Isonzo

Shifting the action from both the muddy trenches of the Western Front and the snow-dappled rural expanses of the Eastern Front to the blood-soaked peaks of The Great War's arguably most sophisticated theatre of conflict, developers BlackMill Games and M2H have excelled themselves with Isonzo. A thoroughly thoughtful and visceral first-person shooter where tactics and strategy are valued equally to a quick trigger finger, Isonzo isn't just the best entry in the WW1 Game Series to date, it also happens to be one of the best tactical multiplayer shooters full stop.

Obviously, Isonzo isn’t for everyone, which is why it feels like a throwback to an era before every shooter had to be a system seller. I can’t promise you’ll be good, I certainly am not. But if you want to vibe to the era of PC gaming where weirdos made mods because it was fun and you never knew if it would be good or everything set to fulbright and 0 gravity (which is to say great), ENLIST TODAY.

Isonzo changes the formula of the WW1 game series -- and it's all for the better.

All in all, Isonzo is very good at what it sets out to do, which is provide an authentic WW1 battlefield for players to experience, this time way up in the Italian Alps. The series' new setting does add some nice visual variety to proceedings, and the extra verticality has a pretty major impact on gameplay and match flow, but ultimately, we would like a little more meat on the bone, whether that be more online modes, gameplay options or even a single player campaign one day. What's here though is bloody brutally brilliant, and if you enjoy a more tactical approach to online warfare, Isonzo is ...

A gorgeous, accessible class-based shooter that's a bit too stingy with its fun.

The FPS is a densely packed genre, so standing out is a must if you want to gain any traction. That's exactly what M2H and Blackmill Games have done with their WW1 Game Series. Following in the footsteps of Verdun and then Tannenberg, Isonzo introduces the Italian front to the series. WW1 games are a little hard to come by, especially when compared to WW2, but there have been a few quality games, most noteworthy of course being Battlefield 1. While it doesn't have the budget or scale of DICE's juggernaut, Isonzo puts in an admirable effort.

Blackmill Games’ dedication to history and realism is certainly commendable, but the result is a game that will only appeal to a very select audience. That said, Isonzo is capable of producing some incredibly tense and atmospheric gameplay.

Isonzo is an honorable attempt at creating the historical events of the battles between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies. The multiplayer-only component with concern for long-term player base sustainability, alongside a multitude of user experience gripes make it an unremarkable experience.