Red Orchestra (2) : Heroes of Stalingrad

[Mahnsikir]

RELEASE UPDATE : OCUK COMMUNITY SERVER



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RO2 : Heroes of Stalingrad

Release Date : 2011 (hinted that it'll be earlier 2011 rather than later)

Leading Eastern and Central European publisher 1C Company and Tripwire Interactive are excited to announce the sequel to Red Orchestra, the leading realism-based multiplayer WWII shooter on the PC. Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad will take the award winning Red Orchestra franchise into the next generation of gaming. Cutting edge graphics and audio built using the Unreal Engine 3, inventive features and streamlined realism will deliver an unrivalled WWII experience.

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad will focus on the Battle of Stalingrad and the surrounding operations, both German and Russian, from July 1942 to February 1943. The game allows the player to experience one of the most brutal battles in all of human history. The game consists out of two campaigns – Red Army and German. Delivering unrivalled accuracy and attention to detail, along with gritty, vicious combat in multiplayer, co-op and solo modes the game will feature everything from quick, brutal firefights to more intricate and challenging simulation modes.

Kindly borrowed from Ralphst3r's awesome facts thread on the official forums, LOADs of information there clicky



Gameplay Footage

Shaky cam gameplay footage from GDC '10 part1 part2

Slightly less shaky cam from PAX '10 from gametrailers

Bunch more videos out there but they are all fairly similar



Official Trailer

(cinematic but doesn't do the gameplay justice in my opinion)


Interviews

RPS tanks interview covering how tanks will be handled in the sequel.

There's also been two community based interviews giving a different angle from the usual press information. Video interview by Zetsumei with Tripwire's president John Gibson (Ramm Jaeger) ROladder, lots of clan based question, and text interview from bswearer with John again and Alan Wilson VP.

Rising Storm

Also worth mentioning they've also announced Rising Storm that "will be a total conversion modification for the eagerly awaited WWII First-person Shooter, Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad; based on the Pacific campaign of 1941-45.".
This is being made by members of the community/public and supported by Tripwire. They seem to have gathered a very talented team of modders and even a few f/t game developers working on it as a side project, so while there's little info out about it yet, its got lots of potential.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Bit of a mess up by either TWI with times and dates or PCG being a bit eager to publish an exclusive, heres the 'official anouncment':

Ok, here is the official statement on the game for now. Yes there is an article about our new UE3 game Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad in the UK and US PC Gamer magazines. Frankly, we're more than a bit surprised at the timing of the release of the article. To put it quite bluntly we thought this would hit after the release of Killing Floor. As such we'll be doing a bit of a scramble to get our PR efforts in order while we are in the middle of getting another game ready to ship.

I know many of you have been waiting a very long time for this news, and I am very happy that we can finally confirm what we've been working on these past three years. RO:HOS (as we call it) is real, its using UE3, and its awesome Just bear with us while we recover from this unexpected announcement and in the immortal words of Battlestar Galactica - all will be revealed.

For now, we're not going to say anything else about the game. We'll let the article speak for itself. As Alan mentioned please don't post scans of the article on this forum. Additionally, please don't post quotes of text from the article on these forums. Our proper PR effort will begin in earnest soon, so you'll get more from us on that in the coming days.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Looks like theyve got the official website now set up, a bunch of new screenshots and some new details on features etc

http://www.heroesofstalingrad.com/

Also the US PC Gamer article from back in May is available on their website now

 

[Mahnsikir]

It's looking awesome. I'll update the first post with some more gumph later.

@Tefal
Bioshock did though use a few UE3 features and was much more heavily modified but yeah still 2.5 I guess. hehe. Though the view distances in RO (was it put up to 1km?) was also pretty impressive for a semi-balistic based multiplayer game.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Updated the first post with more info.

Though I highly recommend the RO:HOS facts thread on the official forums. Loads of good information about stuff there but more than I'm willing to spam here.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Hope they get rid of an awful lot of the CoD style hud elements or at least have them as server side options. The price we pay for consoles once again.

They've said in previous videos showcases that they are playing in relaxed realism mode (I guess so they can show stuff that is otherwise hidden normally), so I imagine its the same for the GDC stuff. Either way they've stated that the HUD elements will be customisable both via server and client just like in RO:Ost front.

Totally agree though that the HUD shown is way to cluttered.

Nice to see that they used the same music in the trailer as the movie "enemy at the gates".

Surprised if it is, they've got the guy (Sam Hulick?) who did the Mass Effect soundtrack onboard for the music. Wouldn't be surprised if they sound fairly similar though.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Yeah some of the blog stuff is quite interesting/exciting.

One bit in this weeks one, that there will be the choice between choosing native Russian & German voices or having it in English, is a really nice addition imo.

I know other games have done it before but its always good having the choice between immersion and being able to understand the more complicated voice commands without reading the text pop up in the chat box, depending on what you want.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Yeah tbh one of the best things about RO was its mod support (aside from downloading 44_winter_grenadier_uniform and its twenty or so cousins each time you joined some servers ) and Hoes is already looking promising. You can't argue given that TWI have already given a team of modders (Rising Storm - Pacific Front mod) access to their SDK with the aim of getting it out within a few months of Hoes release, rather than 1-3 years after release like what happens with most mods.

But yeah UE3 + RO mechanics could make a kick ass Vietnam mod/game.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Cheers for that

Hope they put out some proper MP footage from the friends and family closed beta soon. Bots or a just a few journalists running about isn't RO at its best.

Still, can't wait till the end of August.

 

[Mahnsikir]

And another

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-05-red-orchestra-2-heroes-of-stalingrad-preview

Could tell it was a Quinns piece from the first two paragraphs heh, he really gets into the feels of games.

And another

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/redorchestra2heroesofstalingrad/608/preview.html

Wasn't the most 'professional' preview, they've edited it now but it first paragraph initially read as.

The key to enjoying Red Orchestra 2 is going to be the hardcore aspects and the overall experience. Whilst it's not the ugliest game you've ever seen graphically - in fact it's pretty decent by AAA standards - upcoming titles like Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 are just going to **** all over it anyway.

Most of the the piece is fairly true though and its nice to see it approached from someone who obviously isn't a fan/familiar with the original but their writing style leaves a bit to be desired.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Pre order is up on steam!

Only £19.99/£23.99 (digital delux) if you already own RO1 or just 10% off if you dont, £22.49/26.99.

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is now available for pre-purchase on Steam at a 10% discount. For those that want something extra we are also excited to announce the Steam Digital Deluxe Edition of Red Orchestra 2 which will include weapon unlocks for RO2, special in-game items for Team Fortress 2, playable characters for Killing Floor and more. Finally, to reward all those Red Orchestra fans that have supported us for all of these years we're giving special bonuses to all of the owners of the original Red Orchestra including exclusive in-game content and 20% off the pre-purchase. Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad will be available on August 30th, 2011, so go here (Steam Store Page) to pre-purchase now. Read on for the details on the pre-purchase and the Steam Digital Deluxe Edition.

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad - Steam Digital Deluxe Edition

*Day 1 Unlock of the Elite Assault Weapons (MKb 42(H) and AVT-40)
*Day 1 Unlock of the Semi Auto Sniper Weapons (SVT-40 and G 41(W))
*2 playable characters for Killing Floor - WW2 Russian and German Soldier re-enactors unlocked in KF the moment you purchase
*Team Fortress 2 items - RO2 German helmet and Russian "Pilotka" hat ("vintage" if bought during pre-purchase)
*Access to the final phase of the closed beta


Pre-purchase Discount: 10% off both versions (20% off if you own the original Red Orchestra)
Bonuses for owners of Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45:

*An extra 10% discount during pre-purchase for a total of 20% off
*Unlock the Kar98 and Mosin rifle bayonets on day 1
*Special in-game item - show everyone your loyalty to Red Orchestra with the exclusive Russian Guards Badge/German Close Combat Badge

 

[Mahnsikir]

Ordered the Steam Digital Deluxe Edition

So have I

 

[Mahnsikir]

I'll order RO next week then

Nooooo buy it now!

 

[Mahnsikir]

Does anyone who has preordered the Deluxe version know when we get access to the Beta?

Sometime between now and release.

Thats actually pretty much the official wording though, just whenever they launch the final beta. I imagine it will just appear on your steam list when its active.

Were there lots of UK clans for RO1.

Looking on the twi forums its all a bit SS style clan wise.

Hopefully find a nice clan for some competitive action.

Yeah there are some right nut jobs over on the TWI forums, though theres also a fair bunch of 'pro' clans or have a few beers and kick some ass clans.

 

[Mahnsikir]

how do you know with no footage no open beta nothing much of media and not a decent video of it since last summer.

all guess work and tbh sick of getting burned by poor games.

ill wait see if good then buy if it is.

I know what you mean, I'm sure it'll be good just hope that it'll live up to RO1.

And yeah plenty of time to buy it, the last stage of the beta (including the deluxe pre orders) won't have an NDA so, aside from the promise from TWI for loads of juicy footage in the next few weeks, the beta will produce loads of fraps footage, with plenty of time still to pre order before the 13th of Sept.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Heh, pretty nice trailer. Edit: ^ haha

And before anyone makes the confused mistake I did, that logo that pops up on the laptop isnt EA origin for eh another company that I shouldn't mention. Made me since RO is very much a steam game but then it twigged.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Don't know what you guys are expecting, but it looks fine for UE3.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Yeah by the time it gets to us its definitely not going to be a beta in terms of bug fixing and feature testing but I'd imagine mostly be a 'large numbers'/stress test in terms of how their hardware (master server) will cope when thousands of people connecting and updating stats etc as well as seeing any compatibility issues across a wide range of client hardware.

So no doubt will serve some use as a beta over a demo, but I'd guess its mostly a publicity thing at this stage. Hopefully it does mean a smoother day 1 release than a lot of new multiplayer games have, in terms of servers available and just mass connections.(I assume they'll release the server client for the DDE beta, which hopefully will be easily switched over or updated to the release code)

 

[Mahnsikir]

Pretty similar in terms of combat mechanics but smaller maps than PR (RO1 did get some huge, mostly tank, maps post release) so its quicker to get into the fight and more focussed on infantry range combat but still having long enough ranges for rifles to really be the main weapon outside of building or very close combat plus there's less requirement for close-knit squad play because of all that since the flow of battle is more concentrated.

Not that proper use of comms and tactics isn't useful, a good commander or coop-tankers could easily swing the tide of battle, its just not needed to be personally effective unlike PR.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Video NDA got lifted for their closed beta testers so a whole bunch of videos have started cropping up.

Three on this thread but sure there will be a few more out.

http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=57014

Not fully watched them yet but the second one linked there and maybe the first seem to be from a busier time on the beta server so the first real footage of a proper game not against bots or on a mostly empty server.