Starship Troopers Mod Turns PC Game Squad Into a Great Adaptation

PC shooter Squad has quietly been one of the best realistic military shooters on the market, but it has always been lacking a bit in the personality department. Thankfully, there’s a new mod out there that turns Squad into the best Starship Troopers game ever (and yes, there has been an official Starship Troopers game). 

The Troopers mod (available for free on the Steam workshop) is as unofficial of a Starship Troopers experience as you’re likely to find, but there’s no denying that it was heavily inspired by Paul Verhoeven’s legendary 1997 propaganda parody film. In it, you and a group of fellow troopers try to defend a fortification against waves of bug creatures who are fairly intent on seeing you dead. Just like in the film, the battles that ensue are fast, brutal, and chaotic. 

While it might seem strange to turn a realistic military shooter into a Starship Troopers game, the concept works remarkably well. Unlike many other horde-style shooters, Troopers places a heavy emphasis on base building and defense. Squad‘s thorough fortification system means that it’s often just as important to lay down a defensive perimeter as it is to actively shoot down incoming bugs. 

The result is something similar to one of our other favorite Early Access games, They Are Billions. Troopers quickly informs you that you are not likely going to survive the game’s mid-to-late waves, but the fun comes from perfecting your strategy just enough to see if you can make it just one more round. The presence of other teammates just adds another dimension of strategy – and a bit of Comradery – to the proceedings.

As you can see in the video below, Squad‘s excellent sound design, solid shooting mechanics, and emphasis on teamwork result in an incredibly entertaining modern horde mode that so happens to be based on a great film. 

In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the game’s developers pursue an official PvP option given how well the game’s mechanics seem to lend themselves to such a mode. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014.