This Massive Tactical Shooter Is Free to Play on Steam Right Now

Published Sep 25, 2026, 12:59 PM EDT Sam Hill is a news writer at Polygon covering gaming and entertainment. He's a Portland, Oregon–based journalist known for covering gaming, the outdoors, national parks, tech, food, and internet culture. He has written for a range of publications including Outside Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vice, the Seattle Times and Digital Trends. The large-scale military shooter lets you experience its 100-player battles for free through the weekend Image: Offworld Sign in to your Polygon.com account Huge battles are a big part of the appeal of games like Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Hell Let Loose. There’s something satisfying about dropping into a battlefield packed with dozens of players, vehicles, explosions, and enough chaos that you can barely keep track of what’s happening around you. Some games lean into that spectacle, while others take a more deliberate approach to large-scale warfare. If you're looking for the latter, there's an often-overlooked tactical shooter that lets you take part in full-scale military battles — and it's free to play on Steam this weekend. Squad is a tactical military FPS that sits somewhere between an approachable multiplayer shooter and a full-on military simulation — and the full game is free to play on Steam through Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. PT. If you end up liking it, Squad is also 50% off during the free weekend, bringing its usual $39.99 price down to $19.99. What is Squad? Squad is a tactical first-person shooter built around large-scale, team-based warfare. Matches can feature up to 100 players, with two teams of 50 fighting across huge maps using infantry, vehicles, and other combined-arms tactics. The biggest difference from something like Call of Duty is how much the game depends on communication and coordination. Players are divided into squads, with squad leaders responsible for organizing their teams and communicating with other squads. Simply running around looking for kills isn't necessarily going to help your team win. Image: Offworld There's also a logistics system that lets players construct forward operating bases and other defenses, while rally points give squads ways to get back into the fight. Vehicles and supplies become important parts of keeping an attack moving, meaning a seemingly quiet stretch of battlefield can suddenly turn into a full-scale firefight. That slower, more deliberate approach makes Squad a very different kind of multiplayer shooter. If you've ever wanted something closer to a large-scale military simulation without quite jumping all the way into something like Arma, the free weekend is a good excuse to see what all the shouting over the radio is about.