Dagger Directive's Steam Next Fest demo is the single-player Tarkov with PS2-style graphics I didn't know I needed

"You probably don't even hear it when it happens". This quote from The Sopranos, about getting whacked, was coursing through my head during my time with Dagger Directive, the new game from Arcane Alpacas, the demo for which is being featured in Steam's Next Fest. You see when you take out enemy soldiers "it won't be cinematic". There's a puff of crimson, the bark of your gun, and that's it. Yet this is one of the reasons that I keep coming back to this game, in a strange way.

The game, a spiritual successor to the Delta Force series, its name presumably being a reference to the real-life Delta Force's dagger emblem, is about delicately walking the tightrope between realism and fun. It gives me serious Escape from Tarkov vibes: it's not as realistic, nor quite as brutal, don't get me wrong, but what it does have is the absolute tripwire tension that defines that game's experience.

Scoping it out

You play as a soldier that you name and customize (mine is an able fellow called Johan), complete some mandatory training on different weapon systems, then go to a ship underway in the ocean. This serves as one of the bases of Dagger Directive, an in-game special forces unit. Here, you can select a mission to play, choose a loadout, and then you're dumped in a Mediterranean-looking landscape on your lonesome. Oh, and the enemy saw you landing and they're coming to investigate. Good luck!

The first time I tried this mission, it went pretty poorly. I arrived and ran through fields of wheat, before emerging out by a small shack. I presumed that this was where my commanding officer had advised me to hold up. No, he'd meant the much larger farmhouse about a hundred meters further back. I essentially bumbled my way into the enemy patrol, and I can only imagine the bemused looks on both of our faces before they opened fire and shot me full of holes.

Reloading, I went prone back near the farmhouse, caught most of the patrol coming towards me, and fired at them with a .50-cal sniper rifle, because go big or go home. This went much better, and after taking out some stragglers, I ran up the next hill, bumping into yet another patrol. which I took out with my pistol. Unfortunately this alerted nearby enemies, and I had to essentially set up a sniper nest.

The thing is, the enemies aren't dumb. Far from it. Like the rest of the game, it balances realism (zeroing in scopes, range-finding, etc) with fun, and they will do their level best to find you, concealing their movement all the while. They'll do this by chucking out smoke grenades, sometimes worryingly close to you, and also by going prone. This made me realize how rare it is to find a game where the AI is smart enough to actually go prone, making it genuinely difficult to spot them. One of my first deaths came from a prone enemy who crawled within a stone's throw distance of me and popped me in the face. However, they're still not über-smart, and more than once I've spotted a confused enemy firing in entirely the wrong direction, alerting me to his position for an easy kill.

Yet that's quite true to life, isn't it? People make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes are costly. Death, both for you and for them, is fast in this game. A shot to the face will take you out fast, just as it will for them. It really isn't cinematic for either of you – you're just kinda… turned off.

All of this is portrayed with visuals that remind me most of the early PS2 era. It's not hi-res ultra turbo death combat, but that's not an issue. I've never been one to argue that graphics make the game, far from it – and being a spiritual successor to a game that was last released in 2002/2003, it works well. It's also taken some modern niceties into account as well, like an incredibly long draw distance, allowing you to take out enemies from 800 meters away, and even further, if you're a good shot.

The landscape and brutality of the game put me in mind of something that's a cross between Escape from Tarkov and Arma 3, but solo. Combine this with the evident Delta Force influence (its scopes work the same way, giving you a popped-out window to watch through, with the rest of your screen free to watch for closer threats), and you've got one of my favorite experiences of the year thus far. For anyone who is a fan of Delta Force, Tarkov, Arma or just shooters in general, you're going to have an absolute blast with the demo.

For more, check out our pick of the best FPS games you can play right now.