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Squad – Fireteam launches as a 5-player PvE mode in Update 10.1

Offworld has announced Fireteam, a new five-player co-op PvE mode coming to Squad with Update 10.1. The mode compresses the game’s tactical, teamwork-first combat into shorter, mission-based runs that the developer says will be expanded over time. Fireteam is billed as a way for PvE players to enjoy Squad’s core systems. The mode is designed around small squads of five friends, believable enemy bot behavior, and a mission-creation toolset that modders can use.

Two things to remember up front. First, every Squad owner gets access to the free missions included at launch. Second, most missions will be sold as part of a Supporter or Founders Pack, available in tiers. The Founders Pack itself will have three tiers and include a variety of mission types on different maps. The developer calls Update 10.1 a kind of mini early access for Fireteam. Offworld plans to work with the community on a living roadmap for the mode and will add free and paid missions in future updates. Players interested in helping shape the mode can provide feedback on the official community channels.

Trailer

How the launch works

The initial release in Update 10.1 will include a free tier of missions plus paid tiers in the Founders Pack and a Supporter Pack. Offworld says exclusive rewards in the Founders Pack will be retired within six months of release though the missions themselves will still be purchasable afterward. Offworld intends to add one mission to the free tier and one to the paid tier in January, then repeat that schedule in February 2026, growing both pools over time.

Missions coming in Update 10.1

The announcement lists mission types and where they take place. Key entries for the free tier are below.

  • Combined Arms on Mutaha – coordinate with armoured vehicles and infantry to hunt enemy mortar bases
  • Destroy on Fallujah and Sumari – push across the frontline to overrun key targets
  • Extraction on Narva – fight to reach friendly lines after being shot down behind enemy lines

The Premium and Founders tiers expand those mission lists and add types such as Vehicle Hunt across multiple maps including Mutaha, Fallujah, and Narva.

Modders and tools

Offworld plans to give the same toolset to modders that it uses to craft missions. The company wants mission creation to scale so user made content can appear alongside official missions and so players can upload and find mods more easily.

The developer also plans to use this toolset to build a more approachable first time user experience for Squad that walks players toward the larger 50v50 battles.

Community, pricing and playing with friends

Free missions can be played with anyone. To play missions from paid tiers together every player will need to own at least the Supporter Pack. Offworld says a small portion of the overall Squad team is working on Fireteam while they test player appetite and development needs.

Fireteam was prototyped at Offworld’s 2024 Company Summit. A prototype mission in Fallujah convinced the team the concept worked but the company says civilians shown in that prototype will not appear in the first version of Fireteam in Update 10.1.

Offworld is asking players for financial support to fund the mode’s development. Some readers will remember the tug between community and developer trust earlier this year. For background on that, see our earlier coverage of Squad’s Steam review slump.

Players who want to add Fireteam to their wishlist can do that on Steam.

Fireteam feels like a deliberate experiment to broaden Squad’s audience while preserving the tactical emphasis that defines the game. The next few months will show how well the market supports a paid-tier mission model alongside free content and modder support.

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Squad

Squad

Squad is a large scale combined arms multiplayer first-person shooter emphasizing combat realism through communication, team play, emphasizing strong squad cohesion mechanics as well as larger-scale coordination, tactics, and planning. It features 20 large open maps, vehicle-based combined arms gameplay, and player-constructed bases to create a heart-thumping, visceral gaming experience with split-second decision-making in real-world scale firefights.

  • Genre: Shooter, Simulator, Strategy, Tactical, Indie
  • Platforms: PC (Microsoft Windows)
  • Modes: Multiplayer
  • Release: 2020-09-23
  • Publisher: Offworld Industries
  • IGDB Rating: 82.1/100

Angel Kicevski

I've spent half of my life playing video games, ever since the competitive 1.6 era. Now I am happily married to Margarita Kicevski, and have two beautiful children. My goal is to deliver fresh news and updates, but most of the time I want to work on guides. Since I have rebooted this website, I am planning on making it huge. Just you wait!

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