Madfinger games, a studio hailing from the Czech Republic burst onto the scene with their first game Gray Zone Warfare back in April 2024. Being a massive fan of tactical shooters and milsims I jumped straight on board. I had a fair amount of fun with the game and could see its potential despite the number of flaws and technical issues that existed on the games launch. Now after a year of updates and with the new Winds of War update having just been released, I thought it was the perfect time to jump back into the game and see what improvements Madfinger Games have managed to make over the past year.

For those not in the know, Gray Zone Warfare is a tactical first-person shooter that blends realistic milsim style gameplay with shades of extraction style shooter. Set in a fictional Southeast Asian country torn by conflict. If you are a fan of games like Escape From Tarkov and the ARMA series, then you will feel right at home here. The game focuses on realism and tense gunfights that encourage cooperation and tactical decision making. If you try to play Gray Zone like a run and gun experience, then you will end up being severely punished. The games pace is slow, plodding and nerve wracking, but also has the potential to erupt into frantic firefights at any given moment. Patience, timing and of course accurate shooting skills are the key to being successful in the world of Gray Zone Warfare. The game can be played in either PVE/PVP or just straight up as PVE so it is also open for those who don’t enjoy the experience of fighting other players.

Soldiers take cover on a street, as enemies move towards them. The player character is standing at the ready to engage

The new Winds of War update is the perfect time for new and returning players to jump back into the game. The update features an overhauled and reworked task system along with over 60 new locations to explore, four new weapons (SVD, MP7, Sig MCX, Beretta M9A1) and over 80 new weapon parts and two new types of ammo.

One of my biggest gripes with the game on release was trying to locate your body upon death to retrieve your gear, thankfully this has been addressed and now you can add tracking tags to help you easily locate your body and ever important loadout, if another player loots gear that has one of your tracking tags attached you can then use this to track them down and hopefully kill them and recover your gear, this mechanic is great and adds another layer to the PVP component of the gameplay. If you are playing in a squad, you can also now drag your squad mate to a more secluded location to tend to their wounds rather than having to try to revive them out in the open.

Two soldiers sitting at the edge of a helicopter as it flies across a green field

A new feature called combat outposts has also been added to the game and affect both PVP and PVE gameplay. Outposts can be captured by your faction, the outpost will then be defended by NPC guards who are hostile to other factions, making it more difficult for them to storm in and overtake the outpost. There are both major and minor combat outposts to capture with major outposts also coming with a special vendor that members of the controlling faction will be able to trade with.

My favourite new update must be the dynamic weather system, Gray Zone Warfare is already a beautiful looking game, but the new weather system adds several layers to not only the games graphics, but also the overall immersion, you need to change your tactics according to what type of weather the game throws at you. The landscape dynamically changes when monsoon like rain descends from the sky, rice fields fill up with water and flood and the ground becomes muddy and slick. Your hydration and energy deplete faster when it is hot and humid and wind, rain and fog not only affect your hearing and vision they also affect the sight of NPCs making them adjust their tactics accordingly.

Soldiers move through a run down market stall, with food being cooked on one stand

Whilst I saw the potential of Gray Zone Warfare when it was originally released it was unfortunately hard to recommend to friends due to its sub-par netcode, optimisation issues and game breaking bugs, I am happy to say that the majority of these issues have been ironed out and with all of the added content from the recent Winds of War update the game is now in a much better place and has a lot more content to explore. Gray Zone Warfare is not for the faint of heart, it is brutal, tactical and immersive, it is a military sim that rewards coordination and patience. If you are into milsims or tactical shooters then jump in and give it a go, the game is heading in the right direction and has devs that listen to their player base, I think it is going to have a very bright future ahead of it.

Gray Zone Warfare is out now via Early Access on Steam; you can buy it below. Updates are happening pretty frequently right now, so it is a great time to jump in.