If you have not heard of Post Scriptum the Bloody 7th, I would not be surprised. It seems to have flown a bit under the radar since the launch of its “Open Beta” (we will come back to that) mid July. I was turned onto it by a friend in Discord that I normally played PUBG with, $30 seemed a bit steep to get into a beta, but I took the plunge with a few others and figured at least we would get a good laugh out of this.
As soon as we jumped into our first match and figured out how to spawn, which believe it or not takes a bit, most of us were taken aback by how polished this beta was at the surface. The graphics are amazing, but completely overshadowed by some of the best video game sound design I have ever experienced in an FPS. I can not stress enough how immersive the in-game audio is, the attention to detail with every sound makes tasks as remedial as driving a truck, or as chaotic as battling it out in the trenches while screaming over your radio for air support, an extremely submersive experience. Couple that with the extremely well thought out in-game communications system and you get an audio experience that is hard to rival.
At face value Post Scriptum looks like a run of the mill FPS military sim, but it really is so much more than that. The level of teamwork and communication needed takes it to the next level of FPS game play, the days of lone wolf solo carries are gone. Without every piece of your team running well the whole thing falls apart. Unlike traditional FPS games, where there are soft locks on things certain classes can do, Post Scriptum takes the opposite approach. Every aspect of battle is broken down into four main classes.
The Platoon Commander:
This is your 1 Star, your General, they call in air support and have direct communication with every company commander.
Infantry
These are the boys on the ground, each company has a commander who reports directly to the Platoon Commander. There are many roles inside the Infantry section from medic to anti tanker to try out.
Logistic
The unsung heroes, also the first to be blamed, these are the guys behind the lines laying down ammo and fortifying areas with machine guns and spawn points.
Armored
This one is pretty self explanatory, they get the tanks they are the only ones that can drive them and man is it fun!
Each one of these roles has squad leaders and the rest of the players report to those leaders, I don't mean in just an RP sense. The way the games communication system is laid out, only squad leaders have direct communication with the Platoon Commander, and the Platoon Commander can only see indicators on the map created by Squad leaders. Now every squad leader has a seperate comms system just for their squad, meaning they have to relay all their information to the commander or he will be blind when dropping bombs. This makes Post Scriptum one of the best experiences I have ever had playing an FPS style game with a group of close friends, the locking down of classes and strict lines of communication add an extra layer of difficulty to the game that I personally love. It not only tests your ability as an FPS player, but your ability to play your role in your team, and to step back and take orders. A team may have the best shooter on the server, but if they can’t communicate he is all but worthless in the end.
Now that I have ranted a bit about how good this game is, it is time to talk a few issues. Aside from the giant Close Beta/Open Beta elephant in the room ( P.S. Devs, if you charge for beta access it's not an Open Beta). Overall the game is a great experience and I would recommend it as is for about half the price. Where it falls a bit flat is variety. Being that the game is slated to be release August 9th, which is about a week from when I wrote this, I am going to give them them the chance to come through on this one. With a few added game types and the promised weapons and vehicles coming, this game may be the dark horse end of summer title. Post Scriptum has all the bones to be an amazing game, it just needs a little more meat around them. Check it out at http://postscriptumgame.com/