Verdun online WW1 shooter stages virtual Christmas truce

Players will be able to play football and throw snowballs

A scene from the game, which takes place in the trenches of WW1 (Blackmill Games, M2H)

An online shooting game that puts players in the trenches of World War 1 is staging a Christmas truce, letting players that usually spend their time shooting digital bullets at each other play football and sing carols.

The game, Verdun, will run the truce between December 18 and December 25.

“Celebrate Christmas in Verdun”, a video released alongside the announcement says — showing players exchanging Christmas greetings and singing. The game even offers the opportunity to play football with friends online, simulating the real matches that broke out at Christmas in the trenches, and throw snowballs.

There will also be a special Scottish soldier that appears just for the event, the developers said in a blogpost announcing the promotion.

Fighting will still be possible, as normal, but the developers have created sections of the game that players can go into and enjoy the brief peace if they wish.

There will be competitions to help keep the event festive — including prizes for the best video of the event or screenshots.

Many games tend to offer Christmas promotions — special outfits for characters or offers — but it is rare that they offer the opportunity to change the entire function of the game.

Verdun is available now on Steam with 40% off. The game is currently in the site’s Early Access programme, which sees games released earlier so that users can suggest tweaks and fixes.

Games blog Kotaku praised the decision, writing that beyond “beyond the surface level change of not shooting each other in a first-person shooter, it's cool when games let us look at our foes—human or not—in a different light”.