Gray Zone Warfare recovers with new update and grows on Steam

After a problematic debut in April, Gray Zone Warfare finally shows signs of recovery. The online tactical shooter from Madfinger Games, which faced heavy criticism due to performance issues, crashes, and server problems, has just gained momentum with the arrival of the Winds of War update, released in the early days of May.

The impact was immediate: the average number of simultaneous players jumped from about 2,000 to almost 20,000 on Steam, indicating a significant increase in interest from the community. Furthermore, the public reception has also improved: the overall game review status went from “mostly negative” to “neutral”, with the most recent reviews being “mostly positive”.

The Winds of War update brought substantial changes that helped redefine the game, including:

• Dynamic weather system
• 60 new explorable locations
• New mission type
• New weapons
• Combat outposts
• Enhanced faction identification system between allies and enemies
• Complete in-game economy rebalancing

According to Madfinger Games, the goal was to make rewards more significant and reduce frustration with friendly fire, one of the main issues reported since launch.

“Rewards should now feel more impactful, and combat is smoother with the new visual separation between factions,” stated the developer.

Despite the improvements, reports of performance issues still persist, with mentions of FPS drops and occasional bugs. This indicates that there is room for optimizations, especially considering the project's ambition: an online tactical FPS with a realistic proposal, often compared to the influential Escape from Tarkov.

The developer has not yet announced plans for console versions, but promises new updates in the coming months. For now, the engagement leap and implemented improvements show that Gray Zone Warfare is still trying to establish its place among niche military shooters in the competitive games-as-a-service market.