The Forever Winter: Everything We Know

Fun Dog Studios, a Washington-based firm comprised of several industry veterans who’ve helped formulate a substantial amount of triple-A video games, has announced The Forever Winter, a brand-new co-op tactical third-person shooter, for PC. According to the team, the game will be a love letter to a bygone era—a period of time where industry leaders sought to innovate and revolutionize tactical shooters and experiment with world-changing ideas.

“We came together to bring us back to that time when teams were pushing boundaries, building new worlds, and experimenting with new mechanics that were both satisfying and worthwhile,” said Fun Dog Studios CEO and creative director Branford Miles Williams in a press release. “The Forever Winter is a love letter to that bygone era, challenging players with intense gameplay while offering a fresh perspective on tactical shooters. This is personal to us. After working on some of the most successful games ever, we longed to get back to experimentation and working on new ideas, new IPs and new worlds. The Forever Winter is coming!”

So, with all of that out of the way, what more do you need to know about it? Or more importantly, when are we likely to see it hit the shelves? Well, if you are planning on stapling it to your wishlist on Steam at some point in the near future, then be sure to read on for a few quick updates. Here’s everything we can tell you about Fun Dog Games’ latest project.

What Is The Forever Winter?

The Forever Winter is a full-scale co-op tactical third-person shooter that’ll be set around an endless conflict between humans and “gargantuan war machines”—colossal foes who, according to the blurb, each have their own written agendas and ambitions. It’s within this open conflict, that you, a mere soldier trying to make ends meet, will carve out your own story and battle to survive another day beneath the overwhelming shadow of your enemies.

At the time of writing, there isn’t a concrete release date for The Forever Winter. With that said, the devs have made it abundantly clear that, for when it does arrive, it’ll be available for PC, and that it’ll also be meandering around the idea of branching out to consoles at a later date.

Story

There isn’t a huge amount to talk about when it comes to the storyline, what with Fun Dog Studios still keeping a lid on the lion’s share of the details. However, what we do know is this: the game will center itself around a post-apocalyptic era—a time in which technological advances have ushered in a new age of war and territorial conflict.

“Ecological collapse compounded by runaway technological advancement brought us here: a world choked by 40 years of industrial-scale violence, unmerciful mass killing by AI automata, human-machine hybrids, and the bleak truth of human nature,” the game’s description reads. “Use your wits, stealth, and skilled gunplay to make it to extraction. You’ll need to earn your stripes before you can take on a 40-foot mech armed with a tactical nuke.”

Going by that, it appears that the story won’t revolve around a single torchbearer, as such, but more the collective effort of several like-minded equals. In other words, there probably won’t be a hero — so don’t expect to be able to conquer the battlefield with your own two hands, basically.

Gameplay

It’s a third-person tactical shooter at heart, so we can definitely expect to be able to onboard our fair share of war-trodden battlefields and wall-to-wall combat scenarios. However, where a lot of tactical shooters tend to regurgitate a lot of the same concepts, The Forever Winter will feature a battlefield that’s constantly changing, which means, in short, players won’t be treated to the same obstacles in each new game.

“The battlefield is unpredictable thanks to The Forever Winter‘s dynamic combat system: enemies have their own goals and agendas, operating in coordinated groups, undertaking full-scale battles—and they’ll intelligently react to your actions,” the description explains in part. “The battlefield you leave won’t be the same one you return to.”

“Scavenge and fight for your next day alive under the shadow of gargantuan war machines,” the game’s description adds. “Enemies in the game can literally tower over the battlefield. That thirteen-story-tall railgun across the map that looks like it’s part of the skybox? It’s aiming at your face.” Oh, goodie.

Development

In case you missed it, The Forever Winter is being headed up by Fun Dog Studios, a team that, prior to establishing its own corner of the world, had their talents poured into IPs such as Doom Eternal, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Mass Effect. Suffice it to say that these guys clearly have a lot of experience with sci-fi modules — so rest assured that the upcoming game is in perfectly capable hands.

“As independents, we’re free to forge our own path to make games we all can’t wait to play ourselves,” said CEO Miles Williams in a press release. “We’re trying to bring back things that we’ve felt the industry has lost.”

Trailer

Thanks to Fun Dog Studios, we do, in fact, have a bit of footage to share of The Forever Winter. You can check out the initial announcement trailer for the upcoming tactical shooter in the video embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

The Forever Winter will be heading to PC via Steam at some point in the near future. It could also be shaping up for a release on consoles too, apparently, though this will largely depend on whether or not the initial launch is met with high praise and a stable fan base. If that is the case, then we can also expect to see the game release on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

Interested in staying up to date with The Forever Winter as it glides over to the Steam market? If so, then be sure to check in with the team over at Fun Dog Studios for all the latest updates via their official social handle here. If anything does change ahead of its global debut, then we’ll be sure to patch through the details right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of The Forever Winter when it arrives on PC? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.