By Joseph Luster

Developer Highwire Games and publisher Victura have prided the shooter Six Days in Fallujah as the world’s first “documentary game” since it first hit Early Access back in June 2023. The game takes real accounts of one of the most pivotal conflicts of the past two decades—including those from over 100 U.S. Marines and soldiers, as well as dozens of Iraqi soldiers and civilians—and casts them in a stark, fully interactive light. Now players can enjoy more of this uniquely realistic shooter thanks to the Command and Control update that introduces a number of new features and improvements.

Chief among those new additions are the game’s first official documentary story missions. These narrative-focused slices of campaign take players into the early days during which the Al Qaeda forces were forming ISIS as they experience more of the harrowing encounters at the heart of the attempt to retake Fallujah.

There’s also a new solo mode that lets players command AI fireteams that employ authentic military tactics. This mode summons inspiration from other classic squad-based shooters, including the likes of Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, SOCOM and more. Under your control, the squad will come face-to-face with more real-world events from the battle that have been simulated as accurately as possible. Members of the AI fireteam can deploy tactics like Fire, Maneuver, Ambush, Breach, and can even implement 360-degree security. Suppressing enemies, keeping an eye on specific targets and other actions are available at the tap of a button.

The aforementioned story missions also serve up a nice opportunity for the developers to provide general tutorials for solo squad control as players tackle the opening day of the Second Battle of Fallujah. As an added bonus, AI teammates can now be swapped in place of real people in online play when you can’t quite fill out a full team of players. You can do the same in the new “HLZ Wolf” procedural mission, which joins the lineup of missions that can be played cooperatively with others or solo with Fireteam AI partners.

All in all, over 300 technical enhancements were put in place as part of the latest Six Days in Fallujah update, from control smoothness to overall game performance. The visuals have also been enhanced thanks to new ray-traced lighting and other effects that NVIDIA’s RTX Global Illumination (RTXGI) made possible. It’s enough to make lapsed players want to jump back in, and it’s also a great starting point for anyone who has been looking for an excuse to see what Highwire’s challenging trip through recent history has to offer.

Genre: Shooter
Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Publisher: Victura
Available: Now

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