At the Steam Next Fest you can test an extraction shooter for free that relies on realism but foregoes an important feature of Escape from Tarkov.
What game is it about? It’s about Incursion: Red River, which was previously known under the working title “Project Quarantine” and is scheduled to appear on Steam.
Anyone who has ever played Escape from Tarkov (EFT) knows the principle of Incursion: Red River: you go into a match, look for and collect loot, complete missions and then disappear again.
If you die during a match, you will lose your loot and equipment. Similar to Escape from Tarkov, you also have a hideout and can buy new weapons in a shop if you have lost your equipment due to a death. The weapons are also individually customizable with attachments, allowing you to put together your own loadout.
Incursion: Red River is a classic extraction shooter and, like Escape from Tarkov, relies on realistic gameplay. Both the weapons and their recoil are inspired by their real-life counterparts. There is also no minimap or other assistance such as red glowing hit markers.
Incursion: Red River foregoes a fundamental feature of EFT
What’s the big difference? Incursion: Red River is a pure PvE shooter and as the developers revealed on their Discord server, there are no plans to add PvP either. The title thus follows a similar path to Ready or Not, which also only offers PvE.
The game is therefore aimed at players who want to experience the “Escape from Tarkov” feeling solo and in a more relaxed way, for example in the evening after a long day at work, and who may also like Ready or Not in addition to EFT. In the future, Incursion: Red River will also be playable in online co-op with up to 4 players.
If you like something a little more challenging, the shooter at least offers you different levels of difficulty with which you can adjust the strength of the NPC opponents.
Here you can see a trailer for Incursion: Red River
Incursion: Red River gives a first impression of the gameplay in the Steam Next Fest trailer
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What do we know about the release of Incursion: Red River? The developers of Incursion: Red River wrote on X.com (formerly Twitter) on December 31, 2023 that the shooter should start early access in early 2024.
A free demo for Incursion: Red River is currently playable as part of the Steam Next Fest, which will give you a first impression of the game.
MeinMMO editor Dariusz Müller looked at the Project Quarantine demo and gives you an initial assessment here.
Good for deciding whether you want to watch the game
Should you watch the demo? Nope. It’s a demo, so you can play it for free. Therefore, there is no risk in testing the game if you are not sure about the quality. When released, the shooter will cost around 20-30 euros.
However, if you’re running low on hard drive space or don’t have much time to play, then you won’t miss out on much if you skip the Incursion: Red River demo.
You can definitely tell from the demo that the game isn’t finished yet. There is nothing to do apart from a very short mission. The arsenal of weapons isn’t large, online co-op is currently completely missing and in general everything doesn’t feel quite right yet. The sound in particular caused problems when I played it for the first time.
Still, it’s a shooter that fans of Escape Ready and or Not should keep an eye on. Ultimately, a good alternative to the shooters mentioned could emerge here in the future – assuming you are interested in an EFT-like with co-op gameplay and without PvP.
With Gray Zone Warfare, another extraction shooter is planned that relies on realism, but unlike Incursion: Red River will also offer PvP. You can find out more on MeinMMO: New shooter on Steam relies on realism and jungle battles – shows new gameplay