Team Fortress 2‘s invasion update adds a whole suite of community-created maps, weapons, and of course, hats.
Does anyone else remember when Team Fortress 2 was a 1950’s Pixar-esque spoof on the spy genre? Well these days you have Pyros running around with trumpets and soldiers wearing glowing confetti buckets on their heads shooting balls of plasma from a space gun. It even has a football mode. Essentially, it seems there is no-where Team Fortress 2 won’t go, so it shouldn’t surprise you that an update centered around invading aliens has just been released.
The twist this time is that the invasion update is entirely community created, featuring a whole suite of space-themed maps, weapons, and of course, hats. The additional, bad-news panda twist is that most of the new content seems to be locked behind not one, but two paywalls.
First up, you’ll have to buy an “invasion pass” from the in-game Mann Co. store, which will give you an “invasion coin” misc item. Killing players on invasion-themed maps during the invasion event while having the invasion coin equipped gives you a chance to receive “space cases” – a new kind of chest which requires a $2.50 key to unlock, and contains one of the new weapons/hats.
So, you’re essentially paying for a chance to pay for a chance to get something you want. Ouch.
While the weapons and hats seem to be behind the paywall (for now), all players will be able to play on the four new maps.
If you’re into this sort of thing, the update is live right now, and the invasion event will last for one month.
Source: Valve