Squad, the Kickstarted 50v50 tactical team shooter from the creators of Battlefield 2's Project Reality mod, is coming to Steam Early Access on December 15.

The Early Access release will contain two new maps, a big dusty 4km x 4km one "based on a real world location in Afghanistan", and a smaller close-combat map for the "rehabilitation" of "gamers who are unaccustomed to proper tactical squad based CQB gaming".

There will be four game modes and four factions, including two new ones: Russia Ground Forces and irregular Militia. Game modes include Advance and Secure, which combines objective capture with base building and supply; Conquest, which pits irregular forces against conventional military outfits; Insurgency, which tasks mechanised units with the discovery and destruction of insurgent weapon caches; and Territory Control, which has you capturing space "one square meter at a time".

Squad Early Access will cost $39.99 at launch, but if you're already sold you can get the game $9.99 cheaper on the Squad pre-purchase page. There's certainly a gap for a serious military multiplayer for those that have bounced off Arma, and it's made in Unreal Engine 4, which you may or may not be able to tell from the screenshots below.