Hardcore WW1 FPS Goes Horde Shooter to Celebrate one of History's Most Bizarre
The history of warfare throughout the world is never quite as simple as popular culture makes it seem. A battlefield is an evolving thing, with local conditions and random happenstances often forcing infantry to adapt…
The history of warfare throughout the world is never quite as simple as popular culture makes it seem. A battlefield is an evolving thing, with local conditions and random happenstances often forcing infantry to adapt and decide on the fly, which has led to some exceptionally bizarre combat legends in the process.
As a hardcore FPS steeped in the real-life history and iconography of World War I, Tannenberg has not just the right, but in fact, the duty to replicate these occasional odd events as faithfully as possible.
This is exactly what the game is doing with its newest event, the Wolf Truce. According to an announcement on the series' X, formerly Twitter profile, from now until November 3, players in Tannenberg matches may occasionally find themselves beset by enormous packs of ravenous wolves, with both sides having no choice but to band together and fight them off before your regularly scheduled conflict can resume.
It’s a rather clever way to introduce a spontaneous horde mode without resorting to zombies, and into a game whose subject matter wouldn’t really facilitate that kind of gameplay. Plus, if everyone in a match participates, they get a shiny medal!
The Event is Based on the Wolf Truce of 1917
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “what the heck is a Wolf Truce?” Well, pull up a chair and let me give you the cliff notes.
According to legend, when the Russian and German forces did battle on the eastern front during WW1, the extent of the combat resulted in significant damage to local wildlife habitats. Specifically, within the forests of Lithuania and Volhynia, numerous wolf dens were damaged, destroyed, or otherwise rendered uninhabitable, forcing wolf packs to venture beyond the forests in search of safety and food, both of which were scarce during the winter. If you've ever played Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, you know how vicious a bunch of hungry wolves can get.
During one particular battle in 1917, the soldiers from both sides of the battle suddenly found themselves surrounded on all sides by a positively enormous wolf pack. Without a word exchanged between either side, all soldiers immediately changed priorities, calling for an unspoken, temporary truce to fight off the wolves. Allegedly, several hundred wolves were shot before the rest of the pack scattered, and the battle resumed.
During one particular battle in 1917, the soldiers from both sides of the battle suddenly found themselves surrounded on all sides by a positively enormous wolf pack.
Whether or not this story is actually true, I can’t say for certain. Apparently, the only news outlets that actually reported this mysterious incident were American ones, rather than any tied to the German or Russian units that were allegedly present. For all I know, it’s complete bull, but it sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?
Shoot Wolves, Win a Medal
Whether the story of the Wolf Truce is the real McCoy or not, it was a fact that starving wolves were a genuine threat on the cold battlefields of WW1, and that’s what makes the concept perfect fodder for a spontaneous gameplay modification in Tannenberg.
While the Wolf Truce event is running, there’s a randomized chance that a pack of wolves will appear in any regular multiplayer match. These wolves will attack soldiers from both sides indiscriminately, adding to the existing chaos of the battlefield.
You can choose whether to engage the wolves or try to ignore them and keep firing at your opponents, but the idea is that, much like in the Wolf Truce of legend, every player will temporarily halt hostilities to deal with the wolves. In the event that every player successfully upholds the truce and doesn’t attack any opponents until every wolf is defeated, every player in the match will be rewarded with the limited Wolf Truce Medal.
However, if even a single player violates the truce and shoots an opponent, then nobody gets anything but a bunch of angry wolves snapping at them. It’s a great opportunity to display a little restraint and solidarity with the rest of the game’s community, or just to annoy a lot of people simultaneously, depending on your priorities.