Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad

That_Guy

What is it? (Shamelessly copied from wikipedia)

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is an upcoming WWII themed first-person shooter video game developed and published by Tripwire Interactive. It is a sequel to Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. The title will focus heavily on the Battle of Stalingrad. The game is set to be released on 30 August 2011. The developers have stated that the game will be a PC exclusive and have no plans to bring it to the consoles. The game will contain many new features including a new first person cover system combined with blind firing, first person collision detection as well as an entire new system of statistics tracking and enabling player development.

Gameplay

Red Orchestra 2 is a first person shooter with realistic gameplay elements. Guns behave realistically, with bullet drop and spin taken into account. The game also does away with elements of a traditional HUD like an ammo counter, forcing players to remember, or manually check, how many bullets are left in the gun's magazine. The game's first person cover system allows players to hide behind objects in the world to avoid gunfire. While in cover players can peek out to take more accurate shots or fire blindly. However the shape, size and composition of the object will change it's effectiveness at protecting the player. Smaller objects may not cover the player's entire body and some may not stop bullets. Health does not regenerate over time or by use of medical equipment, but wounds must still be bandaged so more health is not lost through blood loss.

Tanks will be in Red Orchestra 2, with more vehicles added in after the game's launch. The interiors of each tank are fully recreated with either human or AI controlled characters manning each station. The level of detail was described by Tripwire's president John Gibson as rival or exceeding tank simulation games. [8] Because of the extensive work required to recreate each vehicle, which Tripwire estimates to take three months each, the game will launch with two tanks. The German Panzer IV and Russian T-34. Two more tanks and two troop carriers are in production and will be added to the game for free shortly after launch.

Screenshots

Videos
http://youtu.be/xEQo9eFPoo4
http://youtu.be/dBXzLNhUBWs
http://youtu.be/g3NDmOnAOaI

Preorder options and bonuses

Pre-Purchase Offer
Owners of the original Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 will receive the following:

Pre-purchase now and receive 10% off or get 20% off if you already own the original Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45.
Day 1 unlock of the Kar98 and Mosin rifle bayonets:


Special in-game item - Russian Guards Badge and German Close Combat Badge:


Steam Digital Deluxe Edition

Steam Digital Deluxe Edition adds the following extras on top of the Standard Edition:

Access to the final phase of closed beta before the August 30th launch
Day 1 Unlock of the Elite Assault Weapons (MKb 42(H) and AVT-40) and Semi Auto Sniper Weapons (SVT-40 and G 41(W):


Team Fortress 2 German and Russian hats ("vintage" if bought during pre-purchase):
Two new characters for Killing Floor - Russian and German Soldier Re-enactors:

System Requirements
Minimum
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Dual Core 2.3 GHz or better
Memory: 2 GB
Graphics: 256 MB SM 3.0 DX9 Compliant NVIDIA® GeForce 7800 GTX or better ATI® Radeon® HD 2900 GT or better
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c
Hard Drive: 8 GB free hard drive space
Sound: Windows Supported Sound Card
Other: Broadband Internet Connection required

Recommended
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Quad Core 2.6 GHz or better
Memory: 3 GB
Graphics: 512 MB SM 3.0 DX9 Compliant NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 260 or better ATI® Radeon® HD 5750 or better
Hard Drive: 8 GB free hard drive space
Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy or better


We have a Steam Group now. Be sure to join it
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/PARO2

I enjoyed RO1 for some time and love the hell out of Killing Floor. I have high hopes for this game.

Pookiepoo

Me too man. RO was one of the best multiplayer games I've played and KF was great as well.

Preorder incoming. Any idea when beta starts?

That_Guy

Pookiepoo wrote:

Me too man. RO was one of the best multiplayer games I've played and KF was great as well.

Preorder incoming. Any idea when beta starts?

Steam says you get early access. With the game coming out in less than a month, I would imagine it will be soon. I just preordered it myself a few minutes ago. If I really hate it based on the beta, I will still have time to cancel my preorder

TychoCelchuuu

This is going to be the best game ever. Between this and Battlefield 3 I don't know if I'll ever have to buy another multiplayer FPS again. The only reason I haven't preordered this half an hour ago is because people seem to buy TF2 hats and I'm wondering if I could trade the two special edition hats for Steam games or something. Once I decide one way or another on that, RO2 is MINE. It has been on the top of my Steam wishlist since the game was added so it'll be nice to clear that spot out.

Melkster

If TychoCelchuu is interested in a game, so am I.

Count me in, gentlemen.

That_Guy

If there are enough people interested, I might run down to the server store and pick us up something.

TychoCelchuuu

It's a niche game by its nature, so I wouldn't count on PA having enough people to make a server worthwhile, but I suppose we'll see.

Maddoc

Fuck, I'm going to get the Digital Deluxe edition, and I'm going to do it entirely because I can't stand having Killing Floor skins showing up as unavailable.

The Ball preorder skin still haunts me to this day.

That_Guy

Maddoc wrote:

Fuck, I'm going to get the Digital Deluxe edition, and I'm going to do it entirely because I can't stand having Killing Floor skins showing up as unavailable.

The Ball preorder skin still haunts me to this day.

I am getting it too. Mostly because it gets you into the early beta.

Suriko

$45? When most shit here is $90? I can agree to that. Preordered.

Thank you Tripwire for not taking Australians up the ass in regional pricing like everyone else does.

Edit: "Low violence version"? Oh god, this had better not be what I think it is.

Edit 2: Sigh. This should probably go in the OP to warn Australian buyers. From the forums, where a developer posted:

We've put "LV" [Low Violence] up for Australia because we haven't got the rating back yet - and dear old Oz has just announced the new higher rating category. We are HOPING that they will take the same view as PEGI/BBFC and NOT go all silly on us. However, until we're sure, we putting LV up to be safe. The Okkers may want to wait a few days and see what the end result is - but we'd hate for you to buy it and THEN find your ratings board can't cope with dismemberment (like USK...).

Drake

I can all ready feel the shellshock.

Monger

Why hello there, Red Orchestra thread. I have an interest in what is being peddled herein.

Basticle

preordered

Phoenix-D

The more limited focus and unlocks don't thrill me, but pre-ordered anyway. RO was my staple game for quite a while, and this should be good.

RO's the game that got me using Steam, in fact.

LavaKnight

Phoenix-D wrote:

The more limited focus and unlocks don't thrill me, but pre-ordered anyway. RO was my staple game for quite a while, and this should be good.

RO's the game that got me using Steam, in fact.

I agree, but from what I heard (just a blurb on the PC Gamer Podcast) about the beta, the "unknown" feeling of the original is intact, meaning it can't be too much like the CoD's or Battlefields of today, despite unlocks and such.

That_Guy

Suriko wrote:

$45? When most shit here is $90? I can agree to that. Preordered.

Thank you Tripwire for not taking Australians up the ass in regional pricing like everyone else does.

Edit: "Low violence version"? Oh god, this had better not be what I think it is.

Edit 2: Sigh. This should probably go in the OP to warn Australian buyers. From the forums, where a developer posted:

We've put "LV" [Low Violence] up for Australia because we haven't got the rating back yet - and dear old Oz has just announced the new higher rating category. We are HOPING that they will take the same view as PEGI/BBFC and NOT go all silly on us. However, until we're sure, we putting LV up to be safe. The Okkers may want to wait a few days and see what the end result is - but we'd hate for you to buy it and THEN find your ratings board can't cope with dismemberment (like USK...).

I added that quote to the OP. Thanks for the heads up

Synthesis

I slowly stopped playing RO after a few too many yeaers on the same maps doing the same things, but damn if it wasn't a top-knotch multiplayer shooter.

Tripwire is promising a single-player campaign from the German perspective--shocking, I know, and while I think I'd enjoy a Soviet campaign more, I'm eagerly waiting it.

Zxerol

Synthesis wrote:

Tripwire is promising a single-player campaign from the German perspective--shocking, I know, and while I think I'd enjoy a Soviet campaign more, I'm eagerly waiting it.

Wait, really?

Awesome. The Allies have been done to death.

TychoCelchuuu

Just bought the Digital Handjob Edition! Now I just have to hunker down and wait for the beta, like one might hunker down and try to outlast an artillery barrage or hunker down and hope that the machinegun firing at you gets taken out by a sniper so you can advance on the town square.

Synthesis

Zxerol wrote:

Synthesis wrote:

Tripwire is promising a single-player campaign from the German perspective--shocking, I know, and while I think I'd enjoy a Soviet campaign more, I'm eagerly waiting it.

Wait, really?

Awesome. The Western Allies have been done to death.

Indeed they have, the only exception being the Free French. Even the otherwise neglected Soviets have been in two (American) games, that leaves the FF, the Poles, Czechs, other countries out (I think an IJA sniper survival-shooting game would be pretty awesome, though no one would bother making it). My hat to Tripwire for braving crossing the line that only Ubisoft Romania (Romania...hmmm...) and a few others have crossed, and being among the first to do it on foot. I think there might have been one other WWII shooter with a German Army campaign, but I can't think of the title.

EDIT: The SVT40 being a "bonus" weapon is kind of surprising--I know sniper-variants weren't made after 1942 or so, but that still leaves +50,000 of them produced. Basically the same number as sniper Gewehr 43s--so I guess in the later maps, the Germans will get a semi-auto sniper while the Soviets don't? That's going to be a bummer on urban maps.

Kadoken

If they make a German campaign, this is how it should go, this is what I've been wanting to see forever.
Okay, throughout the missions, the Germans should win and lose their battles, obviously being turned back at Moscow. However, they need to make it more about the tragedies of war, show how hard it is on the battlefield for the Germans, don't just make them assholes. Show them as actual people, such as Downfall showed Hitler as an actual person.

However, this is probably going to just be multi levels with bots, though honestly, I'd play it for the game it is, not actually story. Plus, multi with bots is fine. Its just my thoughts.

Kuribo's Shoe

hey uh, not to crap up your thread or nothin' but

if one of you guys pre-orders this game here and isn't really into tf2 I wouldn't mind if you traded me them hats. I could get you a fairly cheap game, or something.

Just saying.

TychoCelchuuu

Synthesis wrote:

Zxerol wrote:

Synthesis wrote:

Tripwire is promising a single-player campaign from the German perspective--shocking, I know, and while I think I'd enjoy a Soviet campaign more, I'm eagerly waiting it.

Wait, really?

Awesome. The Western Allies have been done to death.

Indeed they have, the only exception being the Free French. Even the otherwise neglected Soviets have been in two (American) games, that leaves the FF, the Poles, Czechs, other countries out (I think an IJA sniper survival-shooting game would be pretty awesome, though no one would bother making it). My hat to Tripwire for braving crossing the line that only Ubisoft Romania (Romania...hmmm...) and a few others have crossed, and being among the first to do it on foot. I think there might have been one other WWII shooter with a German Army campaign, but I can't think of the title.

EDIT: The SVT40 being a "bonus" weapon is kind of surprising--I know sniper-variants weren't made after 1942 or so, but that still leaves +50,000 of them produced. Basically the same number as sniper Gewehr 43s--so I guess in the later maps, the Germans will get a semi-auto sniper while the Soviets don't? That's going to be a bummer on urban maps.

I was worried about the SVT being a bonus weapon but it looks like what is actually the case is that the SVT-40 is a normal weapon, the AVT-40 is a bonus unlock, and the SVT-40 sniper is a sniper unlock just like the Gewehr 43 is a sniper unlock. Both sides get a semi-auto sniper.

Synthesis

So both the Gewehr 41 and Gewehr 43 are bonus weapons? That would solve the balancing issue, leave both sides relying on bolt-action snipers, I guess.

Kadoken wrote:

If they make a German campaign, this is how it should go, this is what I've been wanting to see forever.
Okay, throughout the missions, the Germans should win and lose their battles, obviously being turned back at Moscow. However, they need to make it more about the tragedies of war, show how hard it is on the battlefield for the Germans, don't just make them assholes. Show them as actual people, such as Downfall showed Hitler as an actual person.

However, this is probably going to just be multi levels with bots, though honestly, I'd play it for the game it is, not actually story. Plus, multi with bots is fine. Its just my thoughts.

Yeah, I haven't heard anything about the singleplayer campaign either, so who knows? That being said, I suspect it'll be a fairly short, chapter-based affair encompasssing a specific set of battles--for example, Operation Bagration (the liberation of Belarus by the Red Army) would let you use all the famous weapons on the German side, I think.

TychoCelchuuu

Presumably there's no G-41 sniper and the only semi-auto sniper for the Germans is the G-43. That or the G-41 sniper is a later unlock which wouldn't make much sense.

Dashui

I'm really interested in this, especially with the 20% discount. I'm just curious if this will be a niche title with a relatively small community, or is the Red Orchestra community fairly large and active?

DietarySupplement

Dashui wrote:

I'm really interested in this, especially with the 20% discount. I'm just curious if this will be a niche title with a relatively small community, or is the Red Orchestra community fairly large and active?

I want to know this too. I got into RO *VERY* late and I have yet to play a game w/o bots. I need to remedy this...

TychoCelchuuu

Uh, it's both? It's a small game but I never have trouble finding a server.

Drake

Yeah, there is a small, but dedicated community of players.

Look for The Wild Bunch's "Old Glory" server if you are in the US. It's a 50 player server that's usually well populated and bot free.

That_Guy

I have been doing some reading. Even if we don't have our own server, it should be pretty straight forward to form PA squads in game. I don;t know about the rest of you, but I am probably more interested in the relaxed realism game mode. Hardcore realism just turns me off as a consent. 1 bullet to kill someone means one bullet from anyone anywhere can and will kill you too. Probably first.

DigitalSyn

Just putting this out there, but I will most likely be running a PA server for this. I am a huge fan of the RO series to date and I got a shiney new server being build for The Gentlemen of the Row

TychoCelchuuu

That_Guy wrote:

I have been doing some reading. Even if we don't have our own server, it should be pretty straight forward to form PA squads in game. I don;t know about the rest of you, but I am probably more interested in the relaxed realism game mode. Hardcore realism just turns me off as a consent. 1 bullet to kill someone means one bullet from anyone anywhere can and will kill you too. Probably first.

Sorry to break it to you, but it's 1 bullet to kill in all of the game modes. Relaxed realism only changes what HUD elements you get. Red Orchestra is pretty much defined by the 1 bullet to die paradigm. Changing that would make it into a lackluster Day of Defeat copycat.

Drake

I've taken a round or two and still been in the fight, but yeah, for the most part it's take a hit and you are watching the respawn timer. That's the way it should be too, part of what I like about RO is the "Meat Grinder" feel of the game. Anything else wouldn't be a fair representation of the Eastern Front.

Inquisitor

I wasn't originally planning on picking this up but the 20% off for having bought the last RO is mighty tempting. I will have to ponder this.

Phoenix-D

That said its generally harder to get that hit in RO than most other games. Guns actually behave like guns, not lasers bolted onto your screen, and RO2 looks to have improved that even more.

TychoCelchuuu

It's also harder to get hit in RO because you should spend most of your time behind cover or sprinting from cover to cover. It's not like everyone's running around in the open shooting at each other like in most FPS games: it's a much more deliberate process, where teammates with machineguns keep the enemy pinned down, teammates with rifles pick off anyone they can see, and teammates with automatic weapons try to move in close so that everyone else can push forward. And sometimes nobody has an automatic weapon so you just have to crawl up and hurl grenades, and sometimes you're out of grenades so you have to charge in with your bayonet. And then while you're deciding whether or not to move up, artillery starts falling, so the choice is made for you. And then there's a tank so you have to find some place to hide, but then your tank shows up, so now you have to push forward and clear out enemy infantry so that your tank can take out the enemy tank. And then more explosions, just because.

Jephery

TychoCelchuuu wrote:

It's also harder to get hit in RO because you should spend most of your time behind cover or sprinting from cover to cover. It's not like everyone's running around in the open shooting at each other like in most FPS games: it's a much more deliberate process, where teammates with machineguns keep the enemy pinned down, teammates with rifles pick off anyone they can see, and teammates with automatic weapons try to move in close so that everyone else can push forward. And sometimes nobody has an automatic weapon so you just have to crawl up and hurl grenades, and sometimes you're out of grenades so you have to charge in with your bayonet. And then while you're deciding whether or not to move up, artillery starts falling, so the choice is made for you. And then there's a tank so you have to find some place to hide, but then your tank shows up, so now you have to push forward and clear out enemy infantry so that your tank can take out the enemy tank. And then more explosions, just because.

There is no part of this I don't like.

Synthesis

80% (or more) of players on any team being limited to bolt-action rifles on many maps is also a tough pill for players to swallow.

I actually enjoy it, just because RO has perhaps the best "feeling" bolt-action weapons I've encountered in a first-person shooter yet--sort of an anti-HL2, if you will. But it takes a lot of patience and some adjustment,

Monger

Red Orchestra's weapons in general are so good. So good.

The list of games I've played with guns that feel as tactile as Red Orchestra's is, like, LURK for STALKER: SoC and that's pretty much it.

Drake

Killing Floor has that feel for me too.

Also, bayonetting someone makes you feel awesome.

Echo

Basticle wrote:

preordered