Six Days in Fallujah, the tactical shooter that’s often been a lightning rod of controversy, is entering Early Access. Developer Highwire Games announced a June 22 date on Steam for its biographical video game ahead of its full release in 2024 for PC and consoles.
The upcoming shooter is based on the real-world Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, which Highwire’s newest blog calls “one of the world’s bloodiest battles in half a century.” Highwire notes that development on the game had begun months after the Second Battle ended.
Originally, Six Days was announced in 2009 by developer Atomic Games. When Konami pulled out from publishing in that same year, the project was iced after Atomic’s bankruptcy in 2011. Publisher Victura (headed by ex-Atomic president Peter Tamte) later picked it up a decade later, and contracted Highwire to resume the game’s development.
Since it was initially revealed, the game has drawn intense criticism for its inappropriateness. Its original version drew ire from anti-war groups and Fox News. The revival was similarly critiqued by Arab and Iraqi game devs and military veterans alike for glorifying the battle’s real world casualties, and how the conflict has affected civilians in the years since.
Much like Atomic, Highwire has stressed that Six Days would be “more realistic” than other military shooters such as Battlefield and Call of Duty. That language is similarly deployed in Highwire’ blog, along with a list of “highly realistic” gameplay mechanics meant to simulate real world combat.
In its blog, Highwire says it consulted “more than 100 Marines and Soldiers, along with more than two dozen Iraqi civilians and soldiers.” The imbalance in perspective is notable, particularly when the studio says Marines will have the initial focus of the Early Access demo.
Meanwhile, missions from the view of Iraqi citizens and other coalition forces will come at “a later date.”