| Delta Force | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Everything We Know About Delta Force
Delta Force Plot
Delta Force will feature a remake of the legendary Black Hawk Down campaign released over two decades ago, as well as a new original story set in the future.
In Black Hawk Down, players return to 1993 as they venture into the ongoing Somali Civil War as part of a peacekeeping operation. Eventually, the Task Force Rangers are assigned to a military operation named as Operation Gothic Serpent meant to be executed during the infamous Battle of Mogadishu.
Delta Force Gameplay
Delta Force is a tactical team-based FPS that will feature ultrarealistic gunplay and warfare.
Players will take the role of numerous operators in battle, each with their own unique traits, specialties, and quirks on the field. The game will have numerous game modes to playthrough, whether it be in an extraction mode with two other teammates, with 31 other comrades in a large-scale 32vs32 warfare match, or by their lonesomes in the available single-player campaigns.
Players must use any means necessary to subdue the opposition: be it on land, sea, or air. Teams must take control of tanks, boats, helicopters, and anything else they can acquiesce to turn the tides of battle in their favor.
Delta Force Release Date
Delta Force’s Open Beta was released for PC (Steam, Epic Games) on December 5, 2024, Meanwhile, other platforms such as PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Mobile (Play Store, App Store) will have an official launch around Q1 2025.
Delta Force Review [Open Beta]
At Least It’s Free
It’s been a while since I’ve played a game that toyed with my emotions like this. When I booted Delta Force, I essentially had no expectations of the game. I just wanted to have fun.
And I did. Right after dropping into a Warfare match under the Attack and Defend mode, nonchalantly skipping all the bothersome preparations like checking what the controls are or what abilities each character-slash-operator has, I immediately found myself in a chaotic firefight between two sides that just wanted to blow each others’ faces off.
Now that was very enjoyable. I shot, got shot, blew people up, and got blown up. I had a handful of abilities under my belt, but I had no idea what they did. Regardless of that, the first match was still extremely enjoyable.
We lost, though. Probably my fault, but hey, if you’re smiling at the end, then did you really lose?
With such a strong first impression, I was excited to hop into my second match. I played Attack and Defend mode again, fully expecting to be able to play the game properly (since I finally checked the controls and characters). And I was shocked.
It wasn’t as fun as the first time I played it.
Perhaps it was just that match in particular, I thought. So I hopped into another match. Then, another. After that, I tried other modes, such as King of the Hill. Nothing was really doing it for me anymore. Then, I realized why.
The reason why I had fun the first time was because I had no idea what I was doing. But as I understood the game better, I realized that I was just playing a generic shooter with Team Deathmatch gameplay being disguised by the objectives.
Everybody was just running around trying to get kills. The only communications that happened were players calling their teammates noobs. The medics were shooting their guns instead of helping people up. Nobody was guarding the flanks. There was no strategy, no tactics, and definitely no finesse to it.
No Tactics is the Best Tactic
There’s a rather prevalent issue with the game’s formula: there’s very little opportunities where you can perform tactics or strategies that would emulate “realistic” operations. Said formula is the result of many things. For one, most of the game’s modes don’t punish dying severely enough. This is especially noticeable in the game’s Attack and Defend mode, where the Attackers supposedly only have limited respawns compared to the Defenders’ limitless reinforcements, yet to actually get to that point the Attackers must either abandon all sense of self-preservation and die in droves, or the Defenders must remember that grenades exist.
Medics, the class specialized in supporting allies and reviving downed comrades, are also very unpopular, which is understandable because they’re not very good at the shooting part of the first person shooter genre. There’s no respawn timer, either, so when players are downed, they tend to prefer respawning rather than waiting for a medic that may never come. So much for being a tactical shooter.
There’s also the communication issues when working with several dozen players at once. Like, sure, you and your squad of four can pull off some galaxy-brained maneuvers here and there, but that would only be possible if you’re matching with friends or are lucky enough to get a squad willing to talk. And even if you do, your squad is essentially just a drop in the bucket.
Then, you’ll get random players on the chat calling their team noobs.
At the end of the day, Delta Force is neither strategic, nor tactical. It’s just a massive Team Deathmatch without a target kill count.
Except the Operations mode. There are some real tactics at play there. But, that’s practically a requirement for extraction shooters, so it doesn’t count. Anyway—
Who are We Fighting Again?
I normally don’t have an issue with the same operators being usable on two teams. Like, the entire Urbino faction being usable by both Offense and Defense teams in Strinova doesn’t create any problems at all. However, that’s only true due to the scale of the fights.
Delta Force’s Warfare game modes pit a few dozen people against a few dozen others. Both teams share the same pool of operators to choose from. As a result, you’re essentially going to be fighting against a dozen of the same operators while being allied with roughly the same number of the same agent. How do you tell friend from foe, then?
Well, Delta Force’s solution is to put a green or blue tag on top of your allies’ head, or irradiate them with a bright green outline when the former isn’t visible. Is it effective? Eh, not very. It’s enough to distinguish friend from foe in less messy scenarios. But, when there’s a chaotic melee happening, do you have time to check for a tag on everybody’s head? You don’t.
Instead, most of the process of distinction relies on instinct, which is honestly more effective than relying on any colored tags or radioactive glows. Are they shooting at you? That’s an enemy. Are they moving aggressively towards your position? Shoot them. Do they have their backs suspiciously turned towards where you should be fighting? Test their allegiance with bullets.
Busy With Life? Too Bad.
Among Delta Force’s handful of ways to monetize the game, one of them includes selling a battle pass. Admittedly, I like Battle Passes, especially in games that I like. For example, I have never missed a single Battle Pass in Eternal Return ever since they implemented it in its Early Access days. They’re relatively cheap, and offer a ton of prizes in exchange for your time.
That said, there are ways to make Battle Passes unreasonable. Like, say, hard-capping the Battle Pass exp you can obtain per week, and then making it such that you’ll only barely be able to finish it even if you play every day. Because that’s what Delta Force did.
By my estimates, you can’t miss playing the game for two or three weeks out of the almost six weeks it’s active. If you did, then you’ll have to pay for the levels you missed. Better get rid of all your other games with skinner box mechanics if you want to complete the Battle Pass.
Conceptually Solid, Practically Boring
Regardless of my criticisms of the game, I did in fact enjoy playing it. I’m a pretty simple creature; when a game gives me the opportunity to shoot things, I’ll smile. But that’s only true within the first two or so hours of playing. After that, I was already dying to play another game.
There’s nothing offensively problematic about Delta Force’s gameplay. But, at the same time, there’s nothing positively delightful about it, either. It just runs, well, decently. A bit too simple, actually, but maybe it’s because it’s also designed to be friendly for mobile players. You just choose an operator, drop into the field, shoot people with guns, chuck grenades and use abilities, etc. It’s a formula you can find anywhere.
In a way, you can think of it as Walmart Battlefield 2042 if that store started giving handouts. It starts off impressive at first, but you’ll quickly realize that the game essentially offers nothing new. And once you do, the magic disappears almost entirely.
Oh, Kernel-Level Anti-Cheats
Honestly speaking, I don’t mind kernel-level anti-cheats. Many of my games, such as Phantasy Star Online 2, use them. Kernel-level anti-cheats have very high levels of permission and can be potentially dangerous if they’re ever compromised. But they are, in theory, fine if they work as advertised. I do admit that calculated risks must be taken to play these games, so it’s also understandable that there are people who dislike having them on their system.
Delta Force uses Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE for short). You have been warned.
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Delta Force Product Information
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|
| Title | DELTA FORCE |
|---|---|
| Release Date | December 5, 2025 (Early Access) |
| Developer | Team Jade |
| Publisher | TiMi Studio Group |
| Supported Platforms | PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Mobile |
| Genre | Tactical, Shooter |
| Number of Players | 1-4 |
| ESRB Rating | IARC 16+ |
| Official Website | Delta Force Official Website |
