Flying Squirrel Entertainment, the creator of Mount & Blade: Warband – Napoleonic Wars, revealed in 2012 that it was working on a new project focused on the American Civil War called Battle Cry of Freedom. With enormous 5×5 kilometer landscapes, historically realistic weaponry and uniforms, completely destructible terrain, and support for 500-player (!) online combat, it seemed like an incredibly ambitious project, which may explain why it took nearly a decade for it to eventually debut on Steam.
It should be noted that it is not yet available for purchase, nor does it have a release date: The listing is solely for fans to “wishlist the game and follows the website to be alerted if there is fresh information available.” But the fact that it exists at all is significant in and of itself. Flying Squirrel has been releasing developer blogs on its website on a reasonably regular basis since 2012, but the launch of the Steam page marks the game’s greatest and most public move forward since it was revealed.
Battle Cry of Freedom still sounds a lot like it did in 2012, with a variety of weapon and ammo kinds, accurate projectile mechanics, and a variety of jobs for players ranging from basic infantry to engineer surgeon, and even musician: If you wish to be a fifer, drummer, or bugler, you can learn to perform “historically correct songs.” It is not, however, intended to be a thorough military simulation: According to the FAQ, it is “a cross between Mount & Blade and the Total War series,” with the goal of combining “a realistic and skill-based fighting system with the vast size and tactics of epic warfare.”
The promised 500-player fights, on the other hand, have arrived: Instead, the Steam page claims that up to 300 people will be able to engage head-to-head “in a totally destructible and realistic Civil War combat setting,” which should make for some rather meaty battles.
Battle Cry of Freedom is presently scheduled for release in 2022, and you can learn more about the game at fsegames.eu while you wait (hopefully).
