When Gray Zone Warfare was released in April 2024, it was penned as being ‘an intense tactical FPS’ with some extraction elements mixed in. In the months that followed, changes were deployed, and updates were rolled out, evolving the game immeasurably in its first year on the market.
I’ve caught up with the developers at MADFINGER Games on multiple occasions, and during my most recent chat with the team, I learned that they’re now perfectly happy to call Gray Zone Warfare an extraction shooter.
But it’s more than that – it’s the world’s first open-world extraction shooter.
An Evolutionary Year
Gray Zone Warfare has stacks planned for the year ahead. The developers have worked tirelessly with the community to introduce a long line of changes and upgrades to improve the senses of immersion, challenge, and engagement in the fictional world of Lamang.
It might have blown by the average fan, but Gray Zone Warfare’s core description on Steam was updated at the end of 2024 to reflect the new attitude towards the game. It went from being described as an intense tactical FPS to being dubbed an open-world extraction shooter emphasising realism.
That was the first indication of MADFINGER’s pivot, but my recent chat with Rick Lagnese, the PR and Communications Director at the firm, set the story straight. The developer is now on board with being branded an extraction shooter, and it’s now striving to redefine what that tag means.
That’s something that I learned first-hand when I spoke to Marek Rabas, MADFINGER’s CEO, at Gamescom 2024.
In recent years, we’ve seen plenty of extraction shooters emerge and then fall flat. Some have been extinguished after mere weeks on the market, but Gray Zone Warfare has continued to innovate and exceed expectations after almost a year. There’s a dedicated community supporting the ongoing evolution of the game, and the roadmap is looking tasty.
If you’ve not played Gray Zone Warfare and you’re a fan of extraction shooters, now is the time to get on board. There are major changes lined up that are set to challenge the existing paradigm and alter the gameplay loop.
I’ll have all the latest for you in the coming days.
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