Isonzo News

Isonzo Intel #8 explained how the visual customization system will work in the game, with uniforms, headgear, mustaches and more selectable based on faction and class. To complement this system and the visual customization options in the standard edition, we’re going to be releasing cosmetic packs to allow people to expand the range of visual choices they have. The base options in the game (some you start with, some you unlock via the progression system, like late-war uniforms) give people hundreds of combinations to choose from, and the cosmetic packs will expand that number exponentially!

Every cosmetic unit pack has a theme based on some of the most historically notable, unusual, or just visually impressive real life groups or formations. For instance, the Veteran Units pack includes some of the hardest fighting troops from both sides - the highly decorated Sardinian ‘Sassari’ brigade for Italy, and the Hungarian Honved for Austria-Hungary. To further fit the theme of battle hardened soldiers, you can expect dirty uniforms and cosmetic options like the bandage on the man to the left below…

Work in progress shot of the Italian content for a ‘Veteran Units’ cosmetic pack, featuring Sardinian troops from the renowned Sassari Infantry Brigade, whose two regiments both won a Gold Medal of Military Valor!

As we explained back in Dev Blog 8, uniforms and headgear are linked to specific classes, while mustaches and facial items can be mixed and matched freely with any class. We also aren’t limiting ourselves with these themes - for instance, while the Sassari are the highlights of the Veteran Units pack for the Italians, many of you have probably recognized the Bersaglieri uniforms in the lineup above! With the customization system we can link historic uniforms to the roles they most commonly performed in battle or their specializations.

For instance, the Alpine Units pack was inspired by general winter uniforms as well as the dedicated mountain troops from each country, along with appropriate headgear and facial items including balaclavas, wooly hats, and goggles. Mustaches options include thick beards like the Tsar Nicholas II and the George V. There’s even a Kaiserjäger uniform including skis carried on their back…

A little teaser for our planned Alpine Units pack.

The Elite Units pack includes Bersaglieri cyclists for Italy, the Bosnisch-Hercegovinische Infanterie for Austria-Hungary, and more! The ‘Bosniaks’ as they were known were drawn from outside of the Austrian and Hungarian areas of the country, but were considered elite despite being part of the Common Army (the K.u.K.) which was often underequipped compared to the Imperial Austrian Landwehr and the Royal Hungarian Honvéd. As you can see from the image below, they have a distinctive appearance and share some of the rugged look of the troops from the Veteran Units pack.

Austro-Hungarian ‘Bosniak’ troops from the Elite Units pack, with their distinctive fez hats.

We want to be clear that the cosmetic unit packs will only contain visual customization items, and we are not going to create DLCs containing gameplay features like new maps or weapons. So rest assured that buying Isonzo will get you all gameplay content available now or in the future, and there will be no pay to win.

Part of our goal with the WW1 Game Series has always been to shine some light on lesser known areas of the war and to highlight just how many different groups took part, and ensuring variety in the uniforms you see on the battlefield are one of the best ways to do this. We’re looking forward to recreating and including more of the different units and formations which took part in the war, thanks to the new customization system in combination with these cosmetic unit packs. The plan is that everyone can enjoy the greater visual variety as they play, while being able to choose if they want to buy specific sets of uniforms for themselves.

[h2]Isonzo Special Editions[/h2]
Isonzo will not ship with a Supporter’s Edition DLC like Verdun and Tannenberg. Instead we will be offering two special editions of the game, along with a pre-order bonus.

The base game will cost around $29.99 / €29.99 / £24.99.

Pre-order Unit Pack
For those who order the game ahead of release on consoles, we will be offering the Avanti Savoia pack as a bonus. The theme is senior officers, and as such it comes with staff officer uniforms and caps for both sides (for the Officer class, unsurprisingly) as well as two impressive mustaches and two facial items which can be used with any class. This is a small cosmetic pack with 10 items - most of our packs will contain between 30-40 items!

On Steam there is no pre-order, but the Avanti Savoia pack will instead be a bonus for everyone who buys the game in the first week of release.

The Avanti Savoia pack gives you higher ranking officer uniforms - the “Maggior General” for the Italians and the “Generalmajor” for the Austro-Hungarians. It’s a bonus for pre-order on consoles or week one purchase on Steam.

Deluxe Edition
This is probably the closest thing to the old Supporter Editions. It will cost around $39.99 / €39.99 / £33.49, and will include two cosmetic packs - the Reserve Units pack and Veteran Units pack - along with the extra content you might see in a Supporter Edition. That means the soundtrack, the black and white Film Memoir visual mode to experience the game like a period film, and high-res artwork including wallpapers and renders.

Collector’s Edition
For our biggest fans, we have the Collector’s Edition clocking in at around $59.99 / €59.99 / £49.99. It will include the same bonus content as the Deluxe Edition, but four cosmetic packs instead of two - including the Elite and Alpine Unit packs on top of the Reserve Units and Veteran Units!

[h2]Isonzo at W.A.S.D and… PAX East![/h2]
Don’t forget that WW1 Game Series is attending the W.A.S.D video game expo in London today until Saturday the 9th. Here, you'll be able to play Isonzo for the first time available in public! You can find us at booth GG1, so be sure to stop by, fight on the Italian front, and have a chat with some of the WWI Game Series' team.



We will also be coming to PAX East this year, from April 21-24! Isonzo will be playable there too - we’ll share more info about where to find us closer to the time!

[h2]Join the Isonzo Beta[/h2]
If you can’t make it to W.A.S.D or PAX, there’s still a way to play Isonzo before release, if you’re willing to help us with feedback that is. The Isonzo closed beta tests are still ongoing, and we’re looking for more participants! If you’re interested, you can sign up here.

There’s no guarantee that everyone who signs up will get a chance to be part of the closed beta, since we pick people based on various criteria from hardware and server region to playtime. But given that we’re keen for more people to try the game, the odds are good!

[h3]That’s all for this week. We hope to see some of you at W.A.S.D or PAX![/h3]

Wishlist Isonzo now!

[h3]Exciting (unplanned) news! [/h3]
Some of you internet sleuths may have spotted retail versions of Isonzo being offered online…


We’re happy to confirm that we have partnered up with retailers to arrange a physical edition of Isonzo. That means Isonzo will be appearing in selected stores around the world.

More information about the physical and digital editions - including pricing - will be shared with you in the next dev blog!

Note: some of these retailers are stating a release date of June 30 - this is only a provisional release date. Once we have a release date set, we'll let you know. Until then don’t be April fooled - make sure to hear it from us first!

[h3]Strap in soldiers, today's Isonzo Intel is a big one![/h3]

Monte Sabotino was a key objective for both sides, with a commanding position over the city of Gorizia and on the bank of the Soča river. Today it lies right on the border between Italy and Slovenia. The mountain had been under siege since the first battles of the Isonzo, but it was not until the 6th Battle that progress was finally made.

During the winter of 1915-1916 the Italians excavated three walkways along the side of the mountain. These were used as jump-off points on August 6th, 1916 when, after a devastating bombardment, the Italians started from close range, surprising the Austrians still inside their tunnels. Thanks to the heavy artillery support and advanced starting points, Italian troops managed to reach the summit of Monte Sabotino in under an hour. The success of operations here opened the gates to future attacks on the city of Gorizia.

The slope the Italians must climb at the start of the battle. Note the extensive wire lines and limited cover. A smokescreen might be very useful…

This period photograph demonstrates the rocky landscape that made it hard work to dig trenches and bunkers.

[h2]Race to the peak[/h2]
Getting to the top of the mountain so quickly was an incredible achievement - depending on how long your battle lasts, it might take you as long to finish the map as it did for the attackers more than 100 years ago to scale Sabotino. It starts with penetrating multiple lines of wire and blowing up two wooden bunkers.

Once again you can see that many Italian Front trenches were very different to their Western Front counterparts, but once you make it into the network you’ll need similar skills and tactics to clear them out. Recon flyovers could give you the drop on enemies.

The next two lines near the peak of the mountain itself each have one capture zone objective and one sabotage objective to blast an Austro-Hungarian gun pit. The terrain here is a mix of small fortifications carved out of the mountain and natural rock formations. You’ll also need to deal with height differences - the top of the mountain is not flat, after all, so keep an eye out for enemies following paths above or below you, and remember that it’s very easy to throw a grenade too far or not far enough if you forget to account for vertical distances!

The Italians must fight from right to left along the mountaintop.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We used drone footage of modern day Sabotino captured on our research trip in creating the map.

See how the trenches in-game compare to the historical maps we used when designing Monte Sabotino.

The fighting at the top of the mountain ends with the fourth defensive line, centered on a single capture point. Fighting will be fierce for the ruins at the far end of the mountain. The rocky ground has prevented many trenches from being dug, so you’ll need to use the landscape itself for cover and concealment where possible.

No time to settle in, though! Once you summit the mountain, the battle is far from over…

[h2]Going down[/h2]
After capturing the rocky ravine ruins, the Italians need to force a path down a very steep part of the mountain. The winding path, often sided with stone walls, poses challenges for both sides. The attacking Italians have a height advantage on the defenders, but can easily find themselves exposed on some sections of the path, and the bare hillside is a risky alternative. The Austro-Hungarians need to take extra care to keep their heads down, but there are lots of potential ambush spots.

These ruins are your objective in the fourth line, and that long road down is the fifth line of defense. It feels even steeper when you’re descending on foot! You can already see the map’s final objective from here - the church in the town below…

This line also has only one objective - sabotaging the armored train at the foot of the mountain. However, the road down is a long one, with multiple advance spawning points that can be built and destroyed, meaning that there is much potential for back and forth up and down the mountain before the objective itself is threatened. The train is partly inspired by a daring raid by an armored train along the railway line in the map. Leaving Gorizia and crossing the Salcano bridge on a six hour journey, a train under the command of Lieutenant Scheichelbauer assaulted an Italian machine gun nest in the mouth of the Babinrub tunnel on the bank of the Isonzo. They routed the defenders and the tunnel wouldn’t be retaken by the Italians for almost a month.

The train objective, and view towards Solkan.

[h2]The final objective: Solkan[/h2]
If they can destroy the armored train, the Italians have one final objective - the town of Salcano. To get there means crossing the Soča river. This can be done through the river itself, or by using the Solkan Bridge. Built in 1905, the massive bridge is the longest stone arch railway bridge built without reinforced concrete.

The Solkan bridge in-game, and historically. That cart on the left is packed with explosives…

Historically, the defenders blew the bridge using 930kg (2,050 pounds) of Ecrasite, an Austrian designed explosive material. You may get to see this play out in-game: a cart of explosives on the bridge can be armed by the Austro-Hungarians as with any sabotage objective. If the Italians aren’t quick to disarm any such charges, bye bye bridge...



Once they’ve crossed the river, by fording the water or across the bridge, the town of Solkan is the final objective for the Italians. The last capture point is centered on a church, where you can expect heavy fighting in the churchyard.

The church and the neighboring street. Will you storm the churchyard directly, or try to clear a path through the houses to the left first?

The urban environment provides a lot of cover, including structures where you’ll be safe from artillery - but you can’t just leave the open areas to the enemy, especially the grounds of the church. The narrow alleyways and small courtyards can also leave you without anywhere to flee if grenades land nearby. The high walls mask troop movements allowing for easy surprise attacks. Taking the church will not be easy…

Solkan in-game, and as it was historically.

[h2]Isonzo at W.A.S.D![/h2]
The WW1 Game Series will be attending the W.A.S.D video game expo in London from April 7-9. Isonzo will be available for everyone to play for the first time! You can find us at booth GG1. Be sure to stop by and fight on the Italian Front, and maybe have a chat with some of the team.



We're also going to help a few lucky soldiers get their hands on tickets: there will be a giveaway on our Twitter, make sure to follow us if you’re interested!

[h2]More map reveals are coming…[/h2]
We hope you enjoyed learning about the Monte Sabotino map! We know you’re all keen to hear more about Isonzo’s maps, and there are more map focused Isonzo Intels coming up - including Gorizia, which follows Monte Sabotino and Monte San Michele in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo Offensive. Until next time!

Wishlist Isonzo now!

Hello soldiers!

We're excited to share with you that WW1 Game Series will be attending the W.A.S.D video game expo in London on April 7th-9th. Here, you'll be able to play Isonzo for the first time available in public for everyone to play! You can find us at booth GG1, so be sure to stop by and fight on the Italian front, and have a chat with some of the WWI Game Series' team.




Interested in going? You can still get your tickets via the official W.A.S.D website! You can get a ticket per day or get a full 3-day ticket, Be sure to get one if you want to play Isonzo this early April! Click here to be redirected to the ticket shop.

However, we're going to help some soldiers get their hands on tickets! We'll be giving away tickets to the event on our Twitter! Be sure to follow us to not miss out on this!



[h2]W.A.S.D Intel coming in[/h2]
For the soldiers who aren't able to make it, we're going to share images and info during the event on our Twitter so be sure that you follow us there to not miss any special expo Isonzo Intel!

[h3]We hope to see you there soldiers![/h3]

WW1 Game Series

We introduced mortars in a previous Isonzo Intel, but today we'll look more closely at two you'll be using in the game!

M14 mortar loading.

Mortars are fixed location emplacements like Heavy Machine Guns which can be crewed by anyone on your team. It’s up to the person manning the mortar whether they want to go for more rapid and less accurate fire, or take their time to drop far more accurate shots. While operating a mortar can be done by one player, they'll be much more effective if someone is spotting enemy positions to identify good targets.

M14 mortar firing.

However, be aware that aiming well takes time, and precision goes a long way. But, there are ways to make this easier for you or your squadmates. The Mountaineer can even shoot flares which boost the aiming speed of mortars targeted within the area of the flare! A special perk for the Engineer means you operate mortars (in fact, all static weapons) faster as well. Of course, most WW1 mortars didn’t look the same as modern mortars. Let’s take a look at what the Italians and Austro-Hungarians will use in Isonzo…

Bettica being reloaded.

[h2]Bettica Mortar[/h2]
The Bettica was a small Italian trench mortar that used fairly simple tube projectiles, with a range of around 200-250 meters. Unusually, the Bettica doesn't have a barrel! The tubes are fitted to a kind of spigot ready for firing. Different lengths and weights of projectiles influenced the maximum range. While there were many unique light mortar designs made during WW1 (the British 3-inch Mortar Stokes would go on to be the most common template for future mortars) the Bettica is certainly one of the more strange looking! Furthermore, the Bettica has a match lit fuse, which makes it different from others.



[h2]Minenwerfer M14[/h2]
The 9 cm Minenwerfer M14 was used by Austro-Hungarian forces. The M14 is loaded from the back, allowing you the opportunity to keep your eyes on the field in front of you. Designed under time pressure by an army committee, it was intended to serve as a much needed light mortar.



While it did that job, there were flaws: it was awkward to rotate for aiming, a black powder propellant that could be very smoky, and bomb fuzes that were unreliable and could lead to duds. Many of these problems were fixed in later versions of the mortar, but ultimately it was decided to purchase and use German made mortars from 1917 onwards.

M14 mortar reloading.

[h3]Wishlist Isonzo now![/h3]