Deal | Between Battlefield and Arma: Popular tactical shooter is free to try on Steam

In Squad, two teams of up to 50 players face off across large maps. The environments are quite varied, ranging from barren deserts and dense forests to tightly packed urban areas. However, there is no traditional single-player campaign. Instead, the game focuses entirely on creating realistic multiplayer battles between modern armed forces, militias and insurgents. Players take on a specific role within a squad of up to nine people, such as rifleman, medic, grenadier or anti-tank specialist.

In terms of gameplay, Squad focuses heavily on teamwork and communication. Players coordinate via local voice chat, squad radio and separate command channels, while squad leaders and commanders organize larger attacks. In addition to infantry combat, logistics and base building also play an important role: Teams establish forward positions and spawn points, transport ammunition and construction supplies or deploy vehicles such as transport trucks, infantry fighting vehicles, main battle tanks and helicopters.

The pace is also considerably slower than in typical arcade shooters. Recoil, stamina, projectile ballistics and positioning play a much greater role. Overall, this makes Squad considerably more realistic than games such as Battlefield, while remaining more accessible than Arma.

In Steam reviews, players particularly praise Squad for its intense teamwork, high level of immersion and excellent sound design. Criticism, on the other hand, mainly focuses on technical issues, including performance problems, stuttering, bugs and crashes, in some cases particularly since the move to Unreal Engine 5. The server browser and long queues are another source of frustration. The learning curve is also fairly steep, as new players have to learn numerous roles, abbreviations and communication rules.

However, when everything comes together – with a good squad leader, communicative teammates and the initial learning curve out of the way – Squad offers a multiplayer experience that few other shooters can deliver in quite the same way. Without proper coordination, on the other hand, a match can quickly become slow and frustrating. Overall, 81% of more than 243,000 Steam reviews are positive.

Free weekend on Steam

Squad normally costs just under $40 on Steam, but the shooter is currently 50% off at $19.99. The deal runs until October 1. However, this isn't a new all-time low: According to SteamDB, Squad was already 70% off in April 2025.

The free weekend is therefore considerably more interesting: The multiplayer shooter is free to try until September 28. While Squad is rated as “Playable” on the Steam Deck, its complex controls are clearly designed for mouse and keyboard.

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