Welcome back to our reveal of the Gorizia map, including the complete flyover video! Our last blog left off at the river - now it’s time to force a crossing.
Crossing the Isonzo
The final two objectives are both on the far side of the river: a capture point in the train station and a sabotage objective in the town square. However, this final part of the Gorizia map is a large combat area, so the construction and destruction of forward spawn points will be a top priority for both sides!
The Isonzo river (now commonly known as the Soča river) was shallow where it ran past Gorizia, and much like in the final stages of Monte Sabotino it is easy to ford it. But just because it’s easy to move across doesn’t mean it’s safe to do so! Both cover and concealment are limited on the water, and both banks of the river have buildings or defensive positions prepared.
The Austro-Hungarian trenches on the city side of the river. There are spots for both an Austro-Hungarian and an Italian forward spawning point, so expect heavy fighting here.
The attackers and defenders alike will find themselves crossing the river - the Austro-Hungarians first, as they try to counterattack and prevent the Italians establishing a foothold near the factory. Assuming they fail to do so, the Italians will then need to force a crossing on their way to the final objectives of the map - the railway station and a courtyard full of supplies.
A dugout alongside (and underneath) the railway line. In-game the Italians can build a forward spawn point here.
Historically there wasn’t a great deal of resistance at this point, with most of the fighting taking place on the Monte Calvario beforehand (covered in last week’s dev blog). Austro-Hungarian commander Svetozar Boroević - a skilled senior officer who was nicknamed ‘the Lion of the Isonzo’ for his defensive operations in the theater - did want to try and hold a line along the river, but simply didn’t have the troops or equipment to do it. In Isonzo you can expect to face firm resistance when playing as the Italians!
Attacking into the park that houses one of the final objectives.
City Streets
If they make it across the river and can establish their forward spawn points, the Italians will be well positioned to continue to the objective zones. The sabotage objective is a gun position in a park, and to reach it the Italians will need to attack across a courtyard from the train station, or navigate ruined buildings and battle scarred city streets. This was an interesting change of scene for us, being the first urban environment to be featured in the WW1 Game Series.
A comparison of our in-game city to historical photographs.
As always we made plentiful use of references to make sure everything is as authentic as possible. We have recreated parts of the fortresses of Douaumont and Przemyśl before, as well as Russian village buildings, but these are the first larger civilian buildings outside of churches to be in-game. The painted walls combined with the bright greens of the park come together to form a very different environment to most First World War battlefields. It’s certainly no less dangerous, however. The attackers will have to decide if they want to concentrate on destroying the heavy guns in the park first, or if they want to try to take and hold the train station first…
A view over the city park and courtyard towards the train station. The sabotage objective is in the park.
The Train Station
Another route forward is via the railway yard instead of through the streets. This leads up to the railway station where Second Lieutenant Aurelio Baruzzi would raise his flag. The station is designed for a large flow of people in peacetime, and as such has multiple entrances on all sides, as well as plenty of windows which now serve as extra entryways. Inside there is an Austro-Hungarian command post and sandbags which provide cover from enemies outside the building, but also can hide ambushers.
The train yard and station interior.
As one of the rare structures with the roof still intact, you won’t be able to bomb out the train station defenders. More work for grenades and bayonets! That isn’t to say that supporting artillery or gas won’t be useful in deterring counter-attacks and reinforcements. Stay alert and be prepared for attacks from any direction.
Comparison of the in-game train station to historical photo.
As you can see, these final two objectives will not be easy ones for the Italians. Success will hinge on securing the forward spawn points across the river, and then making use of the multiple routes forward to keep the Austro-Hungarian defenders off balance so that they cannot simply camp out and fortify one or two paths. For the Austro-Hungarians, it’s always worth trying to raid and destroy the Italian forward spawn points, but especially the gun pit should be well defended - the train station can be recaptured if lost, but once that dynamite goes off the guns are gone for good.
Attacking the station through the train yard.
We’ll close off with the complete Gorizia flyover video! Enjoy, and we’ll see you next time for another class deep dive…
Verdun Free Weekend!
Today is Verdun’s seventh year anniversary (it was launched into Early Access back in 2013!) and to celebrate the game is free to play on Steam this weekend and highly discounted to buy and keep. Check it out, invite your friends who haven’t experienced the mud and blood of trench warfare, and stay sharp out there!
And talking about sharp, you can win yourself some great goodies by testing how sharp your Verdun knowledge is, by taking this quiz.
Enjoy the weekend and don’t forget you can wishlist Isonzo on Steam already!
Cheers!
