With the one-year anniversary of Insurgency's launch approaching, we are taking a look back at how the game has progressed over the past twelve months, including four free DLC updates, positive reviews from the media, and a tremendous response from our passionate and loyal community. Thank you to everyone who helped make an incredibly successful year!
Release: January 22, 2014
Following nine months of Early Access development, Insurgency officially launched on January 22, 2014. Included in the release were five multiplayer game modes (Firefight, Skirmish, Push, Ambush, and Strike) and the Checkpoint cooperative mode. Seven maps were released including Contact, District, Heights, Market, Ministry, Peak, and Siege. Players had access to over 20 different weapons, including assault rifles, sub machine guns, rocket launchers, and grenades.
Insurgency reached the #3 spot in the Top Sellers on Steam and overall positive reviews from press and new media critics alike. Below you can see our launch trailer, along with a positive WTF is...? video from TotalBiscuit:
http://youtu.be/g6zUUASvEwU
http://youtu.be/iMxjlHU9u38
Free Updates!
We maintained our iterative development process from Early Access and continued to update the game with free content and fixes throughout 2014. Our first update released in March, Molotov Spring, adding two new maps, three new game modes, and three new weapons.
http://youtu.be/aUgloGYgeug
http://youtu.be/MxtX6pT-YJQ
In June, we released a remake of the popular classic map Sinjar along with an M14 EBR. We also opened up the Workshop support and since then our community has submitted over 2,000 items!
http://youtu.be/p7lEFF5rB9E
http://youtu.be/OzIV9p9xA08
Also in June, we launched a mapping contest in collaboration with Gamebanana and sponsored by Razer. With 20 submissions, we had a blast playtesting the top 11 candidates, and finally narrowed it down to the top six finalists. The top six maps will be implemented into the game over the next year. Check out the results in the video below:
http://youtu.be/EvzFDAKKsIM
Two months later, in August, we had the free weekend on Steam and released our Hunt update. New content included were two new maps, grenade launchers, and the Hunt coop mode. With the free weekend, we reached over 10,000 concurrent players and made it to #1 spot in the Top Sellers list on Steam!
http://youtu.be/qjCXKsHlY40
Explosive Growth
November marked a significant turning point for our community. Insurgency was included with the Humble Bundle, where you could also gift three copies to friends. Our audience more than doubled from 500,000 to over 1,000,000 players in the span of two weeks.
To coincide, we released the Nightfall update that included nightvision, two new weapons, a new map, and the Survival coop game mode. The first implementation of a party system marked a step towards growing our competitive features.
http://youtu.be/SILBaKNBKPI
http://youtu.be/QpIbAG2EAkU
Overwhelming Response
The response Insurgency has garnered from fans is overwhelmingly positive. While we may not have the attention of traditional games media, we have been able to grow our community by simply creating a great game that players suggest to their friends.
This is reflected by the over 20,000 Steam reviews with 92% recommending the game. Compared to our Metacritic score of 74 from only 23 reviews, plus an 8.5 user score, and we know where to find the meaningful feedback. Perhaps you could say Insurgency is underrated?
Thanks to our community, we reached 2nd place in the IndieDB Player’s Choice Indie of the Year, and even placed 2nd in the Editor’s Choice award too. We proudly display these awards on our Store page, since the original Insurgency mod was voted Mod of the Year seven years prior.
To sum up our year in review, here are some more of our favourite videos and reviews:
LevelCap - A True Tactical Shooter
Dslyecxi -RPG Dance
Matimi0 - Free DLC is Best DLC
FrankieOnPC - Getting Started
Node - Critical Insertion LAN Party
“This game has me hooked and I see it as a proudly raised middle finger in the face of large developers who seem to completely ignore fairness and player equality in favour of potential income.
“Insurgency is a breath of fresh air and I can easily see myself playing it every chance I get. Thanks in advance for ruining the next few months for me.”
Hooked Gamers (90)
“...it's fun that's borne out of the rewards of working with other players and saving them so you can capture that all-important node or destroy a weapons cache. If it's cruel, it's only to be kind.”
PC Gamer (77)
“It’s impressive how “uncool” Insurgency is, in that it ignores the modern shooter trends. It’s slow, and methodical, and there isn’t a grindable unlock or weapon crate to be found.”
IGN (75)
“This first-person multiplayer killfest pushes cooperative team play in interesting directions, using hyperrealism and a unique team role structure to drive its frenetic team-based firefights.”
Gamespot (70)
“Sure, you can win by eliminating all enemy waves over time, but, in my experience, teams find this strategy less important. Strategies of infiltration and sustained defense seem most effective. Those are accomplished through––you guessed it––communication.”
Killscreen Daily (65)