Former Bungie devs launch realistic military sim Six Days in Fallujah

First-person shooter military sim Six Days in Fallujah has launched in Steam Early Access from developers Victura and Highwire Games. Victura is led by former Bungie executive vice president Peter Tamte, and Highwire Games is led by Jaime Griesemer, the lead designer on the original Halo and Destiny games.

Six Days in Fallujah is based on true stories from the Second Battle of Fallujah and has been developed in collaboration with more than 100 U.S. Marines and soldiers, as well as more than two dozen Iraqi civilians and soldiers. The game places players in real world scenarios set in procedurally generated urban maps, with interior building layouts and enemy locations and tactics changing with every playthrough. It also utilizes block-scale AI for more realistic enemy behavior – they can move anywhere on the battlefield as they work to stalk, flank, and ambush you in a realistic, tactical manner.

In the Early Access phase, Six Days in Fallujah will initially focus on the perspective of U.S. Marines during the first day of fighting. Over time, more experiences will be added from the perspective of special forces, Iraqi soldiers, and Iraqi civilians. Other additions will include night-time missions, a weather system, co-op missions, and additional story missions.

The concept for Six Days in Fallujah began with former Marine Sergeant Eddie Garcia approaching game developers 18 years ago about developing an experience that was true to what both soldiers and civilians experienced during combat. Garcia said the game will not take the experience of the Iraq war lightly:

"Everyone has an opinion about war but very few people have fought in one and truly understand the experience," says Sgt. Garcia, who was wounded during the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004. "Six Days in Fallujah will provide a window into what it feels like, the enormous responsibility every young Marine experiences as they enter combat, and the visceral terror and human cost of combat."

"When we got home, we felt the love, but people didn't have the knowledge – about Fallujah, or about combat," Sgt. Garcia continued. "Perhaps participating in these real events through this highly realistic videogame will give people a new perspective on something most of us will always struggle to understand."

Six Days in Fallujah is currently available for $39.99 and is scheduled to release 1.0 on PC and consoles in 2024.

Six Days in Fallujah Launches in Steam Early Access

SEATTLE, June 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After 18 years, some of Sgt. Eddie Garcia's Marine memories in Fallujah can now be experienced by others through Steam's Early Access program. The release of the first-person tactical shooter Six Days in Fallujah by Victura and Highwire Games features the most realistic simulation of urban combat to date. Garcia approached game developers almost two decades ago with the idea of giving others a better perspective on what Marines and civilians experience during combat. Along with Garcia, Six Days in Fallujah was developed with help from more than 100 Marines and Soldiers who served in the Second Battle of Fallujah, as well as more than two dozen Iraqi civilians and soldiers.

Based on true stories from the battle, Six Days in Fallujah requires players to overcome real-world scenarios with their fire team by using real-life military tactics. These missions are set in urban maps that are generated procedurally every time the game is played to recreate the uncertainty of combat along with unlimited replayability. The game is available on Steam today for $39.99.

"Everyone has an opinion about war but very few people have fought in one and truly understand the experience," says Sgt. Garcia, who was wounded during the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004. "Six Days in Fallujah will provide a window into what it feels like, the enormous responsibility every young Marine experiences as they enter combat, and the visceral terror and human cost of combat."

"When we got home, we felt the love, but people didn't have the knowledge – about Fallujah, or about combat," Sgt. Garcia continued. "Perhaps participating in these real events through this highly realistic videogame will give people a new perspective on something most of us will always struggle to understand."

In Early Access, Six Days in Fallujah focuses initially on the experiences of U.S. Marine fire teams on the first day of the battle. As Early Access develops, players will also choose to play cooperatively as special operations, or as Iraqi soldiers fighting alongside coalition forces. Players will also begin to encounter civilians as the battle progresses. Victura also plans to release additional co-operative missions, as well as story campaign missions recreating real stories from the Second Battle of Fallujah from the perspective of both coalition forces and Iraqi civilians.

In the coming months, additional features and content will be introduced, including:

• Night-time Missions - Knowing what lies around the next corner is hard enough during daylight hours. Gameplay evolves with even more tension with the addition of night-time missions, as more are added throughout Early Access.
• Weather variation - While night-time missions will add to the procedural architecture, weather variation will challenge players and add to the complexity of missions.
• "Go" Command - Later this year, take control of your AI teammates with unique tactical control, drawing inspiration from real-life tactics.
• Single-Player Missions - Specific moments from the second battle of Fallujah from those who were there, including Special Operations Missions, Civilians and more.

From its first day in Early Access, Six Days in Fallujah introduces many new technologies that make combat more realistic:

• Procedural Architecture re-shapes the inside and outside of every building each time the game is played. Just like the real battle, players never know what to expect.
• Block-scale AI is a dramatic new approach to AI based on insurgent tactics from the battle. Unlike games in which AI is constrained to move in very small areas, AI enemies in Six Days can go anywhere on the battlefield, and they will stalk, flank, and ambush players while coordinating their attacks with each other, as well as luring players into difficult situations.
• Global Dynamic Lighting simulates real weather and lighting effects dynamically, so visibility shapes gameplay, especially as players move between blindingly bright outdoors and terrifyingly dark indoors. Realistic smoke, dust, and weather effects complicate visibility in unpredictable ways.
• Tactical Indoor/Outdoor Sandbox. Players -- and their AI enemies -- are free to approach challenges from any direction. Rather than breaching a house through a front door, for example, players might choose to climb to a rooftop, or cross rooftops on wooden planks, to attack from the top down.

The Second Battle of Fallujah began in November 2004 after Al Qaeda in Iraq seized control of the city of Fallujah. Six months later, Iraq's prime minister ordered a military operation in which Iraqi soldiers fought alongside American and British forces to retake the city. Within a few days it had become one of the world's bloodiest battles in half a century.