Fans of Italian poetry who follow our roadmap might already have guessed which battle is the focus of the new Offensive map. The battle has two names, one of them coined by famous Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio: The Battle of the Solstice. Hence the name of the Offensive which will feature the next new map (and later the final new map) on the roadmap.
The less poetic name is the Second Battle of the Piave River. On June 15th 1918, the Austro-Hungarian army gathered their strength for a massive assault on Italian positions. Russia had been out of the war for some time, and the Battle of Caporetto in 1917 had been a great success for the Central Powers, moving the frontline up to the Piave river. This new offensive was aimed at breaking through the Italian defense on the Piave. Our upcoming map is named after a hill that would stand at the center of this battle: Montello.
Almost 100,000 men and 7,000 artillery pieces were mustered for the attack, with many of the Austro-Hungarian formations having been trained in the highly effective 'infiltration tactics' used by German stormtroopers. A major victory here could effectively take Italy out of the war, allowing the Central Powers to focus more resources on the troubled Western Front.
The battlefield around an early objective location.
However, the Italians had not been idle since their defeat in the Battle of Caporetto. Of particular note was the removal of the incompetent General Luigi Cadorna and his replacement with General Armando Diaz as senior commander of the Italian Army. Under his leadership, Italian morale was stabilized and more flexible defensive tactics were developed, allowing for more independence for troops at the frontline - including giving them freedom to retreat or counterattack as needed, in sharp contrast to Cadorna's often bloody and ineffective determination to hold ground at any cost. During the Battle of Caporetto, he initially denied a request to withdraw from a commander on the ground, which led to Italian soldiers having to fall back under constant harassment from Central Powers troops instead of being able to make an orderly retreat.
A drawing of General Diaz on his 60th birthday in 1922, 4 years after the Second Battle of the Piave.
The battle started poorly for the Austro-Hungarians, as Diaz had intelligence on the exact starting time of their attack. Half an hour before they were due to go 'over the top', a heavy artillery barrage struck the Austro-Hungarian forward trenches and caused heavy casualties. Despite this, the attack mostly began as scheduled and the Piave river was crossed. This is where the battle begins for the players - one obstacle has been dealt with, but now there will be hard fighting as they must first climb and then descend Montello. On the other side lie the final objectives for this map.
The river crossing where the Austro-Hungarian players begin.
Join us for the next blog to learn more about the terrain you'll be fighting over in the first few sectors, and find out how the battle went historically.
The next free update for Isonzo is coming in Q3 of this year, and we're ready to start sharing some teasers. First up are a few glimpses of the new Offensive map which will headline the update. As we mentioned in the roadmap update, you can expect to be fighting on an overcast summer day - but merely calling it 'overcast' doesn't do justice to the hard work our mappers have put in. Get a load of these skies!
There are certainly dark, forbidding clouds hanging overhead in places...
...and the sections of burning forest don't help...
...but in places the sun is trying to break through...
..like here - where it looks almost idyllic (aside from all the battle damage).
You probably have questions. What are these places? How extensive are those bunkers on the slope? Who is attacking and who is defending? For today that will all have to remain a mystery, but we'll be revealing more with each coming dev blog.
Isonzo is out now on Game Pass
If you have the PC or Xbox Game Pass, you can now download Isonzo for free as part of your subscription. Note that people playing via the Game Pass will not be joining the pool of Steam and Epic Games players - you can see how the various cross-play setups work in the image below.
We released a small patch with further fixes for gore sticking around on alive players and a fix for sky visuals issues on Xbox.
Further fixes for visible gore on alive players
Stability improvements
[Xbox Series] Fixed visual sky issues
The download size is expected to be around 171 mb.
Roadmap Remix
The Isonzo roadmap is changing - just a touch. We're changing the order of the next two free map releases, meaning that snow will be traded for a stifling overcast summer day. The first map from the Solstice expansion will now be released next, expected in Q3, while the third map from the White War expansion will be released in Q4.
The first Solstice cosmetic DLC will still arrive alongside the first Solstice map, meaning it will also be launching in Q3 - expect teasers for that coming soonish! We can't wait to show off what we've been working on with the new map and visual customization options.
Here's the new roadmap!
Xbox Game Pass
Isonzo is coming the Xbox Game Pass next week! This naturally includes Xbox players, but also PC players via the Microsoft Store. This is the first time Isonzo will be available on the Microsoft Store. There are some limitations on crossplay, however: people playing via the Microsoft Store will be playing together with Xbox players rather than Steam & Epic players.
For those of you who have played Isonzo somewhere other than PC on Steam, what's your preferred platform and why?
Flakfire has fun with rocks
One of our favorite content creators had a blast with the Ascent game mode, making a compilation of amusing and exciting moments... set to a most thematic soundtrack. Here's a few clips:
Don't worry if you missed it, Ascent will be back in the future.
We've written bits and pieces about the light machine guns in Isonzo (as distinct from the heavy machine guns which are static weapons placed by the map designers) but never brought them all together. If you haven't tried them out, you can unlock them by completing Assault class missions.
German MG 08/15
The German faction was added to Isonzo way back in December 2022, and they brought with them the third light machine gun to feature in the game: the Maschinengewehr 08 / 15, or MG 08/15 for short. It's an adjusted version of the basic MG 08 heavy machine gun, which is itself based off the original Maxim gun from 1884.
The MG 08/15 was first used in 1917 during the Second Battle of the Aisne on the Western Front. Overall it did the job, but was never an excellent weapon. It was heavy compared to the French Chauchat LMG, with the water cooling system compounding the issue. Fortunately in Isonzo you don't have to carry it all the way to the frontline.
In Isonzo the MG 08/15 is limited to the German Assault class, and within that class limited to a maximum of 2 users at a time. These limitations also apply to the machine guns used by the Italian and Austro-Hungarian Assault classes. Even with the need to deploy for accurate fire, light machine guns are extremely powerful weapons so it makes gameplay sense to limit their employment. At the same time, they were historically limited, even with increasing German efforts to equip their troops with more light machine guns.
For example, a German company would have around 240 men, and by 1918 with a full complement, each company would have 6 MG 08/15s. From that perspective, having 2 LMGs available for the 24 German soldiers in a match is generous - as you might expect for the assault troops in the thick of the action.
An interesting fact: the gun lives on in the German dialect, with nullachtfünfzehn being colloquially used to refer to something that's entirely average and unremarkable.
The MG 08/15 in Verdun
The MG 08/15 appeared in our first game, Verdun! They could be used by machine gunners in the Landser and Schützen squads. Verdun also had the rarer MG15n.A. and MG08/18 light machine guns.
An MG 08/15 in Verdun.
Italian Villar Perosa
We've written about the Villar Perosa before, in one of the earliest Isonzo Dev Diaries: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1556790/announcements/detail/4986028794973970851?snr=2___
A fascinating weapon with a distinctive double barrel design (actually two entire firing mechanisms coupled together) it was originally intended to be an aircraft weapon, as well as a man-portable gun. It wasn't so effective in the air, but served well with ground troops. Technically it could be considered a submachine gun because it fires handgun cartridges instead of rifle cartridges.
Austro-Hungarian Madsen
The Austro-Hungarian Assault class makes use of the Madsen, a Danish light machine gun that was used around the world into the Second World War and beyond. When the First World War broke out, Austria-Hungary was not in a position to develop their own light machine gun, so they purchased Madsens directly from Denmark.
While mass production of the Madsen began in 1902 (and continued until 1955), the design process started back in the late 1880s with Danish artillery officer Captain Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen attempting to create a self loading rifle with the help of Danish Arsenal technician Rustmester Rasmussen. However, Captain Madsen left to become the Danish Minister of War before the Madsen machine gun was invented - credit for that should go to a Lieutenant Jens Schouboe, who patented it in 1901.
Stay (air or water) cooled out there, machine gunners.
Campaign Event in Verdun and Tannenberg
We're hard at work on the second Offensive map for the White War expansion, and we hope to have something to share with you all soon! In the meantime, just this Wednesday we released a small update with the following features:
Snow goggles are back!
Fixed player getting out of bounds errors while in the playable area
Fixed players sometimes being invisible to other players while using a mortar or field gun
Fixed gore models hovering in player view
Fixed some cases where it was possible to bypass weapon limitations
Fixed showing wrong profile picture when clicking on a player in the scoreboard
Stability and crashing fixes
Performance improvements
One minor known issue is that the news section on the home page will incorrectly display an old blog after launching the game. This is fixed whenever you open any other screen and go back to home again.
Many thanks to everyone who has submitted bug reports, it really helps us identify and track down issues like the ones fixed with this update!
New Campaign Event in Verdun & Tannenberg
From today until next Friday 24th, the Second Battle of the Aisne Campaign will be running in Verdun and Tannenberg. Will the Entente or the Central Powers emerge victorious in this epic battle of attrition?
What is a campaign event?
For those who haven’t fought before, our campaign events are special multi-front battles in Verdun and Tannenberg, where every kill is tallied up, and the side which manages to lose the least troops wins. You can earn a medal for participating in the campaign, with a shinier medal for fighting on multiple fronts. The Second Battle of the Aisne Campaign will run from Friday May 17 and end on Friday May 24.
The Second Battle of the Aisne
French General Nivelle planned the Second Battle of the Aisne as a breakthrough offensive for early 1917, following the major battles of Verdun and the Somme in 1916. He expected the German Army to be exhausted. His vision was for a decisive victory in 48 hours, and he put his reputation on the line by threatening to resign if the offensive wasn't approved.
It involved a massive coordination of troops, starting with British attacks towards Arras, then French forces beginning their assault further south in the direction of the Aisne river. Ultimately the battle was not a clear defeat for the French, but Nivelle's grandiose claims about achieving a decisive victory made it feel like that for the soldiers suffering massive casualties in the battle. Morale fell throughout the French Army, with units starting to mutiny - often taking the form of holding a defensive position but refusing any orders to attack. Desertions also increased.
Nivelle was fired and replaced with General Pétain, who moved quickly to stamp out mutinous sentiment with a combination of carrot and stick - though mostly carrot. A small number of soldiers were shot for mutiny, but he mostly put effort into improving food, providing better equipment, increasing pay, and allowing for more leave. This worked, and the morale crisis was defused.
Interestingly, there is some debate as to when the Second Battle of the Aisne officially ended. While mid-May is commonly taken as the end point for it (along with the wider Nivelle Offensive itself), some historians have argued that the Battle of La Malmaison in October 1917 should be considered part of the battle as well, since it built on ground captured during the action in April-May. That would matter because the Battle of La Malmaison was actually a clear victory for the French - credit for which should partially go to Nivelle, if considered part of the Nivelle Offensive.
Another Battle of the Isonzo
Under pressure from France, Italy would launch a new offensive in mid-May to try and build pressure on the Central Powers. Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna obliged with... the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo. In fairness, this was not entirely Cadorna's choice, with the idea of an offensive along the river suggested by the French. He attempted to change tactics, aiming for an advance across a broader 40km front in contrast to the smaller, shorter actions planned with the previous three Battles of the Isonzo.
Artwork portraying battle between Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers in an earlier battle.
Where the Second Battle of the Aisne was a mixed bag in terms of results, the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo was a clear Austro-Hungarian victory. Key objectives were not achieved, and an Austro-Hungarian counter-offensive (launched even before the Italians had ceased their own attacks) would recapture almost all the lost territory. The whole operation was a devastating blow to Italian morale. Cadorna knew something needed to be done. His solution: the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo, to be launched a few months later, with the greatest concentration of force yet seen. You can probably imagine roughly how that went.
Quiet on the Eastern Front
In the East, the Russians were no longer fighting under a Tsar - the February revolution had dethroned Tsar Nicholas II, and since March 2 the country was governed by the Russian Provisional Government. There would be no grand Russian offensive until the Kerensky Offensive in June, intended to knock Austria-Hungary out of the war. Instead it would effectively break the back of the Russian Army. But that's a story for another time.
However, it wasn't all revolution and disaster in the East. The Romanians successfully fought off a major German - Austro-Hungarian offensive from July to September, halting the Central Powers advance and inflicting heavy casualties.
If you want to join the campaign, just hop into Verdun or Tannenberg and play some Frontlines or Maneuver battles.
Good luck out there soldiers!
We hope your Officers are better leaders than Cadorna...
Update v52445
We released a small patch fixing a couple of general issues, alongside the return of snow goggles!
Snow goggles are back!
Fixed player getting out of bounds errors while in the playable area
Fixed players sometimes being invisible to other players while using a mortar or field gun
Fixed gore models hovering in player view
Fixed some cases where it was possible to bypass weapon limitations
Fixed showing wrong profile picture when clicking on a player in the scoreboard
Stability and crashing fixes
Performance improvements
The download size is expected to be around 618 mb.
Known issue: The news section on the home page will incorrectly display an old blog after launching the game. This is fixed whenever you open any other screen and go back to home.
The Ascent event has ended
Well done, mountaineers! The mountain was conquered many times - overall the Austro-Hungarian defenders won more often than the attacking Italians, but not by as much as you might think. A mountain is a big place, and it's not easy to observe the entire cliff face from above, or to spot individual Alpini against the rock. For most of the event the Italians managed around to win around 40-45% of the time. A very respectable success rate.
On the other hand, it seems that for all their elegant simplicity, rocks are actually not the most effective weapons. Only 1% of players earned the Rock 'n Roll achievement for killing someone with a rock. And considering how many rocks we've seen in our matches, it wasn't from lack of trying!
Don't worry! Ascent will be back.
As with the special modes for Verdun and Tannenberg, you can expect Ascent to return on a semi-regular basis. This won't be the last time you'll be scaling the 'Queen of the Dolomites'!
Community Screenshots
Most of you were too busy throwing or dodging rocks to indulge in any combat photography, but there were a number of shots we enjoyed from the event.
Cinematic action shot by North_Dumpling.
Aiming down by Golden$Dragon.
Looking up to a long rope by Jan Schovanek.
Not Ascent, but a fantastic shot by Wulfess from earlier this year, who has been taking great screenshots since Verdun!
What's coming up?
There's still plenty on the roadmap for Isonzo! First up will be the third new map in the White War expansion, to arrive later this year along with some new weapons. It's not a huge spoiler to say you can expect some more snow there :)
After that we get into the Solstice expansion, which when complete will include two new maps, each one releasing alongside new weapons and a new cosmetic DLC pack. The fog of war hides when Solstice will go live, but rest assured we'll let you know as soon as there's an updated roadmap with dates.
Until next time, soldiers.
The Ascent Event has been extended!
You've asked for it: Due to popular demand, the Ascent event has been extended by about a week! The new end date is Tuesday, April 30th at 5:59 PM EDT / 11:59 PM CEST.
Thank you for all the kind words about Ascent! It's been a blast to see all of you enjoy the mode and come up with creative solutions to avoid rocks or prevent the Italians from getting too close. We got many requests to keep the event going for a little longer, so we hope you enjoy the additional week.
Once the Ascent event is over, it won't be gone for good either. Ascent will return every so often as the re-occurring event of Isonzo.
See you at the summit!
Here's why you should check out Isonzo in the Steam FPS Fest!
There's a wealth of fantastic FPS games out there these days. If you're looking for a serious WW1 shooter set on the lesser known Italian Front, we've got you covered! Mountain warfare with First World War technology is an intense experience. But what else makes Isonzo stand out?
Historical Authenticity
Since our first game Verdun, we've been committed to bringing history to life in a way that reflects something of the real WW1 experience. Uniforms and weapons are carefully recreated based on research and reference materials (including actually firing many of the guns in-game), and most of the time you'll be using a bolt-action rifle rather than the machine guns or prototype handguns that flood the battlefields in a lot of WW1 games. Of course we have machine guns, sniper rifles, rifle grenades, and other weapon types, but they're generally linked to specific classes or map specific heavy weapons rather than being available for anyone. This also means that melee combat takes center stage when you get into close quarters, for the same reasons it often did in real life.
This doesn't mean that Isonzo is trying to be a playable war documentary. It's a game, and we always keep gameplay in mind. Maps are based on real photos, drawings, and trench maps - but compressed where necessary so you aren't walking for 15 minutes between objectives and to maintain variety. You can see how we use reference material in the comparison shots below:
Verticality
Many of Isonzo's battles are set in or around the mountains of the Alps. To represent these accurately we had to design maps with a lot of variation in heights - for instance this early part of the Dolomites Offensive where the attackers must storm clifftop trenches:
In a lot of FPS games height differences are limited to two story buildings or gentle hills, but we needed a more epic scale for Isonzo. If you skip ahead to 1:30 in the Sabotino map flyover video below, you see how it transitions from a mountaintop objective to sweep down into the valley and bridge. While defenders are usually the ones occupying the high ground, in this map you fight your way up the mountain and then down the other side, giving the unusual experience of defending from below. Watch out for grenades...
Mustaches!
The clothing and styles of the 1910s were far more varied than what you see in a lot of FPS games with a modern setting. During the war things progressed quickly as armies moved away from the more colorful uniforms of the last century and towards plainer, simpler uniforms that provided better camouflage. There was also a lot of variety, with less of the standardization seen with modern militaries. Last but not least, mustaches were in fashion - and what fashion!
In Isonzo we represent a wide variety of the clothing and accessories that troops might have worn on the frontlines. Uniforms and headgear are all linked to the different classes in the game to maintain that historical authenticity we mentioned earlier, while facial hair and items like glasses or smoking pipes can be used with any class. Players can expand their selection through our paid cosmetic DLCs which focus on specific themes, like veteran troops or high altitude cold weather gear. These DLCs are only visual, and we don't lock any gameplay features or updates behind them.
There's more coming!
We've already released a number of free updates for Isonzo with new maps, weapons, and even a whole new faction... and we're not done. There are more maps and weapons coming, alongside additional paid cosmetic DLC packs.
The battlefield around an early objective location.
The river crossing where the Austro-Hungarian players begin.
Cinematic action shot by 
Aiming down by 
Looking up to a long rope by 
Not Ascent, but a fantastic shot by 
