Beyond The Wire Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · September 5, 2022

For our Beyond The Wire Review we play A tense multiplayer FPS set in the brutal, bloody trenches of WW1. In battles up to 50v50, players will be immersed in cinematic environments that convey the desperate & brutal circumstances of the Great War. Features an authentic arsenal & a unique melee combat system.

Beyond The Wire Review Pros:

Decent graphics.
61.65GB download size.
Graphics settings – resolution, v-sync, window mode, brightness slider, graphics preset, view distance, anti-aliasing quality, screen sharpening, bloom, ambient occlusion, lens flare, motion blur, depth of field, reflections, textures/effects/shadow quality, super sampling and fully load textures.
World War 1 setting.
Controls settings – Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, rebind controls, a field of view slider, highlight keyboard, and toggles for actions.
Multiplayer has a custom browser and server browser with filters.
Steam friends integration.
Day and night maps.
Platoon setup is available to group up.
You can queue for servers.
Roles are shown and you can only have X amount of each per side.
A game all about tactics and communication.
Icon pop-ups for controls and actions.
Stamina system in play for running.
Vaulting obstacles is in the game.
Deploy from the big map screen.
Some great set pieces, seeing gunfire at night is a particular highlight.
When you have a full vocal team and everyone takes their role seriously it is a fun experience.
Realistic sound effects.
Has a really dark unnerving atmosphere to it.
The progression system is good, you pick a role (numbers permitted) and activate an objective, finish it to gain new loadout options for gear and weapons.

Beyond The Wire Review Cons:

Long loading times even though I’m using an SSD.
Getting constantly kicked from the training missions saying the server won’t allow me to join.
Training option on the main menu.
There is no tutorial for things like game setup, how to deploy, how all the progression works, or the actual gameplay!
Have continuous issues where the game won’t load, crash the PC, or crash when launching the map. It loads every 1 in 5 attempts.
No Steam achievements.
No kill cams.
Doesn’t have in-game controller support.
Names don’t appear above players’ heads quick enough to know if they are friends or foes.
Hard to make anything out.
Doesn’t offer any unique or even varied ways to play the game.
Low player numbers are accompanied by constant server kicks.
Guns don’t handle that great.
When changing resolution it does that time-consuming thing whereby it changes as you scroll through the choices making it a longer more drawn-out experience.
Doesn’t support bots.
Very hard and frustrating to learn.
Small writing on the in-game menus.
No benchmark test option.

Beyond The Wire:

Official website.

Developer: Redstone Interactive

Publisher: Offworld Industries

Store Links –

Steam

7/10

Graphics - 7/10
7/10

Sound - 7/10
6/10

Accessibility - 6/10
6/10

Length - 6/10
6/10

Fun Factor - 6/10

6.4/10

Summary

Beyond The Wire is a World War 1 game that has a strong emphasis on communication and tactics. It is very much a one-game mode type but the tactics and deployment do make every game feel different, you can have good commanders that call in air strikes and if everyone plays their part it is really good… It is just those games are so far and few between. I honestly had one really good game and then the rest were small number skirmishes on huge maps but this was all dependent on whether I could actually load the game. Even running the game on a brand new SSD did little to have the game load fast or even boot up at all with constant crashes and freezes, Beyond The Wire definitely takes the title for this year’s most frustrating experience in a video game. The game came from early access but it feels like it should have stayed there, the player numbers are small, servers seem to hate players and kick them at random and it all performs a bit up and down. Now I am not going to just shit on the game but I am gonna say it how it is, the progression idea of doing objectives unique to that role to get more weapons amd gear is brilliant, but why have it that I NEED to go into a menu on the main screen and activate the objective every time? See, they have good ideas and then fumble and stumble it. Guns feel OK but sound fantastic, the maps look good in a death awaiting me kinda way but the textures pop in and out in an almost comical way. Beyond The Wire is just a game of good ideas and bad ideas, it never feels consistent and I never have any confidence that it will load or if enough players populate it! The training section is pointless and you get bugger all in terms of tutorial help with menus and mechanics. If I had to sum it up in one word… Frustration. I will go back and have another look at the game in a few months because if it gets ironed out a bit then Beyond The Wire could have potential.