Planetside 2 hopes the underwater combat in its Surf and Storm update will make waves

Sci-fi MMO shooter Planetside 2 has overhauled its underwater combat with the suitably named Surf and Storm update, live now. The aging FPS has also brought in water vehicles, updated the island continent of Oshur added last year, and left some bug fixes in its wake. Get your cossie on and dive into the trailer below.

Devs Rogue Planet Games have been fiddling about with Planetside 2’s underwater combat in some big ways. First up is a reduction to movement speed penalties when you’re dunked under the briny blue, which should make oceanic assaults feel less like swimming through treacle. You can now fire most infantry small arms that don’t deal explosive or anti-armour damage when you’re submerged too, and there’s the new diver propulsion device that lets you zip around by holding the spacebar. Oh, and the Lodestar dropship’s shields won’t work when they’re underwater anymore either.

Corsair assault crafts are the first water vehicles to make it into Planetside 2. You can find these at flotillas or seaposts on Oshur. The Corsair can fit a driver, two gunners and up to five passersby in the back, if someone needs a lift to Balamory or somewhere. The island of Oshur itself’s seen some significant changes too, mainly to its bases. There are 10 new seaposts to scope out, each with an attached spawn point and access to Corsairs. In the center of the map is a new underwater base that’s meant to be a transitional area to battle in amidst the larger central bases.

The game, released on November 20th 2012, is nearing its tenth anniversary. In January, Ed named it one of the 10 best MMOs and MMORPGs to play in 2022. “At its core Planetside 2 is a fairly straightforward class shooter about capturing and holding bases, but it comes alive when played alongside other players in organized squads, he said. “Plotting a course across a massive battlefield, leading counter-attacks or daring raids on enemy bases, is a thrill and a spectacle on a scale most other shooters can’t get close to.”

Planetside 2 is free to play on Steam. You can pore over the full patch notes on the official site here.