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Ground Branch is a tactical first person shooter video game; designed and developed by Blackfoot Studios. Development of the title was announced in 2007, continuing as an Early Access development title released for Steam on August 18th of 2018. The game is described as deliberate, calculating and unforgiving when discussing its gameplay, owing large amounts of its realism influence to the tactical realism genre of the late 1990s, and early 2000s. The game is planned for release, on Microsoft Windows' systems. The game is considered one of the most realistic simulation experiences.
Ground Branch is an on-going production, and is in Early Access, as such the game is subject to numerous changes. Having released in early access via Steam, Ground Branch has enjoyed a niche, loyal following of hardcore tactical enthusiasts and military gamers, which have in turn helped support the game through media coverage, suggestions and collective responses.
¶ Gameplay
Ground Branch is a tactical shooter, and focuses its efforts on realistic gameplay design involving the 'Natural Order of Realistic Gameplay' or NORG Philosophy. To emphasise this realism, much of the game involves the careful logistical planning of highly customisable characters, as the player embody's an 'Operator', a specialist field personnel member often ascribed to the special operations community. Furthermore, the game omits non-realistic content, especially with regards to non-diegetic heads-up-displays (HUDs), and encourages cautions play through limited health and ammunition.
The game draws direct inspiration from the tactical realism genre of older games, and as such attempts to reward the careful playing style of tactical teamplay, and punish recklessness. Singleplayer Modes include many commonly known gamemodes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Team Elimination; modes in which the goal is to kill an opposing team of combatants, and differs from Terrorist Hunt in that the former focuses on competitive play, while the latter shows focus on neutralising interactive artificial intelligence (AI) hostiles. Multiplayer, not unlike singleplayer, focuses on the same modes, but in all instances outside of terrorist hunt, the enemy is made up of participating players within servers.
Players have access to all their equipment from the beginning of the game, with careful attention towards customising the right outfit to fit mission requirements. Firearms can be intricately altered to specification, and pouches added onto vests and outfits as required. Unlike similar titles such as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, planning modes often expected in tactical shooters, are currently absent, and the game instead allows for players to enter a team 'ready room', where gear and munitions can be acquired via lockers, and operations deployed from within the map. In-game voice chat is handled both locally via proximity communications, and radio communications for team specific dialogue and feedback.
The player enjoys a wider array of first person shooter (FPS) characteristics compared to other shooters; being able to jump, open and close doors regularly as well as incrementally and hold their weapon muzzle upwards or downwards to avoid friendly fire (as is real-world protocol). The game encourages the player to use ironsights via a lack of any given indicators or crosshairs, while laser sights and strobes help differentiate enemy forces from friendly ones, as is the case in many real-world situations. As such, the game is known for its intense, and highly realistic combat between players.
¶ True First-Person System
GROUND BRANCH's unique True First-Person System improves world immersion and awareness of your surroundings, providing zero disconnect between your view and your character's physical presence in the environment.
See your foot sticking out of cover? Better tuck it in—enemies may be able to see it (and shoot it) too, but only if their line of sight and muzzle are verifiably unobstructed. Cameras are placed at the character's eyes and bullets originate from the weapon's muzzle. In GROUND BRANCH, what you see is what you get.
GROUND BRANCH’s unique True First-Person System improves world immersion and awareness of your surroundings, providing zero disconnect between your view and your character’s physical presence in the environment. See your foot sticking out of cover? Better tuck it in—enemies may be able to see it (and shoot it) too, but only if their line of sight and muzzle are verifiably unobstructed. Cameras are placed at the character’s eyes and bullets originate from the weapon’s muzzle. In GROUND BRANCH, what you see is what you get.
› A minimal HUD with multiple optional elements ensures that vital information is available, but never a constant obstacle to either immersion or your field of view.
¶ Deep Weapon Customizations
Say goodbye to pre-defined kits and fully customize your character and gear from basic appearance and outfit to in-depth vest and weapon platform customization, down to individual pouch and attachment placement. What you bring to your mission is determined only by your loadout choice, with realistic consequences: Carry too much and your character’s speed and stamina will take a hit; place a scope too forward on the rail and your sight picture will be too small; bring a long rifle into CQB and weapon collision may slow you down.
› Forget unlocks, microtransactions and loot boxes. Ground Branch operators get all the right tools for the job straight away—courtesy of the Agency.
¶ Realistic Operation Conditions - Friendly Fire
Whether in 8-player co-op or 8v8 adversarial game modes, GROUND BRANCH’s unforgiving gameplay makes careful and calculated teamwork essential. Gather your teammates and practice in full-featured training areas, including shooting ranges with dynamic targets and customizable killhouses. Integrated VOIP with both 3D positional voice and radio ensures full communication capabilities with no need for third-party software. Text chat and pre-recorded voice messages (commo rose-style) also available for the mic-less and the shy.
› Prefer single-player? Friendly A.I. and a full command system are also in development.
¶ Realistic Weapon Handling - Ready Positions
In the tactical shooter realm, movement and weapon handling are king. Take full control of your character with standing, crouching and (soon!) prone stances—each with multiple movement speeds—as well as unique weapon postures (including low- and high-ready), leaning and stepping out, free-look (head movement independent from aim), customizable and optional free-aim (dead zone), dedicated mouse sensitivity sliders for point-shooting, unmagnified and magnified aiming, with all-around highly configurable key bindings.
Bullets do not come out of fixed position in space, but the actual barrel, even mid animation.
Its quite possible for a round to be shot before the recoil impulse / animation has finished, resulting angles in all directions.
› You can also choose between speed reloads (drop magazine) and tactical reloads (retain current magazine) on the fly.
¶ Plot
The storyline focuses on modern, and recent covert military operations. The player assumes the role of an 'Operator', and while non-descript, is inferred they are a part of the United States Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Center, assigned to the organisation's Ground Branch. Currently, there is no storyline per se, but rather a set of modes from which to encourage in-game narrative through play, that is, each individual or team likely emulates real-world unit operations, but no specific plotline, lore or narrative exists. This may be a feature that is later expanded upon in patch.
¶ Development
The game was conceived by former Redstorm Entertainment developer John Sonedecker, who sought to create an entirely new revival of tactical shooters, during an era where the genre was stagnant. Sonedecker's company, called Blackfoot Studios, was intent on creating numerous realism-oriented games, including Sky Gods (a title surrounding active use of parachutists and airborne oriented troopers) and then later Ground Branch, a game focusing on tactics.
Ground Branch itself has struggled with funding, due to its intentionally niche, hardcore approach to gameplay. This however, has not dissuaded the developers who consistently seek the feedback and approval of its fanbase, which they actively support and develop their title around.
Currently, the game is in 'Early Access' via the Steam, and is at present still in development. A large portion of the game remains to be completed, but development is still on-going.
¶ Legal
This Steam Early Access game is currently not a finished game and may or may not change significantly over the course of development. To learn more about Steam Early Access, please visit http://store.steampowered.com/earlyaccessfaq/
GROUND BRANCH, the GROUND BRANCH logo, BlackFoot Studios, and the BlackFoot Studios logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of BlackFoot Studios LLC.
GROUND BRANCH uses the Unreal Engine © 1998–2020 Epic Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Unreal is a trademark or registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere.
GROUND BRANCH is distributed via Steam © 2020 Valve Corporation. Steam and the Steam logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.