For a while now, Call of Duty and Battlefield have dominated the military shooter genre, and nobody has really stepped up to challenge them until now. Announced back in late May, the developer The Farm 51 promised the world an ambitious multiplayer shooter that would seek to blow Battlefield and Call of Duty out of the water by being the perfect combination of the two. Now after some presentations at this year’s Gamescom in Germany, the game is starting to build a significant amount of hype.

So, what exactly is World War 3? Well, the game is set in a fictitious world thrust into a global conflict that is taking place primarily in Europe. Players will battle it out on giant maps that appear to be fictionalized recreations of places like Berlin, Moscow, and Warsaw. As for gameplay, World War 3 is focusing on providing a layer of realism that will make games like Battlefield and Arma 3 seem like cheap arcade games. However, as we have learned in the past creating ultra-realistic style shooters usually ends up creating niche gaming communities, which is all well and good, just not good for sales. World War 3 is looking to remedy this by combining the realistic elements of Battlefield and Arma 3 but having the actual gameplay be something a little more akin to Call of Duty. This is certainly apparent in their recent gameplay trailer. Sure, the maps are huge and there are tanks galore, but the core aiming and shooting looks a lot like the Call of Duty games hardcore fans really loved. They are also adding elements that will give players incentive for their performance on the battlefield. Developers said that they are working on a system that rewards players for doing well with a variety of resources that can help them take or hold territories during battle.

Right now, it is a little too early to tell, but World War 3 might be the next realism focused military shooter to break into the mainstream something we haven’t really seen since Dice initially struck gold with Battlefield. The trailer says that the game will be released by the end of this year and you can only imagine how many hardcore shooter fans will constantly be checking the steam store for an early access launch.