Operation: Harsh Doorstop is an indie tactical shooter that’s been in development for several years, with some of the earliest playtesting of the game still available on YouTube, five years later. The developer, Drakeling Labs offers tiered support memberships through their Patreon, each of level of which grants the patron early access to the multiplayer build of the game, with further access to inside development information and promises of early access to future content.
The gameplay in the single-player demo offers an experience similar to that of Squad or Arma, albeit without some of the features we’ve come to expect in modern tactical shooters such as vehicles, weapon and loadout customizations, etc. Slow movement makes it take time to get to combat and the fast time-to-kill makes it easy to die once you get there, but that’s been a staple of the tac-shooter genre for years. The maps are large and well-balanced, never giving the feeling that you’re in the “boring” part of the map, and the gun models easily pass the FPS sniff test and the character design has thankfully avoided the good guy vs. good guy(?) dynamic; where devs try to avoid stereotypical team design and instead create teams with identical characters that make it impossible to tell who’s friend and who’s foe, as seen in games like Battlefield:2042.
Some things are still fairly rough, wonky AI and abnormally slow vaulting animations being at the top of the list. But even considering its unfinished status, the game still appears to be remarkably empty. So why shouldn’t I just buy Arma or Squad if the gameplay is so similar?
What sets it apart and should you try it?
Operation: Harsh Doorstop is built with mod support in mind. It’s been a goal of the dev’s for the community to be able to customize their games to be just about anything, using O:HD as the foundation. Several mods have been built already, from night vision and IR lasers to “Star Wars” character models. The future of the game isn’t guaranteed to be a success, but it certainly has the bones to be a sandbox of fun. The O:HD full release is planned for February 2023. When it launches, the multiplayer features (and the mods) will be available to everyone who downloads the free-to-play title.
Tyler is Poli-Sci undergrad who, when he’s not working, spends his time-consuming games and media like an insatiably hungry garbage truck. Seriously, his need for constant stimulation is a problem. Send help.
