The social interactions in Wardogs are truly something special

• Feature
• Opinion

Who’d have thunk I’d be having positive voice interactions in a video game in 2026?

Bill Lavoy September 22, 2026 2:30 PM Bulkhead 1

Shooters don’t exactly have the best reputation for connecting you with cool people through voice chat. We’ve all been in lobbies where the scum of the internet stands on their mom’s footstool and screams whatever atrocious crap they can sound out. While that does happen in Wardogs too, the number of positive voice chat interactions dwarfs the negative. In less than a week of Wardogs, I’ve had numerous random team ups, something that almost never happens to me outside of DayZ these days. I’ve even added a couple of new friends on Steam, which is unheard of for me. I’m at a point in my life where I typically disable voice chat before I ever step foot in a match, so what makes Wardogs so special?

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There are a few things working in Wardogs’ favor that allows for cool interactions to take place. The first one is that proximity chat isn’t just a suggestion but, like DayZ, is almost a requirement. Whether you’re telling a pilot where to drop you off or warning a medic that the sniper who domed you still has eyes on your body, conveying information effectively is essential.

A second key factor is that Wardogs isn’t built for people who have short attention spans. The rounds can last well over an hour, and the high value placed on staying alive means that non-stop action isn’t really a thing here. Sure, it can get intense, but there are far more moments of quiet than a Call of Duty or Battlefield game. People often gain patience with age, so Wardogs appeals to older players who no longer feel the need to blast Limp Bizkit through an open mic.

Finally, Wardogs allows players to choose between a variety of niche roles. You want to ferry people to and from the battlefield in a chopper? You can do that, and just that, and play a massive role in your team’s success. You want to build forward operating bases (FOBs) and secure positions? You can do that too. You want to lie prone 700 meters away from the action as a scout sniper team, spotting and engaging targets that can’t even hear your shots? Yeah, you can do that too. You could drive transport trucks to and from the base to drop off supplies. You could spend all your time being a medic and reviving your teammates. You could play as an assaulter and try to overtake enemy FOBs. You can do almost any job you fancy, and the chances are someone else wants to do that too, which puts you in contact with like-minded people.

x-Rumpo-x on Cortex

Last night, after my Wardogs friends logged off for the evening, I found a friendly sniper in the hills, 700-plus meters from the action. I could hear shots coming from his area, so I used the text chat to ask if he was shooting. He was but also noted that he thought someone else was in the area. Someone not friendly. He suggested we hop into a squad to communicate, and I took him up on that.

Over the next hour, my new friend and I spotted for each other, synchronized our shots to take down targets, talked shop about Wardogs, and encouraged each other every time one of us recorded a kill. Every time I took someone out, he’d hit the mic and tell me, “Nice shot. Let’s go.” When he ran out of ammunition he didn’t run off to get more, he sat there and spotted for me, calling out not just targets but distances so I could zero my scope.

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Friendly fire in Wardogs is part of its special sauce

Not only does it make battles against the enemy more intense, it leads to hilarious accidents.

While that was my favorite interaction of the night, it wasn’t the only one. My long-time gaming buddy and I bumped into two enemy snipers earlier in the evening. We killed one of them, they killed us, they revived us, and we all put our guns away and spent 15 minutes standing on a cliff overlooking the battlefield and talking about Wardogs and the Recon progression path. The closest I’ve ever come to something like that in Battlefield 6 is when I roll up on a prone enemy in my tank and they do the universal wiggle asking me not to blast them.

Don’t get me wrong; terrible people still play Wardogs and you can still hear awful stuff on the mic occasionally, but it’s not nearly as bad as a Call of Duty or Battlefield game. The difference with those games is you can turn off voice chat and not lose any enjoyment. You can’t do that with Wardogs. The mic must stay on or you’re missing out on a crucial part of the experience. Thankfully, most interactions are positive, and that’s something you just can’t say about most shooters in 2026.

Shacknews staff does not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in their content. Shacknews strictly prohibits the use of its content for AI training or to generate text, including text in the style or format used for this publication. Shacknews reserves all rights to this work.

Bill Lavoy Managing Editor

Bill, who is also known as Rumpo, is a lifelong gamer and Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He made his mark early in his career through guide writing and a deep understanding of editorial SEO. He enjoys putting in the work to create a great content, be it a wild feature or grinding out an in-depth collectible guide. Tweet him @RumpoPlays if you have a question or comment about one of his articles.

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