[Update]: After years in development, Door Kickers 2 has now entered Steam Early Access.
Door Kickers 1 is a real time strategy game where you take control of a SWAT team during a raid against overwhelming numbers of armed and entrenched opponents. The success of your operation depends entirely on your planning, timing and most importantly, kicking down doors. In short, its a damn good game.
Which is why I am happy to tell you that Door Kickers 2 - Task Force North has been officially announced and will bring with it the same sort of gameplay that made Door Kickers 1 good but this time around in a more military environment. Here's a quick overview of what to expect:
Given the military setting the SWAT team is being replaced with various members of the US armed forces such as the Rangers that come with reconnaissance drones and other nifty gadgets. While this is pure speculation on my part the addition of reconnaissance drones makes it seem that Door Kickers 2 is going to have some sort of scouting system available instead of just having you jump in blindly to the loving embrace of enemy bullets.
Since the operations in Door Kickers 2 will take place in rather hostile areas both the insertion and extraction will be equally important to plan out as it seems there might be surprises awaiting you if you simply assume that an area is fully cleared of hostiles.
Nighttime and shadows in general are going to be very relevant in Door Kickers 2 as there is a big benefit to using stealthy tactics, where applicable of course. As the developers themselves said the stealth system won't replace the tactical nature of the game and make it easier, rather it will simply add another layer for you to mess around with.
But if you want to make things easier, or at least slightly more manageable, Door Kickers 2 will be launching with co-op multiplayer allowing you to play through the campaign and custom maps together with a friend. Speaking of custom maps, Door Kickers 2 will also be coming with full mod support, an improved mission editor and partial access to the source code!
As a small teaser of things to come the developers posted the following list of key features:
- Choose which unit to deploy for each mission and adjust your tactics accordingly Surgical Operations or Overwhelming Firepower – anything is possible.
- Use Night Vision, Drone reconnaissance and other realistic gadgets
- True freeform tactics taken to the next level: Turn off the lights and hide in the dark. Break windows and jump over ledges.
- Go fast to the target or slow and methodical. And if you make a mistake, adapt and overcome.
- Face new threats such as suicide bombers, booby traps and RPG launchers.
- Use new Tactical Abilities. Group your troopers for easier movement. Establish Rules of Engagement – you name it and … we’ll talk
- Lots of hush hush stuff we’ll announce along the way. And take that literally
Door Kickers 2 is expected to arrive on Early Access in Q4 2016 with the actual release date set for the always reliable "when its done".