Info about Squad:

Official game description:
Squad is the embodiment of **tactical military action**. Compete in massive-scale **50 vs. 50 battles** in the most realistic combined-arms first-person shooter. Squad emphasizes combat realism through teamwork, tactics, and authentic warfare. A wide selection of realistic faction-specific weapons and vehicles allow players to build their own loadouts that best suit their preferred tactics. And with Squad’s unique **Picture-in-Picture scopes**, it’s like you’re really aiming at the enemy through real military-issue scopes.
Featuring **13 factions, 24 massive maps, and a sweeping arsenal of weapons and vehicles**, Squad creates a heart-thumping, visceral shooter experience that requires split-second decision-making in intense, realistic firefights.
New in Update 10.1: Fireteam
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Fireteam is Squad's new PvE gamemode that has launched with Update 10.1. This up to 5-player co-op PvE mode condenses the game’s most memorable moments into shorter, intense tactical missions. Four missions are available to all Squad players. Those who wish to support the ongoing development of Fireteam can choose to purchase either the Supporter or Founder pack - linked from this page.
Massive 50 vs. 50 Battles
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Squad creates authentic combat experiences while pitting conventional and unconventional factions against each other. As part of a 50 person team, join a nine-person squad to face off against opposing factions in intense combat across large real-world environments. Squad features 13 factions from all over the world, including the United States Marine Corps, Australian Defence Force, and Canadian Army among many others.
Ultra-Realistic Infantry Combat
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Squad’s combat was designed to provide the most fun, immersive, and authentic infantry experience possible. With Squad’s core tenets of teamwork and tactics, you’ll have to work together to outmaneuver your enemies with realistic Picture-in-Picture scopes and Squad’s unique Suppression system. Work with your squad to overwhelm the enemy and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!
Building & Logistics System
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Adapt to the ever-changing needs of the battlefield. By building fortifications and emplacements or supplying your team with ammunition and materials, you can give your squad the edge. Whether it’s placing HMGs and AT guns or fortifying a position with sandbags, razor wire, and some much-needed ammo, the battlefield is yours to change, if you have the courage to do so.
Communication
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Solid communication is a soldier's best friend when engaging the enemy. To help facilitate navigating the complexity of communication on the battlefield, Squad provides a world-class in-game VoIP system that allows players to talk to other soldiers locally, in-squad, between squad leaders, or even to the overall team commander. Map tools and in-world markers aid fire team leads and squad leaders to inform their soldiers of on-the-fly engagement tactics.

Release date: Sep 23, 2020

Categories: Tactical Shooter, First-Person Shooter, Team Management, Squad Management, Large-Scale Combat, Combined Arms Warfare, Military Simulation, Objective-Driven Combat


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Immersive and tactical gameplay (weight 0.66): Players consistently highlight the game's immersive and tactical gameplay, emphasizing high-stakes moments, realism, and deep teamwork. The balance between accessibility and depth makes it engaging for both new and veteran players.
- High replayability and variety (weight 0.57): Players appreciate the game's high replayability due to diverse roles, factions, maps, and gameplay scenarios. The variety of experiences keeps the game engaging over hundreds of hours.
- Teamwork and communication focus (weight 0.46): The game is praised for its strong emphasis on teamwork, communication, and coordination. Players find it rewarding when squads work together, and the design encourages strategic planning and leadership.
- Supportive and engaging community (weight 0.33): The community is frequently described as helpful, welcoming, and less toxic than other games. New players are often guided by veterans, enhancing the overall experience.
- Realistic military simulation (weight 0.3): The game is described as one of the best military simulators, balancing realism with accessibility. It offers authentic combat mechanics, large-scale battles, and a unique blend of strategy and FPS elements.
- Outstanding sound and visuals (weight 0.16): The game's sound design, graphics, and attention to detail (e.g., explosions, weapon mechanics) are consistently praised for enhancing immersion and realism.
- Large-scale and dynamic battles (weight 0.12): The game excels in delivering large-scale battles (e.g., 50v50 or 100-player matches) with diverse armaments, factions, and strategic depth, creating memorable moments.
- Improvements post-update (weight 0.08): Recent updates, including the UE5 transition, have significantly improved performance, graphics, and vehicle handling, addressing previous issues and enhancing the experience.

Common complaints:
- Severe performance and optimization issues (weight 0.99): The game suffers from frequent FPS drops, stuttering, crashes, and poor optimization, especially after the Unreal Engine 5 update. Players report unplayable frame rates even on high-end hardware, with issues like black screens, texture pop-ins, and server lag.
- Game-breaking bugs and unplayable states (weight 0.91): Numerous game-breaking bugs, such as inability to access the main menu, frequent crashes, and texture/mapping issues, render the game unplayable for many. These issues have persisted since launch and worsened with updates.
- Poor vehicle physics and mechanics (weight 0.69): Vehicles suffer from unrealistic physics, clipping issues, and poor handling, such as getting stuck in terrain or flipping uncontrollably. These problems degrade the gameplay experience and have persisted despite updates.
- Degraded shooting and infantry mechanics (weight 0.64): Shooting mechanics have worsened post-update, with issues like excessive recoil, stamina systems, and unrealistic weapon handling. Infantry combat feels restrictive and frustrating for many players.
- Developers prioritize monetization over fixes (weight 0.32): Developers focus on cosmetic updates, DLCs, and new content instead of addressing core gameplay issues, bugs, and optimization. This has led to frustration among players who feel neglected.
- Toxic and unwelcoming community (weight 0.27): The player base is often toxic, especially toward newcomers, with reports of mocking, flaming, and poor teamwork. Experienced players are leaving due to frustration with the community and game state.
- Steep learning curve for new players (weight 0.25): The game is difficult for beginners due to complex mechanics, lack of tutorials, and a high barrier to entry. New players often feel overwhelmed and unsupported, leading to frustration and early quitting.
- Lack of meaningful content updates (weight 0.21): Updates often introduce recycled factions, cosmetic items, or half-baked features instead of addressing core issues. Players feel the game has stagnated and lacks genuine innovation.
- Broken squad and commander systems (weight 0.14): Squad leadership is often ineffective or unwelcoming, with poor communication and coordination. Commanders may lack competence, leading to high squad casualties and frustration among players.
- Server browser and connectivity issues (weight 0.11): The server browser is buggy, laggy, and prone to crashes, making it difficult for players to find or join games. Hackers have also exploited server vulnerabilities, further disrupting gameplay.

Gameplay feedback:
- Team-based squad gameplay core (weight 0.75): The game is fundamentally built around squad-based teamwork, with roles like squad leader, medic, and rifleman requiring coordination and communication. Players emphasize the necessity of teamwork for success, with mechanics like squad leadership and designated roles shaping the experience.
- Role specialization and progression (weight 0.61): Players can choose from diverse roles (e.g., medic, sniper, anti-tank, pilot) with unique responsibilities. Progression from basic infantry to advanced roles (e.g., squad leader, vehicle crew) is a key feature, emphasizing strategic depth.
- Communication-critical gameplay (weight 0.25): Voice communication (VOIP) is essential for coordination, with channels for squad, command, and local interactions. The game’s design heavily penalizes lack of communication, making it a core mechanic for success.
- Large-scale combined arms battles (weight 0.23): Battles involve up to 100 players, integrating infantry, vehicles (tanks, helicopters, logistics trucks), and artillery. The scale and variety of armaments create dynamic, high-stakes combat scenarios in urban and rural environments.
- Faction and vehicle diversity (weight 0.19): The game includes 15+ factions, each with unique weapons, vehicles, and loadouts (e.g., T72B3 tanks, RPG28 launchers). Vehicle gameplay (e.g., helicopters, logistics trucks) is a major component, requiring strategic use.
- Objective-based base building (weight 0.12): Gameplay revolves around capturing/defending objectives, constructing Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), and managing resources (e.g., radio towers, sandbags). Base-building and logistics are critical for team success.
- Ticket and respawn systems (weight 0.12): Victory is determined by a ticket system, where teams lose tickets due to deaths, destroyed vehicles, or lost FOBs. Respawn mechanics (e.g., rally points, HABs) and bleedout systems add tactical depth to engagements.
- Infantry combat challenges (weight 0.09): Infantry gameplay is impacted by updates and map design (e.g., lack of cover), with roles like medic and rifleman requiring precise execution. Recent changes have altered the balance between infantry and vehicle combat.
- Multiple game modes (weight 0.07): The game offers modes like Advance and Secure (AAS), Random Advance and Secure (RAAS), and Invasion, balancing arcade-style action with slower-paced tactical gameplay. Each mode emphasizes different strategic approaches.

Performance notes:
- Severe FPS drops across hardware (weight 0.7): Players report significant FPS drops (e.g., from 200+ to 60-80) on both high-end (RTX 3070/4070) and mid-range hardware, even with DLSS enabled. Performance instability is widespread, affecting gameplay fluidity.
- UE5 update worsened performance (weight 0.42): The transition to Unreal Engine 5 introduced critical performance regressions, including halved FPS, stuttering, and crashes. Some players note visual improvements but emphasize unplayable framerates on previously capable systems.
- Stuttering and texture loading issues (weight 0.39): Persistent stuttering (especially in combat) and delayed texture rendering (e.g., invisible objects) degrade immersion. These issues persist even on high-end systems with fast SSDs.
- DLSS/FSR reliance masks problems (weight 0.39): Players must use AI upscaling (DLSS/FSR) or resolution scaling to achieve playable FPS, suggesting the game’s native performance is inadequate. Frame generation introduces input lag and blur.
- Server and connectivity crashes (weight 0.09): Frequent crashes occur when accessing server browsers or during gameplay, with transport errors affecting entire servers. Multiplayer connectivity is unreliable, disrupting online play.
- Visual glitches and rendering bugs (weight 0.08): Gamebreaking glitches include missing textures, invisible vehicles/enemies, and ghosting. These issues persist post-update and affect gameplay clarity.
- VRAM and CPU overutilization (weight 0.07): Excessive VRAM usage (9GB+ on low settings) and high CPU load (90% in menus) indicate inefficient resource management. This strains systems without corresponding visual benefits.
- Optics and scoping performance drops (weight 0.05): FPS plummets (e.g., to 10 FPS) when scoping, with crosshair lag and stutters tied to PIP scopes. This directly impacts combat effectiveness.
- Frequent crashes and freezes (weight 0.04): Crashes occur every 20 minutes (e.g., due to DX12 issues) or within minutes of launching, disrupting sessions. Some crashes are tied to specific hardware configurations.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended for tactical teamwork (weight 0.35): The game is consistently praised for its immersive military simulation, tactical depth, and emphasis on teamwork and communication. It appeals to fans of realistic combat and strategic gameplay, especially when played in organized squads or clans.
- Not beginner-friendly in current state (weight 0.29): Many reviews advise against purchasing the game for new players due to its steep learning curve, community toxicity, and lack of coordination. Some suggest waiting for fixes or improvements before buying.
- Performance and bug issues deter purchases (weight 0.24): Numerous players criticize the game's current state due to bugs, poor optimization, and performance problems. Many recommend waiting for patches or a UE4 rollback before considering a purchase.
- Training and patience required (weight 0.13): New players are encouraged to use training modes, watch tutorials, and start with beginner-friendly roles (e.g., medic or rifleman) to learn mechanics and squad dynamics before diving into matches.
- Alternatives like Arma recommended (weight 0.09): Some players suggest alternatives such as *Arma 3*, *Arma Reforger*, or *Foxhole* for those seeking realism or large-scale multiplayer experiences, especially if they find this game too complex or buggy.
- Developer priorities criticized (weight 0.07): Players express frustration with developers focusing on UE5 updates or cosmetics instead of fixing bugs, optimizing performance, or adding meaningful content like new maps or features.
- Server selection impacts experience (weight 0.07): Reviews highlight the importance of choosing the right server (e.g., beginner-friendly, Turkish, or European servers) to avoid toxicity and improve teamwork and communication.
- Positive despite chaotic experiences (weight 0.05): Some players maintain a high recommendation for the game despite negative events or chaotic gameplay, suggesting it has redeeming qualities if issues are addressed.

Other player notes:
- Chinese server issues (weight 0.04): Players report developer bias, cheating problems, and community toxicity specifically in Chinese servers. These issues create an unfair and frustrating environment for legitimate players.
- UE5 upgrade anticipation (weight 0.04): Players express excitement about the upcoming engine upgrade from UE4 to UE5, viewing it as a positive step for the game's future. However, some criticize the focus on this over fixing current issues.
- Long-term player base (weight 0.04): The game has a dedicated long-term player base, with some users reporting hundreds or thousands of hours played. This indicates strong retention but may also suggest stagnation for newer players.
- Large game storage requirements (weight 0.03): The game's size is a common concern, with players noting it consumes a significant portion of storage (e.g., 15% of a 1TB drive). This may deter players with limited space.
- Regional server population insights (weight 0.02): Players share details about Korean server population trends (peak/off-peak hours) and note the need to learn Russian for better matchmaking, highlighting regional accessibility challenges.
- Progression system suggestions (weight 0.01): Players propose a progression system tied to playtime or class-specific missions to improve long-term engagement. This reflects a desire for more structured advancement.
- Low-skill players from sales (weight 0.01): Frequent sales are criticized for attracting low-skill players, which may disrupt the balance and experience for veteran players.
- Niche technical/server issues (weight 0.01): Isolated technical problems, such as server visibility issues, are mentioned but appear to affect a smaller subset of players.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.34): Players experience significant frustration due to persistent technical issues, including poor optimization, frequent crashes, FPS drops, and unplayable performance post-updates (e.g., Unreal Engine 5 transition). Additionally, gameplay mechanics such as inaccurate shooting, steep learning curves, and toxic community behavior exacerbate the negative experience, making it difficult for both new and veteran players to enjoy the game.
- Disappointment (weight 0.19): The game fails to meet player expectations due to declining quality, lack of meaningful updates, and poor optimization. Players express disappointment with developer priorities, such as focusing on cosmetics or new content instead of fixing core gameplay issues, bugs, and performance problems. The transition to Unreal Engine 5, in particular, is criticized for not delivering promised improvements and instead worsening the experience.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.07): Players derive satisfaction from the game's depth, teamwork, and immersive gameplay when it functions well. Positive experiences include coordinated squad play, realistic combat mechanics, and rewarding progression. Some players also appreciate recent bug fixes, improved vehicle physics, and the overall tactical depth that the game offers when operating smoothly.
- Excitement (weight 0.05): The game excites players through its immersive and intense battlefield experiences, particularly when engaging in large-scale battles, vehicle combat, or dynamic moments like drone strikes. New updates, such as the Basrah map or faction additions, also generate anticipation and enthusiasm for fresh gameplay opportunities.
- Anger (weight 0.05): Players express anger toward developer decisions, such as perceived neglect of core issues, monetization tactics, and forced hardware upgrades. Toxic community behavior, unfair bans, and poor optimization further fuel frustration, with some players feeling betrayed by the developers' handling of critical gameplay and performance problems.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.03): Veteran players reflect fondly on the game's past, particularly its early days when it offered a more polished and enjoyable experience. Nostalgia is often tied to memories of teamwork, tactical gameplay, and a more welcoming community, contrasting sharply with the game's current state.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.02): Despite its flaws, players still find enjoyment in the game's immersive and varied gameplay, particularly when playing with coordinated squads or experiencing realistic combat scenarios. The game's depth and social aspects, such as teamwork and strategic play, contribute to positive experiences.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.02): Players express enthusiasm for the game's tactical depth, realism, and teamwork mechanics. The milsim-like gameplay and variety of roles (e.g., leadership, vehicle combat) create a compelling experience that encourages long-term engagement and a desire to help new players.
- Gratitude (weight 0.02): Players appreciate the supportive community, helpful squad leaders, and developer efforts to improve the game. Positive interactions with teammates, newcomer-friendly servers, and the absence of microtransactions are frequently highlighted as reasons for gratitude.}