Team Fortress 3!

Team Fortress 3! is a multiplayer first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Valve Console Works. It is the third installment of the Team Fortress franchise of games and was released on Steam on July 2022, a Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X port releasing soon after in October of the same year. Like previous installments, players can choose between nine playable classes to compete in various gameplay types. The game also features four playable color coded teams, those being the returning Team Red and Team Blue and the newly added Team Green and Team Yellow.
==Gameplay==
Like previous installments, the game focuses on team based combat where the players can choose from nine playable classes and must work with other players and are put into one of the game's teams to compete against opponents who are doing the same. Unlike the previous two games, four teams are playable; Team Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. All characters in the game have three weapons, a main, a secondary, and a melee. All three of these are able to be changed and swapped out for unique player experiences and to unlock new ways of playing the game, but they do come with default options. The maps of the game have been made bigger and with more things to do in them, which was done to accommodate the new maximum player count, which is 32, each team having a maximum total of 9 players. Throughout matches, players are kept up to date with goals and developments by the game's new announcer, who communicates with the characters through ear pieces.
=== Game Modes ===
==== Core Game Modes ====
There are six core game modes.
* Attack/Defend is a game mode where control points are set up all around the map. The control points all begin as neutral and players must compete to claim them for their own team. The winner is determined by whichever team has the most amount of control points by the end of the match. The amount of control points varies on the map but are always an odd number. If the amount of control points captured are somehow even between the teams, the game is declared a tie.
* Capture the Flag revolves around players attempting to capture the enemy teams' flags, which are once again represented as briefcases. There are four briefcases, one for each team, and whichever team has the most briefcases in their possession when the time is elapsed is the winner. If the teams fail to capture each other's briefcases, the match will go into a unique mode called Death Match, where all players die in one hit and whatever team is left standing is the winner.
* King of The Hill features only one control point, which is placed in the center of the map and belongs to Team Red by default. Whichever team is in charge of the control point by the end of the match is the winner.
* Payload is a mode that's unique in that two of the four teams are placed on the same side, as they compete to push a pair of bombs towards the other two enemy teams' bases. The opponent teams can attack the bombs and if they manage to destroy the bombs before they reach their bases, they will win the match. If the bombs reach their bases before the time runs out, they will lose. Once a bomb is destroyed, it will automatically respawn at the beginning and the teams controlling the bomb will have to start all over.
* Arena is a mode similar to Attack/Defend with the exception that players can't respawn. The way to win is to either be in control of the most control points by the end of the match or to kill every player until only one team is left standing.
* Medieval Mode is a mode that functionally plays similarly to Attack/Defend but instead of being allowed to use any weapon, the characters are only able to use specific weapons, most of which are melee weapons and all of which are medieval themed. Akin to Attack/Defend, there are control points all over the maps as which team has the most amount of control points wins the game.
==== Alternative Game Modes ====
There are several modes that are not considered core to the game, diverging from core gameplay in some way.
* Kill The Juggernaut revolves around the unique player class the Juggernaut, who can jump higher, hit harder, and takes far less damage than any other class in the game with the only draw-back being that he is unable to heal himself. The teams compete to see which of them is able to defeat the Juggernaut first, while the Juggernaut himself attempts to find control points placed randomly throughout the map. If the Juggernaut finds all points, he wins. If one of the teams kills the Juggernaut before he can, the team who kills him wins instead. This mode shares some similarities to the Versus Saxton Hale mode from Team Fortress 2.
==== Other Game Modes ====
These are modes that cannot be properly categorized for one reason or another, usually due to them having their own section on the game's menu.
* Grave Robbers is a mode wherein players take on computer-controlled zombie versions of the mercenaries, which are much faster and have all the same attacks as their player counterparts. The mode is timed and the winner is determined by whichever team manages to kill the most zombies before the time is elapsed.
=== Arenas ===
* Fort Lazarus is a military base stage that is around ten explorable buildings with floors and roofs that allow for traversal, being able to be played in every game mode. The comics reveal that Fort Lazarus is home to the Dore troops and is practically their base of operations.
==Characters==
=== Offense ===
* The Scout (voiced by Patrick Pedraza) is a 17-year-old American who grew up an army brat, raised by a xenophobic father who believed all countries were out to get America and trained his son in military combat from the moment he could walk. This crippled Scout's problem-solving abilities, making him unable to solve problems without violence, which he blames his now dead father for. He is also depicted as immature, scatter brained, and quippy. Scout was designed to be the easiest character to play and, as such, has a combat style that revolves around fighting from a distance with his submachine gun, though he also wields a Kabar for melee which doesn't do much damage but attacks relatively quickly. He also is able to double jump like in Team Fortress 2. Comics based on the game reveal his name to be Washington North, named in-universe after George Washington.
* The Soldier (voiced by Maurice LeMarche) is an American former member of the Marine Corps who is based on the character Rambo. He is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic that served in an unspecified war (possibly the Gulf War), where it is stated that he served three years before being dishonorably discharged for murdering his superior officer, who he had assumed was a traitor. In modern times, he is a conspiracy theorist that believes in, often contradictory, theories about famous historical events. He speaks as if he served for more years than he did and talks with more authority than he has. He fights with a machine gun, grenades, and a pair of machetes, the latter being his primary weapons. Comics based on the game reveal his name to be John Sylvester, a combination of John Rambo and Sylvester Stallone's names.
* The Pyro (voiced by Elizabeth Grullon) is a Mexican mercenary who has a love for fire, ever since a child when she watched her own house burn down due to an accident. This caused her to become somewhat psychotic yet surprisingly, eloquent and poetic as she describes incredibly disturbing events in seductive ways. She is quite aware that she is attractive and often uses it to manipulate people in numerous ways, though she claims her only true love is fire. She wields a flamethrower as well as a flare gun and a fire axe which she can use for melee. She also can use a pair of wrist-mounted minaiture flamethrowers either as less powerful versions of her regular flamethrower or she is able to launch herself into the air with them, flying short distances and dealing damage to people below the flame. She can also toss her flamethrower's tank as an explosive, though this renders her without her flamethrower until she is next killed. Comics based on the game reveal her name to be Amaya De La Fleur.
=== Defense ===
* The Demoman (voiced by Jalen K. Cassell) is an American and an escaped mental patient who has an unhealthy obsession with bombs and explosions. Many are afraid of him and a recurring gag in the media based on the game is that members of his old mental institute keep trying to capture him. He claims his obsession with bombs was triggered when a gas leak blew up his high school and killed a hated teacher of his. He wields grenades, fireworks, smoke bombs, and other explosives, each of which have a unique effect. Like the Demoman and Soldier before him, he is able to chuck a bomb below himself in order to launch himself high into the air at the cost of some life. He wields his fists for melee, but his fists have miniature explosives taped to them, making them deal more damage than regular fists. As a last-ditch effort, he also has a bomb sewn into his skull that he can detonate to take out any opponents that may be nearby him. Comics based on the game reveal his true name is canonically unknown, though characters refer to him as Mo (short for 'Demo').
* The Heavy (voiced by Chris Tergliafera) is an English university professor who claims mercenary work is his side-job. He has a generally superior attitude to others and often quotes famous classic books. His motivations for becoming a mercenary are heavily implied to be the result of his poorly disguised bloodlust, the result of years of repression, which comes out in the heat of battle. He plays similarly to the Heavy of Team Fortress 2, being the slowest in the game and possessing a minigun that has a brief window of cool down after being fired for a long time continuously. He also wields brass knuckles for melee and has a grapple move where he can lift up his opponents if he is bare handed, allowing him to toss the opponent large distances, though he is susceptible to damage form the enemy while doing this. If he kills enough people without dying himself, he will become Frenzied, where he deals more damage and is immune to damage himself, but this only lasts a few seconds. Comics based on the game reveal his name to be Leopold Rivers.
* The Engineer (voiced by Tom Kenny) is an Irish technological savant best known for his love of machines and distaste for humans. This causes him to react aggressively and sometimes violently when he is interrupted during his work. In combat, he wields an arsenal of various mechanical turrets and drones, his go-to turrets being either his machine gun or rocket launcher turrets. His drones are his primary weapons, referred to as "Leslies" and treated like pets by him. The land drones are spider-like and crawl about the map, firing lasers at opponents, detonating themselves beside them, or attaching to their guns and rendering them useless for a short period of time. If a gun blocking drone is tossed off of a wall by the Engineer, it will automatically latch to a player if one is nearby. He can also use airborne drones that will fly around and serve a function. His land drones are faster but deal less damage while his airborne ones are the opposite. As weapons, he wields a blowtorch and a power drill. Comics based on the game reveal his real name to be Ryan O'Malley, and also reveal that he is gay.
=== Support ===
* The Medic (voiced by Lizzie Freeman) is an American doctor and surgeon who was raised by rich and snobby parents who had high expectations for her, specifically wanting her to become a doctor, which they viewed as a respectable profession despite her own dreams of becoming an actress. Unfortunately, she is extremely squeamish and hates the sight of blood, often either vomiting or fainting during surgeries. She is also extremely timid, anxious, loyal to her parents, constantly calling them. She wields syringes which are loaded full of various chemicals and poisons, allowing her to heal her allies and defend herself against attackers. Both her healing and poisoning needles have lingering effects, and she wields a scalpel for melee, though it has low damage. Via a device on her belt, she can resurrect herself at lower health, but only once per round. Comics based on the game reveal that her real name is Layla Sinclair.
* The Sniper (voiced by Keith Silverstein) is an African American self-proclaimed cowboy who claims to be from "The South" but is actually an accountant from New Jersey, having joined mercenary work to live out his dreams as a cowboy. He speaks in a comedically bad Southern accent which easily breaks whenever he gets mad. He also seems to be quite sensitive, becoming agitated and defensive when anyone even jokingly makes fun of him. He wields a sniper rifle, a pair of revolvers, and a lasso, his lasso being able to pull players towards him or grapple himself to higher places. He has the ability to see everything as if through the scope of a sniper rifle regardless of his weapon and can auto target multiple opponents at once, though he must be able to see all opponents with a target on them for this ability to work. Comics based on the game reveal that both he claims his real name to be Clint Wayne, a combination of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, but his real name is actually Wyatt Chino.
* The Spy (voiced by Matt Mercer) is a Serbian man and the most mysterious among the mercenaries. What is known about him is that he has supposedly been involved in a number of famous assassinations within the past twenty years and that he is a smoker that is constantly tired, often falling asleep mid conversation. He drinks a lot of coffee to stay awake, but this makes him easily agitated. Like Spy from Team Fortress 2, he is able to become invisible and disguise himself as other players. While invisible, he is completely invincible but unable to deal damage. His feet don't make noise, making it easy to sneak up on others, and he wields a butterfly knife and a pistol with an attached silencer, meaning his gun also doesn't make noise, allowing him to fire at opponents without them realizing. He can also lay fake healing items that actually further damage the opponents. He also wields a wrist-mounted device that plays voice lines by an opponent within range as a temporary distraction and can parry melee attacks, delivering an insta kill stab after a successful parry. Comics based on the game reveal his first name to be Vlad, though his surname is intentionally left unknown.
=== Other ===
* The Juggernaut (voiced by Patrick Seitz) is a unique class to the Kill The Juggernaut game mode. He is able to leap large distances, deals more damage than any other character in the game, and is far more durable, though isn't very fast. The Juggernaut in the game's story is a vastly powerful super soldier created by the character Winters that escaped after murdering it's creators and who Winters has hired the mercenaries to contain. It's described as a "rampaging, roided-out test tube baby" by Winters during flavor dialogue.
=== Non-Playable Characters ===
* Winters (voiced by Dameon Clarke) is the game's announcer, giving updates throughout the match on developments. He is much more fleshed out in the comic, where he serves as one of the main antagonists and is revealed to be orchestrating all factions of the game against each other, though none are aware of this.
=== Setting ===
The game takes place during the events of a pseudo-war called the Conflict of The Colors. This war is supposedly being fought by four brothers, Dore, Mifa, Sola, and Tido, all of whom want each other dead. All four brothers have cloned the same nine mercenaries to battle for themselves. In reality though, there is no war and all four brothers are the same man, named Winters, who is having the mercenaries fight as a demonstration of their abilities and to have them test weapons for him. He then sells clones of the mercenaries to a much more powerful and shadowy organization called BLACK, headed by The Director, a high-ranking government agent who proceeds to then sell the cloned mercenaries for personal use by foreign countries.
== Other Media ==
=== Online Shorts ===
Similar to Team Fortress 2, there are several online shorts, with the first batch releasing before the game, being a new version of Meet the Mercs. They consist of:
#/Meet the Scout/
#/Meet the Soldier/
#/Meet the Pyro/
#/Meet the Heavy/
#/Meet the Demoman/
#/Meet the Engineer/
#/Meet the Medic/
#/Meet the Sniper/
#/Meet the Spy/
=== Comics ===
==Trivia==