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Delta Force has already established itself as yet another popular free-to-play game on Steam, but next month it releases its paid campaign, Black Hawk Down. Taking inspiration from the iconic movie and the 2003 Delta Force game, it transports players out of its near future battles and drops them into 1990s Somalia. It’s an interesting move, and one that may feel at odds with its multiplayer focus, but game design director Ricky Liao says that immersion and creating an authentic reimagining of Black Hawk Down is incredibly important to Team Jade.
“For Black Hawk Down, you will see that we are trying to deliver a unique narrative experience,” Liao tells me in a recent interview, via a Team Jade translator. “This won’t be some typical RPG narrative experience. We are actually designing FPS gameplay features to achieve narrative goals here – we want to make Delta Force players feel really immersed and engaged with the universe we are trying to build, and feel like they are really on the battlefield.”
Liao is passionate about the fact Black Hawk Down has been designed to keep players “playing the game instead of watching cutscenes” – he says there will be some cinematics, but it sounds like Team Jade is trying to steer away from them as a primary storytelling device.
I ask about how long the campaign will be, and Liao says that it’s hard to give a definitive answer to that question. “This is not a purely single-player experience, because you can team up with your friends. It also depends on your skill and your play style. It’s really difficult for us to give a calculated and precise number,” he says.
What he does allude to though is that the original 2003 Delta Force Black Hawk Down campaign shouldn’t be used as an indicator. Even though it will “bring back great memories” of those classic shooters, this is not a faithful remake, and is instead a reboot and retelling of the BHD story.
What Liao can reveal though is that those who purchase and play the campaign will be able to earn some exclusive rewards which they can then flaunt in multiplayer modes. As you’d expect given how vocal Team Jade has been about pay-to-win elements, these rewards won’t include weapons, operators, or anything else that could affect gameplay.
“We don’t want to use the term ‘achievement system,’ because that can be interpreted into many things,” Liao says. “But the idea is, if you play the campaign, and if you do really well, or if you are really skilled, you will be able to get some meaningful rewards in multiplayer, and we will do it in a fair and tasteful way.”
Delta Force’s Black Hawk Down campaign drops in January 2025. While it’ll be Delta Force’s first foray into single-player content, I ask if players can expect more paid campaigns in the future. “Let us ship this one first, then we will see!” Liao teases.
For more from my chat with Liao, check out his analysis of Delta Force’s big Steam launch and what’s on the horizon for the multiplayer component. He also revealed that a new PvE mode called Raids is coming in the near future.
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