World War 3 adds Team Deathmatch, a new map, and a development roadmap

The subtly-named online shooter World War 3 "is a more hardcore Battlefield," we said in our recent preview, calling it a promising experience that suffers from some irritating technical issues. That's not terribly surprising, given that the game is a relatively recent arrival on the Early Access scene and only just went to version 0.2 in an update released today.

The patch adds a Team Deathmatch mode to the game, along with a new TDM map called Warsaw Shopping Mall. There's also a new weapon, the MSBS Bullpup, a new IFV Boxer vehicle, a Russian Partisan uniform, and a new dynamic spawn system, although that's currently only active in the Team Deathmatch mode.

Various fixes, tweaks, and gameplay changes have also been made: RPGs have been nerfed, sniper rifle rounds have been slowed, "first pass" thermal scopes are in place, and T90 turret hatches now open like they're supposed to. (That may or may not have been a particularly significant issue, I just think it's amusingly random.)

Developer The Farm 51 also posted a development roadmap that lays out its plans through the next four "big" updates. Upcoming content includes the Abrams MBT, the Scar H battle rifle, the United States Marine Corps, Christmas cosmetics, a new Recon game mode, and new maps, weapons, and languages. Dates aren't attached, but the roadmap is for "winter 2018/2019" and the developers said that big updates should flow at a rate of about one per month—although "Rome wasn’t built in a day, so some content can (and will) be added within the span of a few updates."

World War 3 is currently on sale for $25/£22/€22.50 in the Steam Autumn Sale, which runs until November 27.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.