Team Jade Explores the Future of the Delta Force Franchise Reboot

The Return of a Classic

Before the days of Call of Duty and Battlefield, and even before Medal of Honor, there was Delta Force. Launched in October 1998, this title from NovaLogic was one of the pioneers of tactical shooters. Just two months after the release of Rainbow Six, Delta Force dropped players right into the shoes of a Tier 1 Operative, challenging them with 40 missions across various modern military landscapes. While it shared some DNA with Rainbow Six, Delta Force was revolutionary thanks to its use of Voxel Space technology, allowing for expansive battlefields that dwarfed anything seen in first-person shooters before it.

The success of Delta Force led to sequels and ultimately a series, with the standout entry being the 2003 hit, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down. However, as franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield skyrocketed to fame, Delta Force struggled to keep pace. The last game in the series, Delta Force: Xtreme 2, received a lukewarm reception, and as the gaming world buzzed over Modern Warfare, NovaLogic quietly exited the modern military shooter arena. But hold onto your helmets—Delta Force is making a comeback!

A Fresh Take on a Classic

This reboot, developed by the Chinese studio Team Jade, is set to be bigger and better than ever before. The game features classic team-based multiplayer battles, a modern extraction mode where players compete to scavenge loot in open-ended combat zones, and a co-op/single-player campaign that pays homage to the series’ storied legacy. Team Jade has its sights firmly set on dethroning the FPS titans that have dominated the multiplayer scene for years.

Why the revival, you ask? It turns out that Delta Force was a massive hit in China, particularly in net cafes around the year 2000. “It was kind of the first PvP FPS game in China, even before Counter-Strike,” says Leo Yao, Studio Head at Team Jade. For many on the development team, Delta Force was the first shooter they ever played, making this project a labor of love. “Our core team is made up of veterans, many of whom have been in the shooter genre for over a decade,” explains Shadow Guo, the Game Director.

When Team Jade learned that NovaLogic was looking to sell the Delta Force rights, they jumped at the opportunity. “We felt that the whole industry needs a fresh title,” Guo says, and they believed Delta Force had the potential to deliver just that.

Nostalgia Meets Innovation

Team Jade isn’t just looking to recycle old ideas; they want to preserve and evolve the core elements that made Delta Force special. “The legacy Delta Force titles had outstanding features—like open terrain, diverse weapons, and character movement control—that are still relevant today,” Guo explains. They aim to provide an experience that feels authentically Delta Force while also appealing to modern gamers.

The multiplayer component is already live, giving players a taste of what’s to come, but the campaign is still under wraps. What we do know is that it’s a reboot of the single-player campaign from Black Hawk Down, revisiting the events of the infamous Battle of Mogadishu, which was immortalized in Ridley Scott’s film. Yao hints that while the campaign will draw from both the original game and the movie, it won’t be a straightforward retelling. “It’s not 100% the film, or 100% the old game,” he says. Instead, it will blend key moments from both, offering players a unique narrative experience.

Immersion and Authenticity

When it comes to gameplay, Team Jade is focusing on two main pillars: immersion and authenticity. The multiplayer runs on Unreal Engine 4, but the campaign is being built in Unreal Engine 5, taking advantage of technology like global illumination and high-detail virtualized geometry. “We are also working on our own spatial audio add-on, which is independent of the engine, so players will get very good immersion based on the audio,” Guo adds.

Authenticity is another cornerstone of the campaign. Yao emphasizes that they want players to feel the pressure of combat, avoiding a heavily guided experience. Instead, the campaign will be “very hardcore,” requiring players to stick to tactical approaches or risk getting overwhelmed. While he stops short of calling it a Soulslike, he does note that the campaign will emphasize replayability and mastering its challenges. Plus, for those who want to team up, there’s optional cooperative multiplayer, allowing up to four players to tackle missions together.

As we await more details, it’s clear that Team Jade’s Delta Force reboot is shaping up to be a thrilling mix of nostalgia and modern gaming sensibilities. Are you ready to dive back into the world of tactical shooters? The battlefield awaits!

Technology Explained

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Unreal Engine 5: Unreal Engine 5 is a powerful game engine released in 2022 that allows creators to design incredibly realistic graphics with tools that are accessible to a wider range of developers. It achieves this through features like Nanite, which renders vast amounts of detail, and Lumen, a system that simulates lighting in real-time.

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