RAID: World War II - PAX East 2017

By Kevin Mitchell Posted on March 21, 2017

From the moment the show floor opened at PAX East 2017 to the closing minutes, the booth for Lion Game Lion’s 4-player cooperative shooter was lined with countless fans. While located in Croatia, the studio includes former Overkill Software employees, the original developer of PAYDAY 2. When Starbreeze Studios reacquired the license, Lion game Lion worked on releasing new downloadable content for the heist-based shooter.

Based on this experience, it is easy to see where the inspiration came from for their newly developed title, RAID: World War II. As a four-player cooperative shooter, you must battle behind enemy lines at a time where Nazi Germany was winning the war. A special team of soldiers was formed to accomplish the task, all of which have no real choice in the matter. All four characters were previously in jail, but to earn their freedom, they must do what common soldiers won’t. Causing destruction is only part of their mission, as it seems that some elements of PAYDAY have made its way into RAID. In the one mission that I’ve played, we invaded a Nazi-controlled train station, stealing gold bricks before blowing the support columns for the building, and parachuting off the bridge to make our escape.

While it was only a short mission, it did showcase what can be expected when the game is released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The developers have promised plenty of character, and weapon customization once the game releases. One of the most interesting aspects will be linking missions together into a multi-stage campaign. EA has done something similar in Battlefield 1 with Operations that can take players across different areas of maps and even new locations but is still part of a single match. Challenges will offer players with additional tasks, but the rewards will be quite generous for those that can succeed with them activated. One of that was pointed out to us requires players to make headshots to kill enemies. I can see it being quite fun playing with friends or random strangers with voice chat.