Foxhole (video game)

Players can choose between two opposing factions, The Colonials and The Wardens. The role of the player is not predetermined: there is no class-based system used, which encourages players to react to the dynamics of a war without being limited by their initial choice. The game features an in-game economy that is player-driven, necessitating the need for players to use tools, such as a hammer or sledgehammer, in order to gather raw resources from stylized ore deposits that are indicated with map markers. Gathered resources can then be put into a refinery where they can be processed into materials such as basic materials and refined materials. These materials need to be made in order to manufacture everything that the team will then use in combat such as weapons and ammunition, as well as fortifications and vehicles.[6]

Upon choosing a faction, the player spawns in their team's home region. From here players can access the region selection screen, where players can choose to spawn into any allied controlled town hall or fort as long as it has an active garrison. The garrison of a base only becomes active once a certain number of players have set their spawn inside the town hall or fort.. A town where the town hall structure is located is a strategic area where a team can build up strong defenses called garrison houses and store supplies in storage depots. Certain towns have special facilities such as factories, vehicle factories and ship yards which allow players to create equipment and vehicles. Due to this, certain towns have more logistical value than others, in turn making them worth more time and effort to keep secure. In order to increase the efficiency of supply transportation, individual items such as rifles can be assembled into crates which are multiple instances of the same item in a single inventory slot. There is a heavy reliance on coordinated logistics in the game, requiring organised supply drops to frontline outposts in order to keep players who are fighting on the frontline supplied with weapons and ammunition, as well as providing materials to repair and build fortifications.[7]

Players are encouraged to work together to efficiently use resources, intel, vehicles, weapons and ammunition to gain the upper hand over the opposition. Players can also plan and execute attacks with others, coordinate attacks using a map-marking system and carry out reconnaissance to gain a tactical advantage over the opposition. A player's efforts towards the war can be noticed by peers, which allows players to rise through the ranks through fellow players commending them for their support.[8] A day and night cycle exists in the game, with one in-game day being equal to 1 hour in real-time.

In order to win a war, players must secure and build up a specific number of victory points (town halls that are marked out in their regions) across a multi-region world map. To achieve this, both teams must coordinate their logistics and their army to capture enemy resource nodes and town halls. The teams also work to advance through the technology tree which is progressed with randomly given technology parts during resource gathering to unlock new weapons such as tanks and missiles which can permanently destroy towns and structures. Cooperation is essential as wars can go on for weeks.[9]

Clapfoot Inc. conceived the concept for Foxhole in early 2016, succeeding the completion of several small-scale mobile projects.[10] Foxhole's goal was to make a massively multiplayer war game that took place in a persistent world, leaving it up to players to drive all aspects of the war effort.

Early conceptualizations of the game explored possible features such as a first person perspective camera and a turn-based gameplay format. Ultimately, a top-down perspective was adopted to encourage a focus toward strategy and player collaboration rather than immersion. The decision was made early on in the development process for the game to take place in a fictional universe that paid creative homage to early 20th century warfare. Clapfoot's direction was centered on developing vehicle, weapon, and character designs that were original rather than historical.

Clapfoot began working on prototypes for Foxhole in early 2016, which lead to public release in pre-alpha stage in July 2016. The first iterations supported 64 players per server instance in one region, eventually leading to 120 player support.[11] World Conquest, the primary game mode in Foxhole, was first released in March 2018. On release, the game mode featured 9 interlocking regions on global conflict.[12] As of Update 26, released on 19 June 2019, the map was completely redesigned so that all regions are hexagons of equal size and increased the number of regions to 23.[13]

Despite being an early access title, Foxhole has been generally well received by players, as well as reviewers who have opted to give preliminary reviews. The game has an 80% approval rating on Steam, based on 7,835 user reviews, as of 23 July 2019.[14]

Green Man Gaming's Rob gave the game a positive preliminary verdict, commenting on its "unique gameplay...adding a new-depth to online play" with a suggestion that the early-access game could be a "[potential] contender to knock [PlayerUnknown's] Battlegrounds off the current top spot".[15]

Rock Paper Shotgun's Brendan Caldwell discusses the gameplay of Foxhole, commenting on the logistics system, as well as general skill-based gameplay elements, along with the nature of the top-down view in the game, on their Electronic Wireless Show podcast.[16]

An in-depth preliminary review from IGN's Lief Johnson comments on the cooperative human element of the game, saying "I enjoyed Foxhole, and I know much of that enjoyment grew out the marvel of watching so many players working together."[17]

In December 2017, Foxhole received the Player's Choice award for "Indie Game of the Year Award 2017" from IndieDB.[18]

• Official website
• Official Discord