And here’s the aforementioned train station alongside a reference photo. You can see there have been some adjustments made to the in-game version to support better gameplay (e.g. trains and wagons provide cover along with added visual interest, and the station isn’t quite so long.

When it comes to getting the lay of the land, photographs are helpful but usually not enough. Especially with the rough terrain in Isonzo, even a series of photographs is unlikely to capture every ditch and rocky ridge, or clearly identify what’s a safe mountainside path versus a mere goat trail.

Luckily we can often find trench maps from the exact battles we’re working with! It’s also possible to use modern satellite imagery… but you have to be careful, because places change over time, sometimes much more than you might think. For instance, the GIF below shows just such a change in the landscape.




We never went in-depth on the blog about the new weapons released in the free White War update – time to remedy that for anyone who doesn’t follow our social media.

[h2]Gewehr 71/84[/h2]
The Mauser name will be familiar to most people with an interest in WW1 or WW2 history, or weaponry in general. Renowned as accurate and reliable, Mauser rifles are still popular with hunters and collectors today. And it all started with the Gewehr 71 (or Mauser Model 1871), a bolt-action rifle adopted by (most of) the German Empire in 1871.



In Isonzo you won’t find that original single-shot Mauser, but instead the updated 1884 version which incorporated an 8 round tubular magazine (an integrated magazine where the bullets are inserted one by one and sit end-to-end in a kind of tube, hence the name).

You should bear in mind that even this 1884 version is still using black powder cartridges as opposed to modern smokeless ammo. While it’ll still shoot just fine, you do leave a noticeable puff of smoke with every pull of the trigger. Not ideal if you want to play a more stealthy mountaineer role!

Peter Paul Mauser, who handled most of the design for their weapons while his brother Wilhelm focused on the business side of things.

[h2]Vetterli Model 1870[/h2]
There are several versions of the Swiss designed Vetterli rifle in Isonzo, but this is the oldest, and like the Gewehr 71/84 above it also still fires black powder cartridges! However this Vetterli is single-shot… at the request of the Italians themselves. The version used by the Swiss army at the time of adoption had a 12 round tubular magazine, and you could have another round in the cartridge elevator.



The Italians would instead take a roundabout route to magazines by using a conversion designed by Italian artillery captain G. Vitali to convert Model 1870s into M1780/87s, which had a four round box magazine. During the First World War some of these M1780/87 rifles would then be converted again into M1870/87/15s that could use the same ammunition as the standard issue Carcano rifle being used by the Italian Army at the time. They also had six round magazines instead of four. None of the Vetterli rifles (all of which are represented in Isonzo) were intended for frontline combat during World War One since they were very outdated. However, with the pressures and uncertainties of war they did end up seeing some action.

[h2]Repetier-Gewehr M.14[/h2]
The most modern of these three rifles, the Repetier-Gewehr M.14 was an Austro-Hungarian made version of the Gewehr 98, which was the standard issue rifle for the German Empire during WW1… made by Mauser! This version had some minor adjustments compared to the regular Mauser, and was produced for export rather than local use.



In particular a lot of Repetier-Gewehr M.14s were used during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920. They were primarily used by the Mexican Federal Army (the Federales) from 1913 onwards until they were defeated and replaced by the new Constitutional Army in 1914. These rifles would have been some of the more modern weapons in use at the time, especially compared to the elderly Winchesters of 1886 and 1894 vintage that were common among the Zapatistas – just one of the many groups that fought against the government.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian government would make use of thousands of these export model rifles, with almost 67,000 Mexican-contract rifles, 43,000 Chilean rifles, and a number of Columbian rifles seeing action in Europe.

[h2]Dress Up Warm[/h2]
We’re excited to reveal a first look at the new cosmetic DLC which is on the way! Expect clothing for the worst Alpine weather conditions – as the war progressed, both sides adapted to the freezing temperatures and blinding snow with more and thicker layers. There are some very interesting uniforms and bits of facial gear coming with this one. Expect more teasers in the coming weeks.

An Italian engineer - very well wrapped up!

Returning to our reference theme, it’s best to use multiple references where possible. For instance, for one of the uniforms in the upcoming new DLC, we were able to find both a photograph and an illustration. The illustration includes extra details that aren’t clear in the photograph, such as the kind of boots that might be worn along with such a warm coat.



That said, it’s possible that the illustrator of the left-hand image was using this same photograph as a reference, so every reference needs to be checked individually to make sure they’re as reliable as possible. It’s possible for historical misinformation to be spread unintentionally in this way, where one person uses an inaccurate reference, and then their work serves to spread the original inaccuracy further!

[h2]Marmolada in-game and in-reference[/h2]
We’ll close out today’s blog with some comparison shots from our most recent release: the Marmolada map!



[h2]Until next time, soldiers![/h2]