Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad and Rising Storm GOTY, now known as Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2 GOTY on Steam, is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game set during World War II, developed and published by Tripwire Interactive.

[3] The game is currently a Windows exclusive and contains many new features compared to the original, including a new first-person cover system, which can also be combined with blind firing, first-person collision detection, Commander role and abilities as well as an entirely new system of statistics tracking and player levelling.

An expansion pack, Rising Storm, was released in May 2013, featuring the addition of the Pacific Theater, adding the United States and the Empire of Japan as playable factions.

The game features four server settings called Play Styles: Custom, Action, Realistic and Classic.

All maps and theaters of Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2 GOTY support Multiplayer Campaign, Territory Control and Countdown.

Owners of Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad and Rising Storm GOTY used to have access to a separate singleplayer campaign installation of both games, which was removed in a later update to the game, meaning only those who owned it at the time could still access or install the singleplayer campaign.

The singleplayer campaign received a fairly negative reception due to the uninteresting gameplay, which was mostly caused by very poorly programmed AI opponents and teammates.

The game also takes away many of the elements of a traditional HUD, like an ammo counter, forcing players to remember, or manually check, the approximate number of rounds that are left in the gun's magazine.

[5] The game's first-person cover system allows players to hide behind objects to avoid enemy fire.

Health does not regenerate over time or by use of medical equipment, but non-fatal wounds must still be bandaged to prevent further blood loss.

The higher the character's Honor, the more rugged their outfit will be, and the weapons receive new features upon levelling up, such as a bayonet for a bolt-action rifle, or a drum magazine for a submachine gun.

The level of detail was described by Tripwire's president John Gibson as "rivaling or exceeding tank simulation games.

"[7] Because of the extensive work required to recreate each vehicle, which Tripwire estimates took three months each, the game launched with two tanks: the German Panzer IV Ausf.

[5] In June 2011, Red Orchestra 2's developer Tripwire announced they would be taking an aggressive, three-pronged approach to proactively deal with cheating.

Tripwire later clarified that Punkbuster for Red Orchestra 2 will have three levels of protection so server operators can optionally make it more or less aggressive in kicking players.

An optional Digital Deluxe edition is available, and a Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad ownership bonus discount of 25% on the Steam store.

Another mod called Vehicle Expansion[11] was supposed to be released as an official update for Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad with Tripwire Interactive Vice President John Gibson offering to help with programming, however due to modding team owning student licences of 3D Software, it was never released and all work scrapped.

[13] There is also the CGT mod that adds classic gametypes such as Capture the Flag and Search & Destroy to the game.

These maps expand the variety of locations represented in game, adding battles in places like Ukraine, the Caucasus, and various Pacific islands.

It features the addition of the Pacific Theater and the United States Marine Corps, United States Army, Imperial Japanese Army, and Special Naval Landing Forces as playable factions, as well as new weapons, maps, and gameplay mechanics.

This is as hardcore as first person shooters get, and if you're prepared to put the time in to learn how to play it well, you'll be rewarded with a level of satisfaction that team deathmatch will never deliver.

Most spoke positively of the game's realism and attention to detail, but it was held back by excessive bugs.