Armored Warfare: Two Worlds

Commanders!

Today, we’d like to tell you more about what’s going to happen in the near future regarding Armored Warfare’s PvE and the entire approach to storytelling as well as the current status of the lore. So make yourselves a cup of tea and whip out that pen and paper because things are about to get a bit complex.

Let’s start with a simple statement – most Armored Warfare players are here for PvE. That doesn’t mean we’ll never introduce any PvP content again but let’s just say there’s a lot to be improved when it comes to our Player versus Player experience and our plans for this part of the game (yes, we do have them) are a topic for another time. Right now, let us focus on the PvE aspect of the game with a rather quick summary.

Armored Warfare has been around for a number of years now – we celebrated our seventh anniversary this year in October and that was just the release without the Early Access phase. This simple fact resulted in a number of issues for anyone looking to dive deeper into the world of Armored Warfare and its deep lore.

For one, there’s a lot of lore in the game that makes things hard to access for those new PvE players who want to learn more about the world of Armored Warfare. Sorting through seven years of texts and faction background, some of which was published exclusively on the portal and not directly in the game, basically creates the same types of problems old TV series or comic books have. It’s just really hard and inconvenient to get into it.

The second issue is the type of lore we implemented into the game. The initial concept – a world full of mercenaries and corporate intrigue – gave way first to the Magnus Holter story arc that was not as fleshed out as we would have wanted, followed by the Enigma arc and, finally, the Apocalypse story arc. In case you’re wondering what we’re talking about here, you can view one of our older Story So Far articles. The core of the second issue is player feedback – your feedback. Simply put, after the end of the Magnus Holter arc, each subsequent arc, implemented by the means of new Special Operations, received worse and worse reactions with the feedback regarding the Apocalypse story arc being downright unpleasant. And that just wouldn’t do.

At this point, it’s worth noting that by poor feedback we don’t mean the mission mechanics although the Special Operation feedback overall was affected by this as well, just not as much as the story.

This led to two things.

First, in the early 2022, we stopped the production of new Special Operations pending a revision of the concept. We hired an experienced narrative designer who’s also an accomplished science fiction author to help us revisit the story and focus on the most successful elements. In other words, we wanted to return to the roots of what made the Armored Warfare merc-centric lore popular. We decided to return to one of the most popular events in Armored Warfare history – the 2017 Storyline Campaign.

In many ways, the Storyline Campaign formed the backbone of Armored Warfare lore as the Special Operations mode that came after it was built on the characters introduced during it. The Storyline Campaign was an epic year-long web-based event that established the state of the Armored Warfare world for years to come.

For the veterans amongst you, the lore is nothing new but the event was not available in the CIS region and therefore warrants a lore summary post:

Andrew Clayburn, a reclusive billionaire and the owner of Clayburn Industries, a massive corporation with its own private army, discussed the events of 2039 with Strom, his soon-to-be commander of military forces. He recalls the tale of the Intervention - a 2038 and 2039 campaign of his forces, led by the elite Task Force Seahawk unit, to pacify the Balkan region and bring it under his heel. The mission goes wrong due to the incompetence of the local Clayburn Commander, Peter Clayburn, who orders his forces to commit genocide. Unwilling to accept such an order, the Seahawks, led by a wily commander Adrian Blackwood and his aides, Joshua Seagrove and Kathryn Grey, turn rogue and attempt to flee Clayburn's wrath from Zagreb to Istanbul.

The fleeing Seahawks take losses from both the pursuing Clayburn forces and the local militias, but manage to reach Istanbul. Blackwood employs the service of an experienced mercenary commander Fyodor Sokolov, thanks to whose contacts in Istanbul the Seahawks are able to secure transportation.

Unfortunately, the only form of transportation able to carry the Seahawk armored vehicles is an old and expensive mercenary flight of C-17 cargo planes without sufficient range to take them away from Clayburn's influence. An alternative plan is made - to travel instead to Cairo and from there to an abandoned American military base where a functional ship is waiting for them.

In the end, the Seahawks capture the Al-Arish base, but not without losses. They soon learn of an impending invasion by the elite Clayburn forces, Crimson Reavers, led by Peter Clayburn. The Reavers are defeated but not without major Seahawk casualties.

The Seahawks set sail to the United States aboard their ship, the Altalena. Somewhere in the Mediterranean, Blackwood, Grey and Seagrove argue what to do when they get there. A decision is taken to land in Florida, head west and take a secret facility Clayburn facility, discovered in the files left behind by Peter Clayburn.

They make their way across the ocean and land near Jacksonville. The locals are more hostile than usual due to the word of Seahawk actions in Al Arish getting ahead of them, but they eventually manage to convince the citizens of Jacksonville and the local mercs that they mean no harm. Bolstered by a few recruits from the ranks of American mercenaries, they fix an old cargo train to take them and their vehicles to Texas to attack and loot a Clayburn Industries facility before dispersing into the desert.

However, in the end, the entire journey turns out to be a trap laid down by Andrew Clayburn, who turns out to have been Adrian Blackwood all along. Joshua Seagrove and Kathryn Grey barely escape with their lives, leaving the rest of the surviving Seahawks to their fate.

The entire background lore can still be read in English on this page followed by a conclusion here.

This event is the foundation of the future Special Operation missions. We’re returning to the most popular mercenary lore and the next Special Operation called Rate of Decay will start exactly where the campaign left off – with Seagrove’s and Grey’s escape from the desert.

But if you think you know what’s in store for our heroes – think again. The key to changing the future and avoiding the apocalypse lies in the other part of the narrative as described below.

Secondly, we launched the Perihelion event as a pre-cursor to the narrative overhaul. As the description of the event said:

The year is 2028 and the world order is slowly unraveling. The United States of America, once an undisputed leader of the free world, is wracked by internal strife after more than a century of prosperity. The Russian Federation, having fully recovered from the Soviet Union era that ended in 1997, is a rising power once again. Further to the east, the mysterious land of China is closed to all but selected few, its ambitions as strong as Russia’s. Europe’s fortune is closely tied to that of America with their issues similar – the influence of nation states clashing with that of power-hungry corporations.

It is an age of upheaval and you are smack in the middle of it – a young mercenary down on his luck, presented with an offer he can’t possibly refuse, to train a security branch of a Chicago-based company by the name of Perihelion, its purpose as enigmatic as its founder, an investor by the name of David Murdoch.

You are Samuel Thorpe and your choices will shape the future. In June 2028, you have joined Perihelion’s forces in their Arizona camp and were greeted by the de-facto leader until this point, Gail Espinoza. The meeting did not go without an incident but the two of you are now ready to begin your training.

This multi-month web-based event with over three thousand participants introduced the new concept of multiverse, bound together by new, rich lore. During the event, players could learn about the unfortunate demise of the Apocalypse arc’s characters and the world around them. In short, the Apocalypse arc is no more. In case you’re interested in the full lore of Perihelion, you can read the full story here in English.

The event influenced many things and internal considerations. For example, the introduction of the upcoming EBRC Jaguar Tier 10 Premium AFV is a direct result of a decision players made in Perihelion.

But most importantly, the event established the existence of alternate realities. The world of Perihelion and the world of Seahawks are different – and that’s all that we can unveil at this point. How different? How exactly will they interact?

That, dear players, will also be up to you.

One thing’s for certain. The world of Perihelion will expand into the game in the form of the next Battle Path called Eclipse. Aside from some very exciting vehicles, this Battle Path will add a new feature – the Diary.

As its name suggests, the Diary will be a narrative tool in the form of a written diary of Samuel Thorpe with each new BP level unlocking a new entry. There will be lore. There will be secrets. There will be rewards, there will be contests but more importantly, there will be playerbase decisions with a whole structure built around the event, both in the game and in the portal. If you’re familiar with the Perihelion event, you can probably imagine what it’ll be like. If you are not – we suggest asking your fellow players. Long story short, we’ll be your Dungeon Masters and will guide you on the journey.

For now you, can enjoy a taste of things to come in the form of Wages of Sin, the recently released PvE mission that takes place in the world of Perihelion.

Why this approach with two narratives? The answer lies, once again, with you – the players. The survey at the end of Perihelion showed us that an equal number of players is interested in the Seahawk narrative and the Perihelion narrative. That is why we said to ourselves – why not both?

We’ll be working on fleshing out both story lines and should you prefer one over the other – that too is a choice. All we are asking you to give us a shot and see how you enjoy things. We are very much looking forward to you feedback as we start unveiling more about the new Special Operations and the Battle Path, both coming in the first quarter of 2023 (a conservative estimate).

Until next time, commanders, and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!