Hey everyone, thanks for checking out this video! Weather you're a player already, or someone who just likes when I talk about new worlds, I hope you enjoyed this early breakdown of The Forever Winter. Please let me know if you'd like to see more from the game. There's SO much to talk about here, (though if I'm going to talk about it again, I'll need to invest in a better graphics card
I have to disagree with your assessment of the Europan campaign being the bastion of heroism- if it was not clear enough from the literal tank covered in corpses, they are just as inhumane as their enemies. I would hope that this game does not make a clear distinction between one side being right or wrong, that in line with the anti-war themes of the game they maintain the concept of war being evil and all who fight it being twisted by it. Demonizing one side while aggrandizing the other would run counter to that
I was supporting the Forever Winter already, glad to see it getting more coverage. I agree that additional stuff like books, graphic novels & videos would be fun ways to expand the Forever Winter lore outside of the game.
I find it fascinating how we get basically two grimdark projects with air of 40K *Trench Crusade* : Capturing the religious fervour side of the eternal war, with demons, alchemies, and our Lord. *Forever winter* : Capturing the technological aspect of a nightmarish conflict that never ends.
the most interesting thing about this period we're in is that none of them are even remotely like 40k and thats a very good thing - the only common thread is that "grimdark" theme. 40k is a wild mix of both good and bad - not everything is terrible - in fact most places you'd have a decent if basic life never touched by war.. until you are. These games (at least FW) however are just brutal but in their own ways, FW definitely gets the its bad everything is bad vibe - a endless and pointless conflict driven by AI with no controllers where they see things on a chessboard while printing out war machines and bunkers over the old over and over. Desolation and horror i think fits FW well.
I love Trench Crusade. Everytime I see a video on it, I always sit there and wonder, "who's worse? The armies of Hell, or the armies of Heaven?" Whenever I think I have the answer, it always seems like there's another video with something far more sinister and macabre from the other faction that proves me wrong.
Forever winter feels like how i’d expect the early years of the age of strife in warhammer 40k where theres still somewhat high tech but not completely technobarbaric yet
Definitely the Man of Iron revolt/ai uprising. That whole thing is the reason why there's the servitors. If I recall: there was a story that a AI controlled human ship had been discovered by a Astarties chapter (dunno which ones), they boarded and insulted the AI which causes the AI to *FUCKING HACK THE SPACEMARINES ARMOUR AND CALLED THEM WEAK ASS BITCHES THAT PERSONALLY INSULTS ITS EYESIGHT* and kicked the spacemarines off of the ship and leave.
Australians perhaps saw the massive bold letters written in blood on the wall and kept their head down. At least I would if I was a little too out of the way for them to care about me. XD
I would say they aren't lagging behind, they've just decided to use manpower more (which might be their ultimate downfall). They could produce tanks in much larger numbers but don't seem to have the production capability that Euruska has. Euruska seems short on human troops, so tries to make the best out of their armour units and has collaborated with Eurasia on the mech troops they have (Brawlers). Eurasia have no officers and have no human rank and file troops but they do own the sky which is their biggest advantage overall. Their strategy goes along the same line as the Chinese with overwhelming numbers. My least favourite thing to run into at the moment is the Grabber. It can hunt you down so quick, is indestructible and is just rather menacing. I peaked around a corner and saw one and thought "NOPE" and proceeded to hide for another 5 minutes until it locked with another target. Some Europans walked into the bunker I was hiding out in and must have been the distraction because the kill dog was gone when I next peaked around the corner.
They also have the most manpower to spare, given their size and the fact that the battleground is effectively their "home turf" (as far as we can tell). Technologically, yea Eurasia and Euruska are the more advanced militaries (In Cybernetics + Robotics and Bio-engineering respectively), but Eurasia especially is said to be the lowest in manpower they can draw from, hence their extreme conscription measures (even in comparison to the other 2) and the high "recyclability" of their Cyborg army. They can more easily repair and refit a broken 'machine-man' than an actual organic human. Euruskan stuff, to me at least, seems built to last more than most of their Eurasian counterparts, especially their mechs given their bio-mechanical systems, but even just the bulkier armour we see even on most of their standard troops. They're certainly the 'heavier' military compliment to the Eurasian-Euruskan pair.
I think the decision to use the Merkava tank for Europa is very telling about their priorities. The merkava, unlike other tanks, puts its engine in the front and is optimized more for crew survivability than other tanks (especially the T90)
@@boi8328 The body tank seems to be just camoflage and the canabalism is a necessary sacrifice, you're not going to grow much in nuclear winter. Where as the Euruska and Eurasia they don't have to push it to such extreme at all
Great video! And yes - there are WAY more units coming to the game, especially heavy units on the Eurasian side, as well as some SICK mech offerings from Europa, and some very cool unique stuff you can see in the promotional images. Cheers!
@@Kayan-w3uit’s eu + nato vs China and Russia and all Soviet countries and China probs took over neighbouring countries so how tf is the us gonna win this shit
I really do love the design of Mother Courage. Idk who designed her in-lore but if it was the AI overseer that really does lead to alot of interesting implications. An unloving AI could've created any number of horrible or just efficient designs for a recycler drone, but for it to design a somewhat conventionally beautiful woman to do the job while also naming it something simple that most humans would resonate with is a pretty interesting decision for an AI to make. Maybe it's the AI's attempt at "closure" to the billions of people it's sent into the meat grinder, a "friendly" face with a "calming" name picking you up at the end of a battle. Just a glimpse at the humanity we tried to code into it before the war being warped after the years of conflict
I think it's just that, but with even further implications if we connect a few dots. Again, this is my working theory, but based on what we know I believe it makes sense: Eurasia, out of all three factions is said to have the least manpower to draw upon for this war . . . one would think this would dictate a more 'conservative' approach to warfare or perhaps utilizing more remote-operated robot armies since they are conversely the most technologically advanced (Eurasia does field the most autonomous units so far out of any faction). But every Cyborg was once a full organic human, and yet they treat most of their cyborgs like cannon fodder, while the Mother Courages are some of the most heavily armoured and durable units (currently) in the Eurasia roster? The Mothers notably also do not try and attack Scavs (and presumably others) unless provoked, and are always on the Battlefield at night when the fighting is at its least despite their durability, where their primary function is to recover Eurasian Cyborgs, both 'dead' and critically damaged. I put 'dead' in quotations, because, what if most of the Cyborgs are not actually dead? What if after hitting certain thresholds in crippling their functionality they just shut down? (Think like the Terminator in 1 and 2, how they were also able to 'fake' dying but had back-ups, or the Androids from the Alien series or Ghost in the Shell where so long as the head is intact the entire body could be destroyed?) Meaning unless the Cyborg is totally destroyed by say a Railgun obliterating it or very specific critical damage, it can be reclaimed by the Mothers, and thus the person is 'reborn' and refitted for active combat again? This would tie into various Eastern Philosophies and religious beliefs around reincarnation (though this would a living Hell for most of those views), with those and the designs of the Mother (Even down to the name itself) factoring into what likely would be the indoctrination or propaganda around these units, something like: "You need not fear death on the battlefield! Throw yourselves at the enemy, for even if your bodies of steel and synthetic muscles fail, Mother will find all of her lost beloved children and restore them! You will live again and again until victory is achieved by our supreme technology!" It explains the Mothers' design concept, their durability (hinting at their vital function for the Eurasian army whereas most of their units are generally less durable), why the Eurasian tactics of their Cyborgs are the way they are despite their stated lack of manpower, why some Cyborgs go more feral and insane, and why those that aren't insane recklessly charge the enemy.
@@GideonRavenor712 That bring up another point just how sentient are the super a.i running show? And how does the human under their command influence them and vice versa
@@dean_l33 I think it would be best for the setting if the AI weren’t sentient beings. Evil AIs would kinda take away from the grimdarkness because it’s not something that naturally evolved to be this way in that case. On the other hand an AI like we know it, wich is just a Programm reacting to Information would be more interesting. I remember a scene in a sci-fi book (don’t remember the name of it) where a group of explorers contact a massive alien spaceship and the response evolves into a conversation, but then the aliens respond that the humans aren’t talking to anyone, and then it explains the humans concept of the Chinese room. They are talking to an AI, but the AI isn’t a thinking being. No one has recognized the human ship and that there is a conversation happening. There is only a Programm receiving Strings of characters and then generating a response. There are no aliens on that ship. I think applying something like this to the Forever Winter would make the whole thing scarier. That literally no one is in control of this.
@@dean_l33 It is a question. Its tough to tell with the limited information we have. Considering officers still exist within the different faction armies, I would presume it means the AIs must be at the near-top strategic level, looking at pieces on a board and giving directions and changing tactics based on data fed to them by the officers and drones on the ground. While those AIs cannot be completely insane since the factions have not totally broken down, they certainly seem to favour a 'stalemate' situation rather than "total victory at any cost". They may be in 'holding patterns' waiting for new orders from those with command authority to alter their existing orders, but with such people either dead or removed from play otherwise, they're simply trying to avoid total collapse. Conversely, the AI overseeing The City of Lost Angels, is confirmably insane. It rebuilds destroyed areas daily, but in incorrect manners or twisted fascimiles of what it was. Rebuilding massive structures even though nobody is in them.
@@GideonRavenor712 Something that could tie into this (but it's an alpha build so I'm not sure.) is that many Cyborgs after being 'killed' continue some level of idol animation, twitching and breathing even as 'corpses' on the ground. Given a Scav only cares about 'mission killing' threats to themselves, we have no reason to follow up to fully put them down after that. So it's not unlikely that the cyborgs aren't actually dead, just mission killed, to be recovered and repaired later, for which the Mother Courage units do the job at night. For what it might be worth, as far as I'm aware Fundog has stated that 'No sapient, sentient AI is known to exist in the setting.' Meaning the 'AI's running the war are ultimately akin to the large language models and AI 'bots' of today, scaled up for better tech and more development time. With no one in command authority to tell them differently, they'll just keep doing what they were assigned, handing out orders to human beings to fight and die for. (While the humans involved just do it to keep living, since obedience means water, food and medical care.) Or in other words: No one is in charge anymore. Every command position with a human in it is at the highest bottom rung 'middle management' following orders from higher 'middle management' that is just algorithmic intelligences akin to large language models in 'intelligence' and volition. The drones are the generals, and the human beings are the disposable fodder, led by incentive programs (think 'social credit score' and 'supply by performance' systems) and fed objectives to follow without question.
I would like to point out that Toothy is not a standard unit for Uruska. Toothy is a singular rogue V.I. that was a medical unit. It will attack anything in the game. Uruska units included. It's bio-fuel function is also specific only to Toothy
It seems as though this lore is either obsolete or not implemented yet, as Toothy shows up in-game as a bodyguard for a Euruskan commander during a quest.
@@sillysiji5257 Nope, "Toothy" is a class of mech, not a singular unit. Some Toothys go rouge because their A.I gets corrupted, but some do what they're supposed to. Otherwise it'll be illogical for Uruska to deploy Toothy as HK. (In one interview Miles confirmed that Uruska often has issues with their units going berzerk)
Theory on the cow balloons; Live rations being delivered as reward to units deployed to the front as reward for achieving objectives. Its the only way anyone ever gets any fresh meat on the battlefield.
I have a counter theory, back in Medieval times, cows that had died during long sieges would begin to rot, they'd be loaded up into a catapult and launched into the fort / castle / town and they'd allow the infection / plague to spread to soften up the defenders. Maybe the Eurasians have infected the cows and are flying them in from the West? It sort of reminds me of an actual strategy used by the Imperial Japanese against the U.S. during WWII where they sent thousands of incendiary bomb balloons on a flight path across the Pacific ocean to land in California and start massive forest fires but only a handful made it to the U.S.
29:08 I want to add on that the American flags are made to be fire-resistant. Same goes for the astronaut suit. So in way, him being a Pyro, makes sense to make himself fire-resistant.
I think you missed out on a major point about Europan ground troops: their absolute brutality and pardoxical inhumanity despite being the most "human" combatants. Even beyond the corpse tanks, there are plenty of little tidbits that demonstrate that the Europan disdain for anyone and everyone, including their own people who they view as below them. There is a mission delivered by the Europan command to retrieve the doll of a EUROPAN soldier's child who had their HEAD CRUSHED by a fellow EoD trooper on purpose who took the doll as a TROPHY! It's frigging awesome how Fundog is subverting expectations with the factions, as you might initially view the Europans as the "good guys" due to being the most traditionally human and being based off the EU, but slowly you find out that, next to the Eurasians, they care the absolute least about their own. It seems, so far, that the Euruskans are the only major faction that seems to give a crap about their losses, which goes against the traditional view of "Russian/slavic faction evil" trope. I cannot wait to see this world expanded even more!
Another thing is the uruskan commander is the only one who shows you any respect. Making comments like 'I needed someone I could trust with this important mission', while the others plainly state you're an inferior to even their most lowly of troops
@@Cavemanner The doll mission is actually given by the Scav contact, who's child was killed by a Europan EOD officer. But yeah, it's listed under the Europa mission tab for some reason.
@@Maowka Huh, I guess I never actually took the mission to see that it was the Scav giving it to you. Whelp, there goes another half-baked theory into the trash!
@@ufc990were all germans bad when hitler ruled? Then what makes you think all Russians are bad? There are lots and lots of us who are against criminal and bloody putins regime and were against it for literally decades.
Funny thing is they wanted this to be a art book and a concept to share with others. The mad lads said lets make it a game. So this is more of a living art gallery we can experiance and fight though.
That explains the amazing art. I'm a sucker for cool worlds and art concepts. I hope the game gets enough support to see their vision fully fleshed out, its pretty rough around the edges right now.
The core of that art book seems to have become essentially the background lore of Forever Winter's setting. IE bits from earlier in the conflict, when things weren't so worn down.
To me Forever Winter is the modern take on the end state of a Total War society, on a global scale. The desolate warscape and scavenging, reminds me a lot of the end of the movie Downfall. Spoiler: at end you follow a 10yo conscripted kid who deserted the german army to survive in ravaged berlin, dodging russian and german bullets alike. He comes across his previous artillery gun position, manned by child soldiers and elderly, just devastated. The same all over germany. There is no state, army, or ideology anymore, just survival. The last few bloody months, weeks, days of a failed state-society-economy until defeat.
One thing you didn't mention during the Europan breakdown is that the Body Tank? It's stealthed on the Taccam equipment. Given that equipment uses a Eurasian cyborg head and optics, this suggests that the macabre armor actually does provide stealth benefits against their enemies. (Other such stealth units are the Euruskan Grabber and all but the joints of the Europan Exo's.)
Eurasian Cyborgs don't wear "severed human faces" they wear artificial skin. You can see the same skin on the Eurasian quest giver. I also believe that the different variations that we see between unarmed Cyborgs is their lifecycle. When they're new, they still have the artificial skin they were granted left on their faces, and they have the standard firearm they were issued, with some ammo. If they expend the ammunition from their firearm, or break it, they're told by command that they're not getting a new one until they complete their assignment(s), so they become runners. They lose their minds at some point, trying to survive completing objectives but they also notice that they can manipulate their new bodies in unexpected ways, and end up become crawlers. Extensive combat damage results in the half-crawlers, and they can either wait to be scooped up by mother courage as a unit for recycling, or they can take their chances with completing their objective, in the vain hope that command will provide them aid. Mother Courage's mouth opens, just not in the current build. The cow balloons are food delivered to frontline troops. There's a picture somewhere out there of one of these balloons dropping a cow on top of a tank to be butchered, while one on the ground is actively being processed. I also believe it may be an attempt by the AI to refertilize a dead planet.
Its curious that the mother courage units are left alone on their nightly patrols. As the unit primarily responsible for keeping its factions troops in fighting condition, it should be a priority target. Instead...all the mechs and exos that could potentially damage them are only active in the daytime. For a war that seemingly has no rules, the nighttime armistice only really seems to benefit one side.
@@everberon Yes, it does seem a good tactical option - i did see someone suggest that Europa is actually trying not to win - if it is run by AI Generals, they may actually feel that their own existence is justified by a continued state of war...and that a constant stalemate is a better outcome for them than victory.
TBF, the Mother Courage does seem to be built pretty tough given its vital role for the Eurasian forces. It is worth noting though the Mothers are not on the fields 'alone' even if they do their task independently. Scattered Eurasian Cyborgs still capable of mobility and functionality stalk the nightly fields, along with Euruskan Grabbers (another unit not USUALLY seen in daylight, though there is the one in the back of Elephant Mausoleum) whose role could function in partnership with the Mothers as 'guard dogs' given how deadly they are. And since their role is not recycling but to actively hunt enemies, they must be there to protect the Mothers. And since Mothers can hold their own against whole squads of Infantry without too much issue, the Grabbers must be there to protect them from potential Exos. Their size also hints this to me.
Bear in mind, TFW doesn't have proper anti-armor weapons, yet. An NLAW in top-attack mode would decapitate a Mother Courage unit and maybe cripple an OrgaMech...
Not even just look more disturbing but are even more disturbing in concept. Terminators at least ALWAYS were machines, even if some can be reprogrammed/taught to think in more 'human' capacities, their mechanical minds are always there and always were. (Though the process of making the 'Infiltrator' types prior to the T-1000 Prototypes is gruesome). The Eurasian Cyborgs, are more like Servitors from Warhammer 40k, with Terminator aesthetics. In that all of them were human beings, having undergone heavy augmentation. Though unlike most Servitors who're created either post-mortem or from various convicts as punishment in the Imperium (Both of whom are stripped of pretty much all of their consciousness, thought, and personality and turned into living machines to thus circumvent the ban on Abominable Intelligence), Eurasian Cyborgs we're told still have ALL of their mental faculties moved over to their cybernetic bodies. The only measures taken for them (AFAIK) are extreme indoctrination and propaganda, being sold the promise that if they perform well in the war, they will have their bodies returned. Thus the Cyborgs are thrown into the meat grinder, 'dying' over and over, reclaimed by the Mother Courages, perhaps likely having to experience dying and be reborn again and again, the lucky ones being totally obliterated, or selected for their more advanced units, but with all others increasingly going insane, losing all trace of their personalities beyond their orders telling them what targets are friendly and which are not.
@@GideonRavenor712 all wrong, they're brainless and piloted by ai. Look at the model closely. Only some models of officer grade cyborgs still have human side to them.
@@GideonRavenor712 Hell, one of the eurasia quest is destroying 3 europan exos because exos routinely massacre them to the point that they were worshipped as a god
The cow balloons may be a reference to the vietnam war. The CIA was aiding the Laotian people to fight the north vietnamese. The CIA would also aid the people in their religious practices by airlifting them waterbuffalos.
25:30 Manmade machines relying on biofuel to such an extent that they become predatory, per their design, is so creepy. In a war like this, it would be most efficient. Typical fuel sources would be obsolete, leading to an animal of prey made of metal. Scary stuff.
Its also why the Eurasian army is so "recyclable". How do we know the Eurasian Cyborgs are truly "dead" unless they're obliterated, or totally broken down? They aren't robots, they are humans highly modified by advanced cybernetics, and we can see their bodies are extremely durable like their Terminator inspirations. And Eurasia is stated to have the LEAST manpower to draw from of all of the factions. I can imagine the Eurasians can very easily replace broken parts . . . but they cannot replace whole cyborg units easily, hence the Mothers. Perhaps so long as the 'core' of a Cyborg is not destroyed, they can be shut down or crippled from damage, but be recovered and put back into service. Euruskans, conversely, are built to last with maximum efficiency against the enemy they are facing. Overall more heavily armoured foot soldiers and bio-mechanical mechs and Exos, with Toothy being designed to double as both walking medic extraction platform for friendlies, and able to function on emergency power drawn from the one resource Europa has in abundance: human soldiers.
@@rudeboyjohn3483 the apocalypse of that games universe seems somewhat merciful compared to this one, at least the new humans of HZD are largely unaware of the hell that happened before
It's usually more of an imperial conquest than a unification, it's practically impossible to justify an asian union, japan has better relations with Italy than it does with its neighbors
The more I learn about this game the goofier it seems. I thought it'd be a better 40K, but it's exactly the same. Just edgy and generic to the point of being goofy.
@@winding65 Idk, decisions like that. The whole world being neatly split into 3 factions is immediately fantastical already, even more so with the actual literal names they chose, which are kinda goofy to me. Like wtf is "Euruska" lol Like, I imagine they wanted to avoid using actual countries or organizations like the EU, which is understandable, but they could literally have given the three factions randomly generated acronyms for names and be done with it. Hell they didn't even have to explain what they actually stand for and that would add even more to the feeling of disorientation and pointlessness of the setting. "N-FOR, CSR, and DNSU", "E.D.A.S., CDR,, VRK", "Peter, Paul and Mary" whatever... You could argue that might be confusing but then again the actual faction names they chose all start with the same three letters lol. Don't get me wrong, I think the game is refreshing in a world full of COD sequels and hero shooters, and I hope they are very successful. But for me a lot of stuff from the worldbuilding to the actual design of the characters and vehicles falls into a very unfortunate uncanny valley of being too grounded and grim for simple, dumb, rule-of-cool entertainment (think 40K, Star Wars, etc), but too stylized to be truly immersive and feeling like a serious exploration of human nature and the dangers of AI, etc... which this game purports to be.
Minor correction: the HINDs are Euruskan, not Eurasian, though it's not a big difference given the alliance. The Eurasian 'officers' are actually Assaulters - elite borgs designed and tasked with covert ops and heavy assaults, as evidenced by a quest the Europans give for Scorched Enclave. So far, Eurasia is devoid of actual officers.
As Sphynra said, the HIND is Eurasian, but in addition, the assaulters are a special variation only seen after accepting a quest. The base versions are found in game without the quest on some maps. It's similar to the Europan assasins, which share a model with the GRINN.
@@Sphynra If you read the text for the HIND control board quest, the HIND is actually Euruskan, but it operates under the Eurasian Air Command. Hence why it IDs as Eurasian and has the markings, but is actually, lore-wise, of Euruskan production and possibly piloted by a Euruskan.
@@Maowka It's piloted by an AI, the only human crewman is the gunner. If you actually look at the concept art of the Hind all the decals, insignia and aesthetic are Eurasian, there is nothing Euruskan about them.
This seems to be a very different kind of early access title. I've not seen such a healthy lore drop for such an unfinished game before. I think peoples' natural interest in the aesthetic and lore of this game is going to help carry it forward to completion. I hope it continues to develop in a healthy manner because I have my eye on it for when it's a bit more cooked. Looking forward to it.
The standing "grabber-like" unit int 30:28 is actually The Grabber/Stalker from Euruska, its just portrayed standing up. You can see them on the renders found in TFW wiki and discord
@@datastorm75 There are other colors in the game, but they are rare and muted by the ash, filth, and gore. Look at some of the special units, for example.
The bodies on the tank don't actually appear to be real, judging by that close-up. Odd seams on the skin, blank eyes, no genitalia, seemingly pristine and and devoid of damage or decay. Unless the designers got weirdly lazy with this one, I'd be inclined to conclude that they're actually synthetic.
I think it’s just synthetic to reduce the costs of finding bodies since a good chunk of robots run on bio-energy and it would be wasteful to use them for “decoration”
In a world where most weapons and vehicles seem to operate on direct line of sight you’d think the side that has helicopters that can fire guided missiles from 3 miles away would have the upper hand on the battlefield.
As we know, Forever Winter takes place in year 20XX- Which means it's 2099 at the farthest. And considering the current year, if tomorrow is the start of the war, it took 75 years. 14th century England And French:
The game is set in 2092. It shows in one of the trailers. The war probably started around 2020 or 2030 something. In 2030, you won't own anything and you'll be happy.
To be fair, the Hundred Years War wasn't continuous and had periods of peace. It also didn't have nightmarish mechs and hell machines as avatars of the insanity of war.
I kinda feel like it'd take longer than 70ish years to outright forget what the war started over though, especially if any sort of social media existed at some point
@@wolfgang_h3t IIRC the war started with healthy exchange of nukes, so I guess Facebook wont be around. Also Social media requires quite alot infrastructure to properly work all over the world, in case of total war with 3 factions there isn't much left as we can see on the maps.
I honestly wanna see more eruopan air units like CAS aircraft and interceptors like apaches and raptor jets and some ground units like a duel cannon Abrams being a mech killer
You can see an abandoned Abrams in Scrapyard Nexus directly near the spawnpoint. I guess lore-wise, Europans abandoned Abrams in favor of Merkava since it's cheaper to produce and they have very high fatality rate anyway so something that is more cost-effective is needed.
@@user-sg9ql8nk1u Eurasia is a collection of Asian countries including Japan so it would make sense that they would use the type-10, instead of which is nato but bigger Europa which would use Abrams, leopards or challengers and markarvas, Euruska will use the t-72 platform because the t-90 is just a t-72 but with upgrades or the t-80s which that faction is made of Russia, Africa and the Middle East
Personally, my theory behind the Pyro is that he was some kind of astronaut up in orbit when the war first began, and got a beautiful firsthand view of the world nuking itself into the sorry state it is now. And after either surviving his space station being shot out of the sky, or maybe commandeering a shuttle of some sort, he managed to treck back home… only to find his country transformed into a violent husk piloted by unfeeling AI logisticians, and his family slaughtered by Eurasian forces. After the experience he must’ve gone through in getting home, perhaps that broke him, body and soul. So he seeks to go out in a blaze of glory, bearing the last vestige of his home across his features, and bringing death to the Eurasians via every means possible. … of course, said theory can be easily invalidated by a simple matter of time, as I’m not entirely sure how long the war has been going on. And if it’s been going on 50+ years, I doubt this old man would be able to muster that kind of gumption, but who knows? (I also hope the update the AI/Weaponsfor the bosses like the Tormentor, Pyro, and Red Baron, because atm they’re just buffed EODs with big health pools and bigger Grenade launchers, and the same propensity for revolutionary war tactics as their compatriots. Because as much as I want to fear these guys, it’s always sad to either just find them randomly dead via Mech, riddled with bulllets/grenade launchers by Euraskans… or just stunlock them to death via a surplus shotgun.)
The current year in the setting is 2092. We don't know when the war started since no one currently alive in the setting seems to know either. Since we see some older people still alive among the Scavs, that means it's probably been at least sixty years. Pyro was probably never an actual astronaut, but he could have been the son of someone who remembered the old America. They learned about the United States and what it and its flag stood for, and decided that he would go on this one man crucade to end the war so the America he reveres can finally rebuild. I'm guessing he fights for Europa despite not officially being part of them because they were probably allies with the US before its collapse, and so only sees Eurasia and Euruska as aggressors to be expelled.
Europa has the manpower but not the tech. Eurasia has the production facilities but lacks the manpower so "recycles" it from the battlefield and from overpopulation in the mega habs back in Eurasian territory, fresh borgs are dropped from the massive planes, it owns the skies. Euruska has the tech but is also lacking in manpower so focuses more on armour both in terms of infantry units, tanks and war walkers.
Euruska, to me at least, seems to fulfill the missing "niche" in Eurasia's rosters by offering the "heavy" units of most of their combined forces. Sure, the Eurasians have the Brawlers but even they are outmatched by the Orgamechs in hand-to-hand combat.
One thing about the trooper 'borgs - looking at the in-game model and the art depicting Kane I believe they are not wearing human faces, but rather some ceramic material facsimiles of their former pre-cyborg faces. I feel like it would track that a higher rung of trooper(even if barely better than the cannon fodder naked 'borgs) would be allowed to keep some of their humanity despite being converted and giving up their free will to maybe keep them sane for longer.
I’ve been reading Macbeth recently, and for some reason this game really reminds me of these two quotations. “There is no flying hence nor tarrying here… I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun, and wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now undone… Blow, Wind… Come, Wrack! At least we’ll die with harness on our back…” “They have tied me to a stake, I cannot fly… But Bearlike, I must fight the course…” These both, to me, refer in this context to the fact this situation cannot be escaped, they’re all condemned to this fate and it wears upon all who fight it. But, nevertheless, they’re continuing to fight, for that is all that is left to them now.
I’ve watched a Euruskan Grabber duel two Europan Exos to a stalemate. Any squad sent in to assist was quickly wiped out by that thing. I was blessed that neither side saw me, or I’d have ended up like the numerous squads sent to their deaths.
Nice vid, i absoletely am addicted to this game, it has that little extra thing that makes it unique. Still a few bugs and not perfect, but even then still a absolute blast to play.
And on Eurasian borgs- the ones with P90 might be more willing conscripts, perhaps people who aren't shanghaied from the streets, but more officially get enlisted and are allowed enough bodily autonomy to not be a near feral lower rung borgs. Tho your theory on that might also have water.
The Grinns helmet design is genius. Makes the head seem bigger then it actually is so when a critical shots fired at someone wearing one it'll hit the helmet instead of their head
The first time I watch the trailer, I was soo Hype by this game, the map are crafted to the very little detail to perfectly represente the vision of reality and I love that! I love the concept to that you're not the hero of the story and you're not even the main protagenist, you're just a random dude that is trying to survive in a violent war.
I feel that they have written themselves into a corner here. How can they justify an unending war when one side, Eurasia and Euruska, is larger in landmass AND more technologically advanced AND with larger populations. Meanwhile Europa's land is split by the Ocean, is blighted by famine which will keeps it population low, a detriment when it is more reliant on Human soldiers, and is less technologically advanced. It would have made more sense for all three factions to be fighting each other or for the faction on their own to be the most powerful, Eurasia seemingly from how the lore has been described.
More terrifying than any of its units is the knowledge this game almost became NFT slop. Thank whatever deities were watching that they backed out of the idea and stuck to this formula.
I love the art direction and aesthetic of this game. I hope to see an art book for Forever Winter later down the road because the character designs and environments are so well done I would love to see the concept art for all of those ideas.
Honestly, lore wise it's OK, there are a few things I feel like I would personally change to have it make a bit more sense and give a bit more personality to the horrors we see: 1) Give Eurasia their own mech, a more pure mechanical cybog, to emphasize their reliance on pure technology and constant recycling, giving it a brawler style lile the infantry with some sporting rifles, but in the minority, basically reflecting their infantry. 2) Europa, tweak the lore from them just drawing from old stockpiles to them using old mass production factories. It removes the sense that Europa is just living on borrowed time, and instead makes it more about how Europa has the raw manpower to not care about filling the ranks, but has more trouble actually equiping the ranks of conscripts. It also distinguishes Eurasia as being able to endlessly recycle their troops as a race to who can be exhausted first, Europa's manpower, or Eurasia's recyclable resources, rather than "how long can Europa's stocks last before Eurasia depletes them" it makes the war seem more plausible to have lasted the centuries the lore says it has. 3)Euruska, the smallest of the three. Honestly, I think they should be transitioned to be more of a mercenary faction. They function as a more elite group than the Euasian or Europa factions, but less numerous. Lore wise, as it was said, they are stuck between two powers greater than them, and funnily enough, they would have a vested interest in keeping the conflict going, and as it was said in the lore, attempting to stay neutral. Why? Because whoever wins will likely go after Euruska once their rival is gone, because Euruska wouldn't be able to actually defend against them. The only way to prevent this is to either keep the war going, so Euruska isn't focused on, or make sure they are sided with the winner once it is clear that one side will win over the other. By declaring for Eurasia, it means Euruska would likely be invaded by Europa, turning the state into a battleground. By functioning as a mercenary state, they keep the balance of the war going, and their lands safe from the war as they are technically a third party. Gameplay wise it would allow Euruska to get the best of both Euasia and Europa tech and equipment, in addition to the domestic kit. It means you would still be able to have things like Drone riders because those would be drones Euruska got for allying with Euasia during a fight. It would also mean you could have Europa mechs with Euruskian modifications or equipment. It would also allow Euruska to fit into the more hard specialist niche of both factions, as they are the smaller elite merc group brought in to solve problems for both sides.
Thank you very much for the lore! I kinda got hooked up by the FW universe, and if it wasn't for you, i don't think i would have an opportunity to learn so much about it.
This game, while very barebones as far as gameplay goes, has extremely high potential in my eyes. I love the lore and aesthetic, as well as the overall concept. Very excited to see where Fun Dog takes it.
Thank you! I have a pretty poor graphics card for this type of game so apologies that it's on pretty low settings. I'm planning to upgrade before the end of the year and if we do more of these, the footage ought to be a bit cleaner 😎
You know what's the craziest thing about this game? It's practically the only game in this generation that looks EXACTLY like its trailers and concept art.
Hoping someone can enlighten me. If Europa is supposed to be the US and Europe, why the hell are they using Merkavas? Both the US and Europe have a long history of producing their own tanks, and it seems a bit weird to me that they'd end up using something that originated in the Middle East...especially if the Middle East is meant to be part of Euruska. Great video, super insightful, just a little confused by this one aspect.
The borders are not clear (and judging by the names they are extremely muddled), but out all of the factions, the Europans field a HUGE variety of designs to their forces even just from their trooper loadouts, though primarily NATO-inspired. If what dustan said is accurate and Merkavas are the cheaper tanks to produce while still being as effective as an Abrams, it makes sense they'd go for the more efficient option, especially in a long-running war.
It is stated in the lore that Europa lost a large amount of territory before the game starts so it’s possible Israel and other parts of the Mediterranean were part of Europa before being conquered by Euruska.
I'll take a stab at this. The Merkava tank is cheaper to make in terms of resources and precision factory resources. With Exo's and Medium+ mechs needing production, the combat value of a later Abrams variant just isn't worth making in the calculations of the factory and logistics VI's running production. Or there may have been a point early on in the war where the primary factories of key parts of the Abrams variant of the time were gone, but the Merkava's production factories were doing fine, so the VI's switched to that... then never bothered rebuilding that manufacturing capability to prioritize those more high tech 'modern' units. Especially if the initial stocks of Abrams (and even mothballed hulls) were ran down rapidly early on. (See shells for artillery in the Ukraine war for a 2024 current example of how stocks can be rapidly depleted.) Heck for all we know, the future Abrams designs had some form of DRM that had it's corporate servers destroyed/hacked/wiped and the Merkava was a design they could start making quickly to fill the tank role. The same could explain the prevalence of IRL contemporary firearms designs (with some modernizations for the really old ones visible.) as well. We know from Fundog's own words that the war materials are being printed out by automated factories and the war has been going on for generations at this point. Combined with an opening limited nuclear exchange, Europa especially is likely working with what they can still produce, not their peak of advanced equipment.
The merkava is a NATO tank, it's the cheapest one, with the most crew survivability and the fastest build time, exactly what would make sense for a war such as this
All sides suffering horribly in the war but I genuinely wonder what factions territory is the least damaged. Are there still cities left standing? Is there any actual hope for civilians away from the frontlines?
From what i know, each side still has pockets of civilization, but all of them have great issues. For instance, Europa has high levels of poverty, criminality and is currently ruled by an authoritarian state. Eurasia, while really advanced in technology, presents extreme levels of social inequality, and is probably ruled by ruthless corporations. Sadly, we still don't know much about Euruska, but it seems to have elements of imperial russia/soviet union.
I often feel bad not playing games with such beautiful lore like this but the stressful extraction shooter genre is just not for me, but I wish the team all the best in this endeavour as it seems truly amazing
Possible V.O. narrator intro - " No one really knew how it all began. Or how it ended. Even if it had really ended No one could agree upon the exact details. Everyone has their own ideas....and that was cause alone of course to wage yet another war. Now...there was only the salvage that made some kind of sense...the sorties and the skirmishes that it took to get .Each of us crawling over and biting each other like rats on this Rotten Cold Landfill of a world . To get through not just another day, another hour but a just one more minute was considered something close to a victory when there was nothing really left to gain. At least that we could all agree upon. "
Just a correction, the Eurasian Brawler use guns, and the other variant isn’t called the Elite Brawler but instead the Eurasian Heavy Brawler and they don’t use guns. Only their fists.
@@llab3903 Considering real life EODs can work in combat environments, and due to how brutal the war is and how fluid the frontlines are, it makes sense these EOD would have such heavy armor.
I like to imagine the cows are being taken out of the battlefield to safety, I assume due to Europa suffering from famine, they need as much food as possible and probably due to how bleak the world is, where you have to kill or be killed just to get a sip of water, it's safe to assume a slice of steak or a jug of milk would be considered a delicacy in these days. So saving a cow would be something of great importance, probably only for the top brass that are gonna enjoy a good hamburger or prime steak while their citizens and soldiers only get by with tasteless rations of mysterious ingredients, but that's just my guess
I have an idea for a 5th faction that allies itself with Europa and is at odds with both Eurasia and Euraska. But rather than allying with Europa because of "Europa good, Eurasia and Euraska bad" they do it since they are the lesser evil of the 3 and the least insidious when it comes to tactics. Completely neutral to scavs as long as you don't fire at them. They would temporarily occupy 2 sectors and depending on how high your rep with Europa is these sectors can be considered "safe" with this faction ignoring you completely in a "you don't mess with us, we don't mess with you" type deal. And just because these sectors are marked as "safe" doesn't mean there are no enemies but that enemy presence greatly decreased and killing too many of (as long as they aren't Europan troops) them will not trigger a hunter killer spawning. What would make them really unique is that their equipment is pristine and generations more advanced than all the other 3 combined with their regular infantry wearing exosuits/exoskeletons and being as tough as some of the medium-heavy units that the other 3 factions have. So fighting them is ill-advised to even the most veteran of scavs for they can easily put you down like a dog without breaking as much as a sweat. Kill too many of them? They'll send an Armored Hunter more dangerous than Toothy to take you out. They're also extremely well coordinated which is a clear sign they have a central command structure that not only survived but that it also persevered for years following start of the war. Once you get high enough rep with Europa and upgrade your base to a certain point a special vendor will show up that sells equipment from this faction (railguns, railgun ammo, exoskeletons/exosuits and special backpack upgrades) at huge premium. If you die on a run and aren't able to retreat this high end gear (Backpacks/Kitbag upgrades aren't lost on death) would be the equivalent to losing your life savings as trying to rebuy this gear is NOT cheap. Their gear has a lot of benefits but everyone must always remember: "You are not this guy, you are this guy". So don't go full Rambo even with all this fancy stuff.
Very awesome, fantastic presentation 👏🙏 Ps: i will say though, that each time the narrator mentioned the "year 20xx", i started visualizing this as a suuuper gritty megaman installment 🤷♂️
I know the map is not canon. But the idea of Australasia and Southeast Asia being a hidden 5th faction is appealing. Viking or pirate like raiders with powerful Navies to back them up springs to mind.
I like how every human or human operated until usually have some trench personalization. Like Euruskan soldiers wearing religious symbols or artifacts on their armor. It's, by the way, not so fat from the real life. Oh, and how Euruskan faction is named СПЕЦНАЗ COMMISSION. This game have such a vibe!
Probably belongs to euraska. Devs was saying that euruska were made from most slavs countries and mid east and Africa but since the war started Europe lost most of positions in Europe so in any case now its euruska
I hope we get more base management, like stockpiling things like toys, junk food, alcohol and whatnot to make the lives of those at your base. From that one cinematic released it showed the scavs saving some civilians. I ran across one in one my runs but lost track of them, i wanted to see if i could get to them and bring them to safety. In a grimdark world small hopeful things like those really stand out and feel rewarding imo
Not really, more of a fucking crazy EOD pilot that realized he was really good at his job and decided to get himself some originality (the blue mask). So he just kind of became a living legend while fighting for Europa Not like a space marine, because astartes are an entirely diferent "type" of soldier, while the tormentor is a really really good EOD.
i love these kinds of settings where there is only war and nothing else , nobody even knows or remember why they are fighting all they know is that they have to ˝win˝ whatever that even means , all those that knew are probably long dead
this is what happens when you take a solid idea for a dystopian anti-war journalistic take - art book and go hrmm this would actually be as effective or more by turning it into a video game. I really wish them well in their endeavor
Hey everyone, thanks for checking out this video! Weather you're a player already, or someone who just likes when I talk about new worlds, I hope you enjoyed this early breakdown of The Forever Winter. Please let me know if you'd like to see more from the game. There's SO much to talk about here, (though if I'm going to talk about it again, I'll need to invest in a better graphics card
It great to have another lore video for this game. There not many of them beside that 1 dude basically hook everyone with the game lore and story
I have to disagree with your assessment of the Europan campaign being the bastion of heroism- if it was not clear enough from the literal tank covered in corpses, they are just as inhumane as their enemies. I would hope that this game does not make a clear distinction between one side being right or wrong, that in line with the anti-war themes of the game they maintain the concept of war being evil and all who fight it being twisted by it. Demonizing one side while aggrandizing the other would run counter to that
Lol Nice going you hack.
Loved it
I was supporting the Forever Winter already, glad to see it getting more coverage.
I agree that additional stuff like books, graphic novels & videos would be fun ways to expand the Forever Winter lore outside of the game.
I find it fascinating how we get basically two grimdark projects with air of 40K
*Trench Crusade* : Capturing the religious fervour side of the eternal war, with demons, alchemies, and our Lord.
*Forever winter* : Capturing the technological aspect of a nightmarish conflict that never ends.
I really need to check out Trench Crusade. Looks right up my alley.
the most interesting thing about this period we're in is that none of them are even remotely like 40k and thats a very good thing - the only common thread is that "grimdark" theme. 40k is a wild mix of both good and bad - not everything is terrible - in fact most places you'd have a decent if basic life never touched by war.. until you are.
These games (at least FW) however are just brutal but in their own ways, FW definitely gets the its bad everything is bad vibe - a endless and pointless conflict driven by AI with no controllers where they see things on a chessboard while printing out war machines and bunkers over the old over and over. Desolation and horror i think fits FW well.
Well said im wondering how many more we will get these coming months
There is only war
I love Trench Crusade. Everytime I see a video on it, I always sit there and wonder, "who's worse? The armies of Hell, or the armies of Heaven?" Whenever I think I have the answer, it always seems like there's another video with something far more sinister and macabre from the other faction that proves me wrong.
Forever winter feels like how i’d expect the early years of the age of strife in warhammer 40k where theres still somewhat high tech but not completely technobarbaric yet
Definitely the Man of Iron revolt/ai uprising.
That whole thing is the reason why there's the servitors.
If I recall: there was a story that a AI controlled human ship had been discovered by a Astarties chapter (dunno which ones), they boarded and insulted the AI which causes the AI to *FUCKING HACK THE SPACEMARINES ARMOUR AND CALLED THEM WEAK ASS BITCHES THAT PERSONALLY INSULTS ITS EYESIGHT* and kicked the spacemarines off of the ship and leave.
As a 40k fan, I vibe with this universe alot.
Yes, this is basically the unending war in the Age of Strife.
As a Care Bears fan, I vibe with this universal alot.
Yeah it's basically Warhammer 3000
ABANDON REASON KNOW ONLY WAR!!!!!
Europa is our Imperium of man then?
The map at 6:37 does give the very funny image of the Aussies just hanging out like: "wonder what everyone's up to these days"
Australians perhaps saw the massive bold letters written in blood on the wall and kept their head down. At least I would if I was a little too out of the way for them to care about me. XD
Theyre busy fightin spoiders mate
@brockisenburg5437 oh god, the wildlife mutated due to the pollution
It's the opposite. None of the 3 major factions dare to look over at Australia teeming with its cursed wildlife
They went full Mad Max and are having a blast.
This game deserves more attention, it's such a work of art.
I definitely agree.
It’s heavily influenced by the art of Zdzisław Beksiński. Look up that artist and you’ll see a ton of paintings that look like this game.
To be honest a lot of the biggest youtubers and streamers have covered it
sucks that ppl dogged on it so hard. complaining about a game mechanic (need for water) which really isn’t as big of a deal as ppl make it out to be.
Nah it's lame
I like how the Europa army being (relatively) more human is because they're lacking behind in tech unlike the Eurasisan and Euraska
I would say they aren't lagging behind, they've just decided to use manpower more (which might be their ultimate downfall). They could produce tanks in much larger numbers but don't seem to have the production capability that Euruska has. Euruska seems short on human troops, so tries to make the best out of their armour units and has collaborated with Eurasia on the mech troops they have (Brawlers). Eurasia have no officers and have no human rank and file troops but they do own the sky which is their biggest advantage overall. Their strategy goes along the same line as the Chinese with overwhelming numbers.
My least favourite thing to run into at the moment is the Grabber. It can hunt you down so quick, is indestructible and is just rather menacing. I peaked around a corner and saw one and thought "NOPE" and proceeded to hide for another 5 minutes until it locked with another target. Some Europans walked into the bunker I was hiding out in and must have been the distraction because the kill dog was gone when I next peaked around the corner.
They also have the most manpower to spare, given their size and the fact that the battleground is effectively their "home turf" (as far as we can tell).
Technologically, yea Eurasia and Euruska are the more advanced militaries (In Cybernetics + Robotics and Bio-engineering respectively), but Eurasia especially is said to be the lowest in manpower they can draw from, hence their extreme conscription measures (even in comparison to the other 2) and the high "recyclability" of their Cyborg army. They can more easily repair and refit a broken 'machine-man' than an actual organic human.
Euruskan stuff, to me at least, seems built to last more than most of their Eurasian counterparts, especially their mechs given their bio-mechanical systems, but even just the bulkier armour we see even on most of their standard troops. They're certainly the 'heavier' military compliment to the Eurasian-Euruskan pair.
I think the decision to use the Merkava tank for Europa is very telling about their priorities. The merkava, unlike other tanks, puts its engine in the front and is optimized more for crew survivability than other tanks (especially the T90)
Just ignore the corpse tank and the cannibalism.
@@boi8328 The body tank seems to be just camoflage and the canabalism is a necessary sacrifice, you're not going to grow much in nuclear winter. Where as the Euruska and Eurasia they don't have to push it to such extreme at all
Great video! And yes - there are WAY more units coming to the game, especially heavy units on the Eurasian side, as well as some SICK mech offerings from Europa, and some very cool unique stuff you can see in the promotional images. Cheers!
The man himself!
Great insights! Looking forward to seeing more!
The man himself
So basically, Uruska is the only reason Urasia hasn’t been bodied yet.
Correct lol
This comment has been fact check by REAL EUROPAN PATRIOTS!
(Congrats on becoming a top stock rifle user btw)
Euruska literally so Chad.
@@Kayan-w3u they control alot of Africa so, yea probably
@@Kayan-w3uit’s eu + nato vs China and Russia and all Soviet countries and China probs took over neighbouring countries so how tf is the us gonna win this shit
I really do love the design of Mother Courage. Idk who designed her in-lore but if it was the AI overseer that really does lead to alot of interesting implications. An unloving AI could've created any number of horrible or just efficient designs for a recycler drone, but for it to design a somewhat conventionally beautiful woman to do the job while also naming it something simple that most humans would resonate with is a pretty interesting decision for an AI to make. Maybe it's the AI's attempt at "closure" to the billions of people it's sent into the meat grinder, a "friendly" face with a "calming" name picking you up at the end of a battle. Just a glimpse at the humanity we tried to code into it before the war being warped after the years of conflict
I think it's just that, but with even further implications if we connect a few dots.
Again, this is my working theory, but based on what we know I believe it makes sense:
Eurasia, out of all three factions is said to have the least manpower to draw upon for this war . . . one would think this would dictate a more 'conservative' approach to warfare or perhaps utilizing more remote-operated robot armies since they are conversely the most technologically advanced (Eurasia does field the most autonomous units so far out of any faction).
But every Cyborg was once a full organic human, and yet they treat most of their cyborgs like cannon fodder, while the Mother Courages are some of the most heavily armoured and durable units (currently) in the Eurasia roster?
The Mothers notably also do not try and attack Scavs (and presumably others) unless provoked, and are always on the Battlefield at night when the fighting is at its least despite their durability, where their primary function is to recover Eurasian Cyborgs, both 'dead' and critically damaged.
I put 'dead' in quotations, because, what if most of the Cyborgs are not actually dead? What if after hitting certain thresholds in crippling their functionality they just shut down? (Think like the Terminator in 1 and 2, how they were also able to 'fake' dying but had back-ups, or the Androids from the Alien series or Ghost in the Shell where so long as the head is intact the entire body could be destroyed?) Meaning unless the Cyborg is totally destroyed by say a Railgun obliterating it or very specific critical damage, it can be reclaimed by the Mothers, and thus the person is 'reborn' and refitted for active combat again?
This would tie into various Eastern Philosophies and religious beliefs around reincarnation (though this would a living Hell for most of those views), with those and the designs of the Mother (Even down to the name itself) factoring into what likely would be the indoctrination or propaganda around these units, something like:
"You need not fear death on the battlefield! Throw yourselves at the enemy, for even if your bodies of steel and synthetic muscles fail, Mother will find all of her lost beloved children and restore them! You will live again and again until victory is achieved by our supreme technology!"
It explains the Mothers' design concept, their durability (hinting at their vital function for the Eurasian army whereas most of their units are generally less durable), why the Eurasian tactics of their Cyborgs are the way they are despite their stated lack of manpower, why some Cyborgs go more feral and insane, and why those that aren't insane recklessly charge the enemy.
@@GideonRavenor712 That bring up another point just how sentient are the super a.i running show? And how does the human under their command influence them and vice versa
@@dean_l33
I think it would be best for the setting if the AI weren’t sentient beings. Evil AIs would kinda take away from the grimdarkness because it’s not something that naturally evolved to be this way in that case.
On the other hand an AI like we know it, wich is just a Programm reacting to Information would be more interesting.
I remember a scene in a sci-fi book (don’t remember the name of it) where a group of explorers contact a massive alien spaceship and the response evolves into a conversation, but then the aliens respond that the humans aren’t talking to anyone, and then it explains the humans concept of the Chinese room. They are talking to an AI, but the AI isn’t a thinking being. No one has recognized the human ship and that there is a conversation happening. There is only a Programm receiving Strings of characters and then generating a response. There are no aliens on that ship.
I think applying something like this to the Forever Winter would make the whole thing scarier. That literally no one is in control of this.
@@dean_l33 It is a question.
Its tough to tell with the limited information we have. Considering officers still exist within the different faction armies, I would presume it means the AIs must be at the near-top strategic level, looking at pieces on a board and giving directions and changing tactics based on data fed to them by the officers and drones on the ground.
While those AIs cannot be completely insane since the factions have not totally broken down, they certainly seem to favour a 'stalemate' situation rather than "total victory at any cost".
They may be in 'holding patterns' waiting for new orders from those with command authority to alter their existing orders, but with such people either dead or removed from play otherwise, they're simply trying to avoid total collapse.
Conversely, the AI overseeing The City of Lost Angels, is confirmably insane. It rebuilds destroyed areas daily, but in incorrect manners or twisted fascimiles of what it was. Rebuilding massive structures even though nobody is in them.
@@GideonRavenor712 Something that could tie into this (but it's an alpha build so I'm not sure.) is that many Cyborgs after being 'killed' continue some level of idol animation, twitching and breathing even as 'corpses' on the ground. Given a Scav only cares about 'mission killing' threats to themselves, we have no reason to follow up to fully put them down after that. So it's not unlikely that the cyborgs aren't actually dead, just mission killed, to be recovered and repaired later, for which the Mother Courage units do the job at night.
For what it might be worth, as far as I'm aware Fundog has stated that 'No sapient, sentient AI is known to exist in the setting.' Meaning the 'AI's running the war are ultimately akin to the large language models and AI 'bots' of today, scaled up for better tech and more development time. With no one in command authority to tell them differently, they'll just keep doing what they were assigned, handing out orders to human beings to fight and die for. (While the humans involved just do it to keep living, since obedience means water, food and medical care.)
Or in other words: No one is in charge anymore.
Every command position with a human in it is at the highest bottom rung 'middle management' following orders from higher 'middle management' that is just algorithmic intelligences akin to large language models in 'intelligence' and volition. The drones are the generals, and the human beings are the disposable fodder, led by incentive programs (think 'social credit score' and 'supply by performance' systems) and fed objectives to follow without question.
“…and a mouth that cannot open.”
*Enter the recent death by mother courage animation that was shown in the discord.*
Hahaha yeah I saw that and thought "welp"
I would like to point out that Toothy is not a standard unit for Uruska. Toothy is a singular rogue V.I. that was a medical unit. It will attack anything in the game. Uruska units included. It's bio-fuel function is also specific only to Toothy
It seems as though this lore is either obsolete or not implemented yet, as Toothy shows up in-game as a bodyguard for a Euruskan commander during a quest.
@galacticdestroyer2569 it's literally in the discord and Riloe has been covering the lore before. That is indeed the lore.
@@sillysiji5257Regardless of the current documentation, the current implementation isn't as described in lore.
@galacticdestroyer2569 Toothy can and does deploy solo and attack everything. You're thinking of something else lol
@@sillysiji5257 Nope, "Toothy" is a class of mech, not a singular unit. Some Toothys go rouge because their A.I gets corrupted, but some do what they're supposed to. Otherwise it'll be illogical for Uruska to deploy Toothy as HK. (In one interview Miles confirmed that Uruska often has issues with their units going berzerk)
Theory on the cow balloons; Live rations being delivered as reward to units deployed to the front as reward for achieving objectives. Its the only way anyone ever gets any fresh meat on the battlefield.
On one of the maps there are massive piles of dead bodies, stacked to process them into canned food, there's fresh meat everywhere 😮
@@kittycatcat6962During Night Shifts, the Mother Courage Units are piling up bodies for Cyborg production. Not so fresh meat 😊
I have a counter theory, back in Medieval times, cows that had died during long sieges would begin to rot, they'd be loaded up into a catapult and launched into the fort / castle / town and they'd allow the infection / plague to spread to soften up the defenders. Maybe the Eurasians have infected the cows and are flying them in from the West? It sort of reminds me of an actual strategy used by the Imperial Japanese against the U.S. during WWII where they sent thousands of incendiary bomb balloons on a flight path across the Pacific ocean to land in California and start massive forest fires but only a handful made it to the U.S.
Yeah, you should check out the original Lore video that somebody did...They already covered why this is in there
I say the cows on balloons are biofuel for the Bio Mechs
29:08 I want to add on that the American flags are made to be fire-resistant. Same goes for the astronaut suit. So in way, him being a Pyro, makes sense to make himself fire-resistant.
I think you missed out on a major point about Europan ground troops: their absolute brutality and pardoxical inhumanity despite being the most "human" combatants. Even beyond the corpse tanks, there are plenty of little tidbits that demonstrate that the Europan disdain for anyone and everyone, including their own people who they view as below them. There is a mission delivered by the Europan command to retrieve the doll of a EUROPAN soldier's child who had their HEAD CRUSHED by a fellow EoD trooper on purpose who took the doll as a TROPHY!
It's frigging awesome how Fundog is subverting expectations with the factions, as you might initially view the Europans as the "good guys" due to being the most traditionally human and being based off the EU, but slowly you find out that, next to the Eurasians, they care the absolute least about their own. It seems, so far, that the Euruskans are the only major faction that seems to give a crap about their losses, which goes against the traditional view of "Russian/slavic faction evil" trope.
I cannot wait to see this world expanded even more!
Another thing is the uruskan commander is the only one who shows you any respect. Making comments like 'I needed someone I could trust with this important mission', while the others plainly state you're an inferior to even their most lowly of troops
@@Cavemanner The doll mission is actually given by the Scav contact, who's child was killed by a Europan EOD officer. But yeah, it's listed under the Europa mission tab for some reason.
@@Maowka Huh, I guess I never actually took the mission to see that it was the Scav giving it to you. Whelp, there goes another half-baked theory into the trash!
Hey Ukrainians are kinda Slavic too aren't they, so they're not all bad! Just the Russians. And of course Chinese and Koreans. All that ilk.
@@ufc990were all germans bad when hitler ruled? Then what makes you think all Russians are bad? There are lots and lots of us who are against criminal and bloody putins regime and were against it for literally decades.
13:44
The M2 Browning is still in use?
Hell yeah. 'Murica.
If it ain’t broke….
Even in the grim darkness of the far future (40k), the M2 (Heavy Stubber) is still in use.
Funny thing is they wanted this to be a art book and a concept to share with others. The mad lads said lets make it a game. So this is more of a living art gallery we can experiance and fight though.
That explains the amazing art. I'm a sucker for cool worlds and art concepts. I hope the game gets enough support to see their vision fully fleshed out, its pretty rough around the edges right now.
The core of that art book seems to have become essentially the background lore of Forever Winter's setting. IE bits from earlier in the conflict, when things weren't so worn down.
To me Forever Winter is the modern take on the end state of a Total War society, on a global scale. The desolate warscape and scavenging, reminds me a lot of the end of the movie Downfall.
Spoiler: at end you follow a 10yo conscripted kid who deserted the german army to survive in ravaged berlin, dodging russian and german bullets alike. He comes across his previous artillery gun position, manned by child soldiers and elderly, just devastated. The same all over germany. There is no state, army, or ideology anymore, just survival. The last few bloody months, weeks, days of a failed state-society-economy until defeat.
One thing you didn't mention during the Europan breakdown is that the Body Tank? It's stealthed on the Taccam equipment. Given that equipment uses a Eurasian cyborg head and optics, this suggests that the macabre armor actually does provide stealth benefits against their enemies. (Other such stealth units are the Euruskan Grabber and all but the joints of the Europan Exo's.)
Eurasian Cyborgs don't wear "severed human faces" they wear artificial skin. You can see the same skin on the Eurasian quest giver. I also believe that the different variations that we see between unarmed Cyborgs is their lifecycle. When they're new, they still have the artificial skin they were granted left on their faces, and they have the standard firearm they were issued, with some ammo. If they expend the ammunition from their firearm, or break it, they're told by command that they're not getting a new one until they complete their assignment(s), so they become runners. They lose their minds at some point, trying to survive completing objectives but they also notice that they can manipulate their new bodies in unexpected ways, and end up become crawlers. Extensive combat damage results in the half-crawlers, and they can either wait to be scooped up by mother courage as a unit for recycling, or they can take their chances with completing their objective, in the vain hope that command will provide them aid.
Mother Courage's mouth opens, just not in the current build.
The cow balloons are food delivered to frontline troops. There's a picture somewhere out there of one of these balloons dropping a cow on top of a tank to be butchered, while one on the ground is actively being processed. I also believe it may be an attempt by the AI to refertilize a dead planet.
Its curious that the mother courage units are left alone on their nightly patrols. As the unit primarily responsible for keeping its factions troops in fighting condition, it should be a priority target. Instead...all the mechs and exos that could potentially damage them are only active in the daytime. For a war that seemingly has no rules, the nighttime armistice only really seems to benefit one side.
Europa would win by your playbook.
@@everberon Yes, it does seem a good tactical option - i did see someone suggest that Europa is actually trying not to win - if it is run by AI Generals, they may actually feel that their own existence is justified by a continued state of war...and that a constant stalemate is a better outcome for them than victory.
TBF, the Mother Courage does seem to be built pretty tough given its vital role for the Eurasian forces.
It is worth noting though the Mothers are not on the fields 'alone' even if they do their task independently. Scattered Eurasian Cyborgs still capable of mobility and functionality stalk the nightly fields, along with Euruskan Grabbers (another unit not USUALLY seen in daylight, though there is the one in the back of Elephant Mausoleum) whose role could function in partnership with the Mothers as 'guard dogs' given how deadly they are. And since their role is not recycling but to actively hunt enemies, they must be there to protect the Mothers.
And since Mothers can hold their own against whole squads of Infantry without too much issue, the Grabbers must be there to protect them from potential Exos. Their size also hints this to me.
Bear in mind, TFW doesn't have proper anti-armor weapons, yet. An NLAW in top-attack mode would decapitate a Mother Courage unit and maybe cripple an OrgaMech...
@silvercat18
That and it's also invincible. Curiously europan troops can spawn in Ashen Mesa's eclipse variant. This includes an exo.
7:58 Eurasian cyborgs are obviously inspired by the Terminator, yet they manage to look _more_ disturbing (even if you don’t know the lore).
Not even just look more disturbing but are even more disturbing in concept.
Terminators at least ALWAYS were machines, even if some can be reprogrammed/taught to think in more 'human' capacities, their mechanical minds are always there and always were. (Though the process of making the 'Infiltrator' types prior to the T-1000 Prototypes is gruesome).
The Eurasian Cyborgs, are more like Servitors from Warhammer 40k, with Terminator aesthetics. In that all of them were human beings, having undergone heavy augmentation. Though unlike most Servitors who're created either post-mortem or from various convicts as punishment in the Imperium (Both of whom are stripped of pretty much all of their consciousness, thought, and personality and turned into living machines to thus circumvent the ban on Abominable Intelligence), Eurasian Cyborgs we're told still have ALL of their mental faculties moved over to their cybernetic bodies.
The only measures taken for them (AFAIK) are extreme indoctrination and propaganda, being sold the promise that if they perform well in the war, they will have their bodies returned.
Thus the Cyborgs are thrown into the meat grinder, 'dying' over and over, reclaimed by the Mother Courages, perhaps likely having to experience dying and be reborn again and again, the lucky ones being totally obliterated, or selected for their more advanced units, but with all others increasingly going insane, losing all trace of their personalities beyond their orders telling them what targets are friendly and which are not.
@@GideonRavenor712 all wrong, they're brainless and piloted by ai.
Look at the model closely.
Only some models of officer grade cyborgs still have human side to them.
@@GideonRavenor712 Hell, one of the eurasia quest is destroying 3 europan exos because exos routinely massacre them to the point that they were worshipped as a god
The cow balloons may be a reference to the vietnam war. The CIA was aiding the Laotian people to fight the north vietnamese. The CIA would also aid the people in their religious practices by airlifting them waterbuffalos.
LMAOOO WEAPONIZED RACISM
25:30 Manmade machines relying on biofuel to such an extent that they become predatory, per their design, is so creepy. In a war like this, it would be most efficient. Typical fuel sources would be obsolete, leading to an animal of prey made of metal. Scary stuff.
For sure, it's such a cool idea.
Its also why the Eurasian army is so "recyclable".
How do we know the Eurasian Cyborgs are truly "dead" unless they're obliterated, or totally broken down? They aren't robots, they are humans highly modified by advanced cybernetics, and we can see their bodies are extremely durable like their Terminator inspirations. And Eurasia is stated to have the LEAST manpower to draw from of all of the factions.
I can imagine the Eurasians can very easily replace broken parts . . . but they cannot replace whole cyborg units easily, hence the Mothers. Perhaps so long as the 'core' of a Cyborg is not destroyed, they can be shut down or crippled from damage, but be recovered and put back into service.
Euruskans, conversely, are built to last with maximum efficiency against the enemy they are facing. Overall more heavily armoured foot soldiers and bio-mechanical mechs and Exos, with Toothy being designed to double as both walking medic extraction platform for friendlies, and able to function on emergency power drawn from the one resource Europa has in abundance: human soldiers.
@@GideonRavenor712 Super cool! I love how thought out the factions and their units are, I’m excited to learn more about them.
That's the exact lore of Horizon Zero Dawn. Great concept.
@@rudeboyjohn3483 the apocalypse of that games universe seems somewhat merciful compared to this one, at least the new humans of HZD are largely unaware of the hell that happened before
I love the lore of this game... Without even trying it's not so much a satire but a direct criticism of modern humanity and a cautionary tale
5:08 Australia just being completely forgotten lol
Even in the grimdark future we still all agree australia is a no go zone
I is said
Idk why but the idea of an Europan soldier screaming out loud "*BIG GREEN INCOMING*" it's so funny yet terrifying
God, I love the design of the Mother Courage units.
I wonder what Eurasia's reasoning it to be that way.
One of my biggest questions is why they're so massive lol
@@everberon To collect more corpses of courses.
I'm more curious about why they made them look the way they do.
I'm guessing their appearance is for morale purposes.
@@krakerbox1108Some sort of macabre simulacrum of a Valkyrie.
I also would Like to see how and where they are made.
I always find it funny when settings combine Asia into 1 faction unaware how much they dislike each other
I'd think that one power just conquered the others and claimed Asia.
It's usually more of an imperial conquest than a unification, it's practically impossible to justify an asian union, japan has better relations with Italy than it does with its neighbors
The more I learn about this game the goofier it seems. I thought it'd be a better 40K, but it's exactly the same. Just edgy and generic to the point of being goofy.
@@memorobles7857 How or why exactly?
@@winding65 Idk, decisions like that. The whole world being neatly split into 3 factions is immediately fantastical already, even more so with the actual literal names they chose, which are kinda goofy to me. Like wtf is "Euruska" lol
Like, I imagine they wanted to avoid using actual countries or organizations like the EU, which is understandable, but they could literally have given the three factions randomly generated acronyms for names and be done with it. Hell they didn't even have to explain what they actually stand for and that would add even more to the feeling of disorientation and pointlessness of the setting.
"N-FOR, CSR, and DNSU", "E.D.A.S., CDR,, VRK", "Peter, Paul and Mary" whatever... You could argue that might be confusing but then again the actual faction names they chose all start with the same three letters lol.
Don't get me wrong, I think the game is refreshing in a world full of COD sequels and hero shooters, and I hope they are very successful. But for me a lot of stuff from the worldbuilding to the actual design of the characters and vehicles falls into a very unfortunate uncanny valley of being too grounded and grim for simple, dumb, rule-of-cool entertainment (think 40K, Star Wars, etc), but too stylized to be truly immersive and feeling like a serious exploration of human nature and the dangers of AI, etc... which this game purports to be.
Minor correction: the HINDs are Euruskan, not Eurasian, though it's not a big difference given the alliance.
The Eurasian 'officers' are actually Assaulters - elite borgs designed and tasked with covert ops and heavy assaults, as evidenced by a quest the Europans give for Scorched Enclave. So far, Eurasia is devoid of actual officers.
The Hind is Eurasian if you ID it. Furthermore it is painted with Japanese characters.
As Sphynra said, the HIND is Eurasian, but in addition, the assaulters are a special variation only seen after accepting a quest. The base versions are found in game without the quest on some maps. It's similar to the Europan assasins, which share a model with the GRINN.
Eurasian have officers. They are a 5-6 men squad. Assaulters spawn with the quest and they are only 3. The same skin is misleading though.
@@Sphynra If you read the text for the HIND control board quest, the HIND is actually Euruskan, but it operates under the Eurasian Air Command. Hence why it IDs as Eurasian and has the markings, but is actually, lore-wise, of Euruskan production and possibly piloted by a Euruskan.
@@Maowka It's piloted by an AI, the only human crewman is the gunner. If you actually look at the concept art of the Hind all the decals, insignia and aesthetic are Eurasian, there is nothing Euruskan about them.
Been into forever winter for a while and new to your channel. Very excited.
happy you covered the lore of this cool game. got it on my wishlist
It's a phenomenal game with wonderful lore. Definitely would recommend!
Thanks man @@everberon
This seems to be a very different kind of early access title. I've not seen such a healthy lore drop for such an unfinished game before. I think peoples' natural interest in the aesthetic and lore of this game is going to help carry it forward to completion. I hope it continues to develop in a healthy manner because I have my eye on it for when it's a bit more cooked. Looking forward to it.
The standing "grabber-like" unit int 30:28 is actually The Grabber/Stalker from Euruska, its just portrayed standing up. You can see them on the renders found in TFW wiki and discord
Australia just by itself, vibin in the Nuclear Apocalypse.
*Big Green ... WAAAGH!*
Hahaha, i couldn't resist.
Thank you for the very well done Forever Winter lore video.
Also, the world lost all but black, white, orange, and red colors plus how those mix.
Breaking Bad filter moment
The unreleased locations'll probably have wider color pallettes. Hopefully, at least
@@datastorm75 There are other colors in the game, but they are rare and muted by the ash, filth, and gore. Look at some of the special units, for example.
The bodies on the tank don't actually appear to be real, judging by that close-up. Odd seams on the skin, blank eyes, no genitalia, seemingly pristine and and devoid of damage or decay. Unless the designers got weirdly lazy with this one, I'd be inclined to conclude that they're actually synthetic.
I think it’s just synthetic to reduce the costs of finding bodies since a good chunk of robots run on bio-energy and it would be wasteful to use them for “decoration”
Thanks for keeping straight to the topic. Riloe trails off and digresses too often from the subject, as good as the information is
In a world where most weapons and vehicles seem to operate on direct line of sight you’d think the side that has helicopters that can fire guided missiles from 3 miles away would have the upper hand on the battlefield.
Cant shoot from 3 miles away probably due to interference and bad optics (polution, smoke and debris)
@@l-e-v-117plus some rando with rpg really makes helis at huge disadvantage, its literally visible by everyone
Plus they do seem to have advantage
We are fighting on europan soil
The game ain't bad. Defs needs heavy improvements but youre right they really have something here and I want it to succeed.
As we know, Forever Winter takes place in year 20XX- Which means it's 2099 at the farthest.
And considering the current year, if tomorrow is the start of the war, it took 75 years.
14th century England And French:
The game is set in 2092. It shows in one of the trailers. The war probably started around 2020 or 2030 something.
In 2030, you won't own anything and you'll be happy.
@@deloreandmc88 we all love neoliberalism
To be fair, the Hundred Years War wasn't continuous and had periods of peace. It also didn't have nightmarish mechs and hell machines as avatars of the insanity of war.
I kinda feel like it'd take longer than 70ish years to outright forget what the war started over though, especially if any sort of social media existed at some point
@@wolfgang_h3t IIRC the war started with healthy exchange of nukes, so I guess Facebook wont be around. Also Social media requires quite alot infrastructure to properly work all over the world, in case of total war with 3 factions there isn't much left as we can see on the maps.
I honestly wanna see more eruopan air units like CAS aircraft and interceptors like apaches and raptor jets and some ground units like a duel cannon Abrams being a mech killer
I am so excited to see the armies fleahed out more! It's such cool stuff.
You can see an abandoned Abrams in Scrapyard Nexus directly near the spawnpoint. I guess lore-wise, Europans abandoned Abrams in favor of Merkava since it's cheaper to produce and they have very high fatality rate anyway so something that is more cost-effective is needed.
@@franciszek.jancuk those are not Abrams those are type-10s Japanese battle tanks, and those should belong to Eurasia
@@dannyrodriguez9966 im pretty sure those should belong to europa... make more sense when a japanese tank is on the NATO side rather than the russian
@@user-sg9ql8nk1u Eurasia is a collection of Asian countries including Japan so it would make sense that they would use the type-10, instead of which is nato but bigger Europa which would use Abrams, leopards or challengers and markarvas, Euruska will use the t-72 platform because the t-90 is just a t-72 but with upgrades or the t-80s which that faction is made of Russia, Africa and the Middle East
"Modified Space suit"
Now you got my attention
I feel like it a blend of terminator with the cyborg and 1984 having the super states
Personally, my theory behind the Pyro is that he was some kind of astronaut up in orbit when the war first began, and got a beautiful firsthand view of the world nuking itself into the sorry state it is now. And after either surviving his space station being shot out of the sky, or maybe commandeering a shuttle of some sort, he managed to treck back home… only to find his country transformed into a violent husk piloted by unfeeling AI logisticians, and his family slaughtered by Eurasian forces. After the experience he must’ve gone through in getting home, perhaps that broke him, body and soul. So he seeks to go out in a blaze of glory, bearing the last vestige of his home across his features, and bringing death to the Eurasians via every means possible.
… of course, said theory can be easily invalidated by a simple matter of time, as I’m not entirely sure how long the war has been going on. And if it’s been going on 50+ years, I doubt this old man would be able to muster that kind of gumption, but who knows?
(I also hope the update the AI/Weaponsfor the bosses like the Tormentor, Pyro, and Red Baron, because atm they’re just buffed EODs with big health pools and bigger Grenade launchers, and the same propensity for revolutionary war tactics as their compatriots. Because as much as I want to fear these guys, it’s always sad to either just find them randomly dead via Mech, riddled with bulllets/grenade launchers by Euraskans… or just stunlock them to death via a surplus shotgun.)
The current year in the setting is 2092. We don't know when the war started since no one currently alive in the setting seems to know either. Since we see some older people still alive among the Scavs, that means it's probably been at least sixty years. Pyro was probably never an actual astronaut, but he could have been the son of someone who remembered the old America. They learned about the United States and what it and its flag stood for, and decided that he would go on this one man crucade to end the war so the America he reveres can finally rebuild. I'm guessing he fights for Europa despite not officially being part of them because they were probably allies with the US before its collapse, and so only sees Eurasia and Euruska as aggressors to be expelled.
Europa has the manpower but not the tech. Eurasia has the production facilities but lacks the manpower so "recycles" it from the battlefield and from overpopulation in the mega habs back in Eurasian territory, fresh borgs are dropped from the massive planes, it owns the skies. Euruska has the tech but is also lacking in manpower so focuses more on armour both in terms of infantry units, tanks and war walkers.
Euruska, to me at least, seems to fulfill the missing "niche" in Eurasia's rosters by offering the "heavy" units of most of their combined forces. Sure, the Eurasians have the Brawlers but even they are outmatched by the Orgamechs in hand-to-hand combat.
One thing about the trooper 'borgs - looking at the in-game model and the art depicting Kane I believe they are not wearing human faces, but rather some ceramic material facsimiles of their former pre-cyborg faces. I feel like it would track that a higher rung of trooper(even if barely better than the cannon fodder naked 'borgs) would be allowed to keep some of their humanity despite being converted and giving up their free will to maybe keep them sane for longer.
I’ve been reading Macbeth recently, and for some reason this game really reminds me of these two quotations.
“There is no flying hence nor tarrying here…
I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun, and wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now undone…
Blow, Wind…
Come, Wrack!
At least we’ll die with harness on our back…”
“They have tied me to a stake, I cannot fly…
But Bearlike, I must fight the course…”
These both, to me, refer in this context to the fact this situation cannot be escaped, they’re all condemned to this fate and it wears upon all who fight it. But, nevertheless, they’re continuing to fight, for that is all that is left to them now.
I’ve watched a Euruskan Grabber duel two Europan Exos to a stalemate. Any squad sent in to assist was quickly wiped out by that thing.
I was blessed that neither side saw me, or I’d have ended up like the numerous squads sent to their deaths.
Nice vid, i absoletely am addicted to this game, it has that little extra thing that makes it unique. Still a few bugs and not perfect, but even then still a absolute blast to play.
And on Eurasian borgs- the ones with P90 might be more willing conscripts, perhaps people who aren't shanghaied from the streets, but more officially get enlisted and are allowed enough bodily autonomy to not be a near feral lower rung borgs. Tho your theory on that might also have water.
Great video, especially those high-quality close-ups of models!
Correction - Eurasia does not include northern Asia (the territory of modern Russia), northern Asia belongs to Euruska
The Grinns helmet design is genius. Makes the head seem bigger then it actually is so when a critical shots fired at someone wearing one it'll hit the helmet instead of their head
Their artist deserves a raise, I've never seen an interactive work of art that looked this good.
The first time I watch the trailer, I was soo Hype by this game, the map are crafted to the very little detail to perfectly represente the vision of reality and I love that! I love the concept to that you're not the hero of the story and you're not even the main protagenist, you're just a random dude that is trying to survive in a violent war.
i really do hope they succed in their project, the game is a masterpiece, yes it need a lot of work, but for now is an absolute gem!
"Battalion of soldiers emerge"
*barely 2 squads of people show up*
Rolfmao
I feel that they have written themselves into a corner here. How can they justify an unending war when one side, Eurasia and Euruska, is larger in landmass AND more technologically advanced AND with larger populations. Meanwhile Europa's land is split by the Ocean, is blighted by famine which will keeps it population low, a detriment when it is more reliant on Human soldiers, and is less technologically advanced.
It would have made more sense for all three factions to be fighting each other or for the faction on their own to be the most powerful, Eurasia seemingly from how the lore has been described.
More terrifying than any of its units is the knowledge this game almost became NFT slop. Thank whatever deities were watching that they backed out of the idea and stuck to this formula.
if it isnt to much to ask how are you getting the freecam styled shots
I have an Unreal Engine unlocker that I use.
@@everberon ahh OK thank you
I love the art direction and aesthetic of this game. I hope to see an art book for Forever Winter later down the road because the character designs and environments are so well done I would love to see the concept art for all of those ideas.
Finally, lore.
Lost Planet Energy, I love it
Honestly, lore wise it's OK, there are a few things I feel like I would personally change to have it make a bit more sense and give a bit more personality to the horrors we see:
1) Give Eurasia their own mech, a more pure mechanical cybog, to emphasize their reliance on pure technology and constant recycling, giving it a brawler style lile the infantry with some sporting rifles, but in the minority, basically reflecting their infantry.
2) Europa, tweak the lore from them just drawing from old stockpiles to them using old mass production factories. It removes the sense that Europa is just living on borrowed time, and instead makes it more about how Europa has the raw manpower to not care about filling the ranks, but has more trouble actually equiping the ranks of conscripts. It also distinguishes Eurasia as being able to endlessly recycle their troops as a race to who can be exhausted first, Europa's manpower, or Eurasia's recyclable resources, rather than "how long can Europa's stocks last before Eurasia depletes them" it makes the war seem more plausible to have lasted the centuries the lore says it has.
3)Euruska, the smallest of the three. Honestly, I think they should be transitioned to be more of a mercenary faction. They function as a more elite group than the Euasian or Europa factions, but less numerous. Lore wise, as it was said, they are stuck between two powers greater than them, and funnily enough, they would have a vested interest in keeping the conflict going, and as it was said in the lore, attempting to stay neutral. Why? Because whoever wins will likely go after Euruska once their rival is gone, because Euruska wouldn't be able to actually defend against them. The only way to prevent this is to either keep the war going, so Euruska isn't focused on, or make sure they are sided with the winner once it is clear that one side will win over the other. By declaring for Eurasia, it means Euruska would likely be invaded by Europa, turning the state into a battleground. By functioning as a mercenary state, they keep the balance of the war going, and their lands safe from the war as they are technically a third party.
Gameplay wise it would allow Euruska to get the best of both Euasia and Europa tech and equipment, in addition to the domestic kit. It means you would still be able to have things like Drone riders because those would be drones Euruska got for allying with Euasia during a fight. It would also mean you could have Europa mechs with Euruskian modifications or equipment. It would also allow Euruska to fit into the more hard specialist niche of both factions, as they are the smaller elite merc group brought in to solve problems for both sides.
Thank you very much for the lore!
I kinda got hooked up by the FW universe, and if it wasn't for you, i don't think i would have an opportunity to learn so much about it.
This game, while very barebones as far as gameplay goes, has extremely high potential in my eyes. I love the lore and aesthetic, as well as the overall concept. Very excited to see where Fun Dog takes it.
This is a masterclass in footage capture. So much detail of these units revealed.
Thank you! I have a pretty poor graphics card for this type of game so apologies that it's on pretty low settings. I'm planning to upgrade before the end of the year and if we do more of these, the footage ought to be a bit cleaner 😎
Need to play this game to prepare for the next decade.
You know what's the craziest thing about this game? It's practically the only game in this generation that looks EXACTLY like its trailers and concept art.
Hope this game gets massive success love everything about the universe and lore
Hoping someone can enlighten me. If Europa is supposed to be the US and Europe, why the hell are they using Merkavas? Both the US and Europe have a long history of producing their own tanks, and it seems a bit weird to me that they'd end up using something that originated in the Middle East...especially if the Middle East is meant to be part of Euruska. Great video, super insightful, just a little confused by this one aspect.
Merkavas are cheaper to make than most other NATO tanks and just as protective as Abrams IIRC
The borders are not clear (and judging by the names they are extremely muddled), but out all of the factions, the Europans field a HUGE variety of designs to their forces even just from their trooper loadouts, though primarily NATO-inspired.
If what dustan said is accurate and Merkavas are the cheaper tanks to produce while still being as effective as an Abrams, it makes sense they'd go for the more efficient option, especially in a long-running war.
It is stated in the lore that Europa lost a large amount of territory before the game starts so it’s possible Israel and other parts of the Mediterranean were part of Europa before being conquered by Euruska.
I'll take a stab at this.
The Merkava tank is cheaper to make in terms of resources and precision factory resources. With Exo's and Medium+ mechs needing production, the combat value of a later Abrams variant just isn't worth making in the calculations of the factory and logistics VI's running production. Or there may have been a point early on in the war where the primary factories of key parts of the Abrams variant of the time were gone, but the Merkava's production factories were doing fine, so the VI's switched to that... then never bothered rebuilding that manufacturing capability to prioritize those more high tech 'modern' units. Especially if the initial stocks of Abrams (and even mothballed hulls) were ran down rapidly early on. (See shells for artillery in the Ukraine war for a 2024 current example of how stocks can be rapidly depleted.)
Heck for all we know, the future Abrams designs had some form of DRM that had it's corporate servers destroyed/hacked/wiped and the Merkava was a design they could start making quickly to fill the tank role. The same could explain the prevalence of IRL contemporary firearms designs (with some modernizations for the really old ones visible.) as well. We know from Fundog's own words that the war materials are being printed out by automated factories and the war has been going on for generations at this point. Combined with an opening limited nuclear exchange, Europa especially is likely working with what they can still produce, not their peak of advanced equipment.
The merkava is a NATO tank, it's the cheapest one, with the most crew survivability and the fastest build time, exactly what would make sense for a war such as this
If your favorite faction isnt Euruska, you are wrong. Their drip game is unmatched.
All sides suffering horribly in the war but I genuinely wonder what factions territory is the least damaged. Are there still cities left standing? Is there any actual hope for civilians away from the frontlines?
From what i know, each side still has pockets of civilization, but all of them have great issues.
For instance, Europa has high levels of poverty, criminality and is currently ruled by an authoritarian state.
Eurasia, while really advanced in technology, presents extreme levels of social inequality, and is probably ruled by ruthless corporations.
Sadly, we still don't know much about Euruska, but it seems to have elements of imperial russia/soviet union.
I often feel bad not playing games with such beautiful lore like this but the stressful extraction shooter genre is just not for me, but I wish the team all the best in this endeavour as it seems truly amazing
Possible V.O. narrator intro - " No one really knew how it all began. Or how it ended. Even if it had really ended No one could agree upon the exact details. Everyone has their own ideas....and that was cause alone of course to wage yet another war. Now...there was only the salvage that made some kind of sense...the sorties and the skirmishes that it took to get .Each of us crawling over and biting each other like rats on this Rotten Cold Landfill of a world . To get through not just another day, another hour but a just one more minute was considered something close to a victory when there was nothing really left to gain. At least that we could all agree upon. "
Nice. I was hoping you would cover this game
Just a correction, the Eurasian Brawler use guns, and the other variant isn’t called the Elite Brawler but instead the Eurasian Heavy Brawler and they don’t use guns. Only their fists.
35:17 what EOD stands for?
No one is sure yet. Same with GRINN
It stands for Explosive Ordnance Disposal
@@ЦентурионГацийМуций so they basically assault sappers?
@@Get5omehard to say. That’s just what EOD means in real life. Don’t really seem to have any relation to the essentially mw2 juggernauts we see here
@@llab3903 Considering real life EODs can work in combat environments, and due to how brutal the war is and how fluid the frontlines are, it makes sense these EOD would have such heavy armor.
Frovever Winter someone said it right, about forever winter " I bought a concept art book with a game attached to it and Im not mad "
Damn LA had a glow up, no one pooping in the sidewalks
I like to imagine the cows are being taken out of the battlefield to safety, I assume due to Europa suffering from famine, they need as much food as possible and probably due to how bleak the world is, where you have to kill or be killed just to get a sip of water, it's safe to assume a slice of steak or a jug of milk would be considered a delicacy in these days.
So saving a cow would be something of great importance, probably only for the top brass that are gonna enjoy a good hamburger or prime steak while their citizens and soldiers only get by with tasteless rations of mysterious ingredients, but that's just my guess
I have an idea for a 5th faction that allies itself with Europa and is at odds with both Eurasia and Euraska. But rather than allying with Europa because of "Europa good, Eurasia and Euraska bad" they do it since they are the lesser evil of the 3 and the least insidious when it comes to tactics. Completely neutral to scavs as long as you don't fire at them. They would temporarily occupy 2 sectors and depending on how high your rep with Europa is these sectors can be considered "safe" with this faction ignoring you completely in a "you don't mess with us, we don't mess with you" type deal. And just because these sectors are marked as "safe" doesn't mean there are no enemies but that enemy presence greatly decreased and killing too many of (as long as they aren't Europan troops) them will not trigger a hunter killer spawning. What would make them really unique is that their equipment is pristine and generations more advanced than all the other 3 combined with their regular infantry wearing exosuits/exoskeletons and being as tough as some of the medium-heavy units that the other 3 factions have. So fighting them is ill-advised to even the most veteran of scavs for they can easily put you down like a dog without breaking as much as a sweat. Kill too many of them? They'll send an Armored Hunter more dangerous than Toothy to take you out. They're also extremely well coordinated which is a clear sign they have a central command structure that not only survived but that it also persevered for years following start of the war. Once you get high enough rep with Europa and upgrade your base to a certain point a special vendor will show up that sells equipment from this faction (railguns, railgun ammo, exoskeletons/exosuits and special backpack upgrades) at huge premium. If you die on a run and aren't able to retreat this high end gear (Backpacks/Kitbag upgrades aren't lost on death) would be the equivalent to losing your life savings as trying to rebuy this gear is NOT cheap. Their gear has a lot of benefits but everyone must always remember: "You are not this guy, you are this guy". So don't go full Rambo even with all this fancy stuff.
Very awesome, fantastic presentation 👏🙏
Ps: i will say though, that each time the narrator mentioned the "year 20xx", i started visualizing this as a suuuper gritty megaman installment 🤷♂️
I know the map is not canon. But the idea of Australasia and Southeast Asia being a hidden 5th faction is appealing. Viking or pirate like raiders with powerful Navies to back them up springs to mind.
They should also have problems in their country leading for them joining in, like lack of resource or got caught in crossfire
6:07 Oh yeah, the atmosphere is definitely inspired by Zdzisław Beksiński's paintings.
100%. I'm a big fan of his art, and have a few prints so I knew for sure this was something I had to look into.
I like how every human or human operated until usually have some trench personalization. Like Euruskan soldiers wearing religious symbols or artifacts on their armor. It's, by the way, not so fat from the real life. Oh, and how Euruskan faction is named СПЕЦНАЗ COMMISSION. This game have such a vibe!
Would love a cannon map to come out. I need to know if my beloved Croatia is with Europa or Euraska.
Also, what about Australia?? We've yet to hear their fate.
They run the Bullet Farm ang Gas Town
@@everberonWould be kind of funny if Australia was just vibing down south, not taking part in the war on either side.
Probably belongs to euraska. Devs was saying that euruska were made from most slavs countries and mid east and Africa but since the war started Europe lost most of positions in Europe so in any case now its euruska
Damn, really hope they have a console release. this game looks great.
Dope universe, thanks for all the info
"A mouth that seems incapable of opening."
Oh god how i wish that were true.
As long as the gameplay loop is solid this will be a phenomenal game verse.
I hope we get more base management, like stockpiling things like toys, junk food, alcohol and whatnot to make the lives of those at your base. From that one cinematic released it showed the scavs saving some civilians. I ran across one in one my runs but lost track of them, i wanted to see if i could get to them and bring them to safety.
In a grimdark world small hopeful things like those really stand out and feel rewarding imo
45:00 bruh theres no way i just watched this clip tittled forever war ai wars or something like that
28:21 so the Tormentors are basically a Post Apocalyptic version of Space Marines?
Not really, more of a fucking crazy EOD pilot that realized he was really good at his job and decided to get himself some originality (the blue mask).
So he just kind of became a living legend while fighting for Europa
Not like a space marine, because astartes are an entirely diferent "type" of soldier, while the tormentor is a really really good EOD.
This needs a Love Death and Robot episode
i love these kinds of settings where there is only war and nothing else , nobody even knows or remember why they are fighting all they know is that they have to ˝win˝ whatever that even means , all those that knew are probably long dead
I love they have the Markova the one tank that's known for its crew survivability, like that's a concern.
in other levels there are what appear to be French Leclerc tanks too. In the bays of Mech trenches.
this is what happens when you take a solid idea for a dystopian anti-war journalistic take - art book and go hrmm this would actually be as effective or more by turning it into a video game. I really wish them well in their endeavor