Insurgency: Sandstorm trailer shows off door breaching, vehicle combat and lots of explosions

Insurgency: Sandstorm developer New World Interactive has just given us a first peek at the tactical options available in the objective-based multiplayer shooter, many of which never made it into 2014's Insurgency, of which this is a direct follow-up. The new trailer, above, shows door breaching, close-quarters pistol finishers, and combatants shooting from moving vehicles.

It's hard to tell whether the footage is actual gameplay or just for illustration, but it looks impressive all the same. The sound is especially great, with bullets thwacking into walls and explosive charges going off with a meaty boom. A forum post accompanying the video says that each weapon has "unique ballistic calculations that take into account things like bullet drop and penetration power" and that you can "choose to drop magazines for faster reloads in dangerous situations", which is a nice touch.

The tone of the trailer is a little confusing, with some of the characters seemingly shocked by the horrors of war. There's a lot to be said for incorporating that into more shooters, but getting that across in a competitive multiplayer game will be difficult. It's the kind of thing that would've worked perfectly in the campaign that was initially announced for the game but that was later postponed, and we don't know when it will be coming back.

However, the game is shipping with three co-op modes where you can team up with friends against the AI, so that might be an opportunity for some thematic touches. Insurgency: Sandstorm is due to release at some point later this year, and a closed alpha is coming soon.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.