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Day of Infamy, the Second World War-based standalone expansion to the 2014 FPS Insurgency, is now in "Early Access beta." That means new features including stats and rankings, the unit system, air support, new game modes, visual updates, a whole mess of bug fixes, and a fresh new trailer to mark the moment.
It seems like something of an arbitrary step, since Day of Infamy was, and is, available for purchase as an Early Access release. Regardless of what it's called, this update is a big step forward: The introduction of rankings means that players will now earn cosmetic Unit items when they rank up, and character models will display the appropriate rank patches on their arms. All factions now have access to the "Carpet Bombing" option, while the US can call in Mustang strafing runs, and the Germans can deploy Stuka dive bomber attacks.
Developer New World Interactive has also rolled out "First Wave" Units, one per faction, that will be available exclusively to Early Access players: The Gordon Highlanders for the Commonwealth, the 1st Ranger Battalion for the US, and the 1.Infanterie Division for Germany. Fallschirmjäger, 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions, and the 92nd "Buffalo Soldiers" Infantry Division are in development, and Canadian, Australian, and Indian regiments are also planned.
Day of Infamy looked quite promising when we got our hands on it over the summer, and hopefully the move to beta will continue to carry it in the right direction. A full breakdown of changes and new content in the beta release is available here, although a few changes have been made since then in a hotfix that came out today. Day of Infamy is currently 25 percent off as part of the Steam Winter Sale, dropping it to $15/£11/€14 until January 2.