Six Days in Fallujah is a squad and tactics-based FPS that takes its mechanical inspirations from the likes of classic Rainbow Six, Swat 4, and the erstwhile SOCOM series. Narratively, however, it is ostensibly rooted in the reality of the Iraq War. Based on interviews with American soldiers, Iraqi soldiers, historians, and civilians, the game recreates events from the Second Battle of Fallujah, when Coalition forces recaptured the city from Al-Qaeda and Ba’ath Party occupiers in November and December of 2004. Until now, Six Days in Fallujah has only allowed for online play. Now, its first two single-player missions are here – rather than playing co-op with three other people, you can play Six Days in Fallujah’s campaign solo using its squad-shooter mechanics to command a small fireteam.
The original version of Six Days in Fallujah was first revealed in 2009 and attracted controversy owing to questions about how it would recreate and represent the titular real-world battle. The FPS game’s original publisher, Konami, withdrew from the project, and Six Days in Fallujah entered a long period of obscurity until 2021, when it was relaunched by Highwire Games and publisher Victura. In 2023, the initial early-access version of Six Days in Fallujah arrived on Steam, allowing four players to cooperate online to complete missions in procedurally generated environments. The new update, named ‘Command and Control,’ introduces the single-player mode.
At the beginning of each of the two available missions, there are interviews with combatants and non-combatants from the Second Battle of Fallujah, as well as documentary-style clips offering historical background on the Iraq War and the events of the battle itself. You have three computer-controlled teammates who you can order to breach doors, set up ambushes, provide 360-degree security as you move through the streets, and fire and maneuver, whereby they will attack an enemy position while you move into a flanking position.
As well as the first two single-player campaign missions, Six Days in Fallujah now has a new procedural mission – all eight of the procedural missions can be played solo, using the AI-controlled fireteam. Also, if you’re trying to start a co-op match with three other players but are struggling to populate the lobby, you can now fill the gap with an NPC soldier.
The game’s visuals have been improved with additional detail to character models, environments, effects, and textures, with a new option to enable ray-traced lighting and shadow effects. PCGamesN recently interviewed Victura CEO and Six Days in Fallujah co-creator Peter Tamte, so we’ll have more on this one in the near future.
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