What you need to know
- Team Fortress 2's Scream Fortress 2022 event includes a map with a unique variant of the Capture the Flag game mode.
- In this mode, players can become overpowered giants with thousands of hitpoints and permanent critical hits.
- Your goal as the giant is to carry a bomb into the other team's base while fighting off the opposing team's giant and their allies.
Something fans of Valve's popular class-based shooter Team Fortress 2 have to look forward to every year is Scream Fortress, an annual event in which the developers officially add a wide variety of Halloween-themed maps, modes, and cosmetics to the game that were created by community members. During past Scream Fortresses, players have been able to wield magic spells in battle, fight the fearsome "Horseless Headless Horsemann" boss, and more.
2022's Scream Fortress went live recently on October 5, and one of the six maps added is called "Crasher," which is a stage that features a unique, custom variant of TF2's Capture the Flag gametype. Instead of trying to capture the other team's flag, players have to carry their own into the other team's base. The catch, however, is that the flag is an explosive keg — and picking it up causes a massive ray gun to shoot you, transforming you into a massive giant with a comically-deepened voice, thousands of hitpoints, and permanent 300% damage crits on all of your weapons.
This mode fits in perfectly with TF2's silly and over-the-top tone, but there's also a surprising amount of strategy that goes into playing it well, too. Whether you're the giant or one of the players assisting them, you can have a huge impact on the game. Medics can heal the giant and help them stay alive, while Engineer's Sentry Guns are great at picking off enemy players trying to clear the way for their giant. Heavy is one of the best classes to play when becoming the giant since his Minigun does tons of damage with crits and he has the largest health pool of the lot, while Soldier's Battalion's Backup unlock can be used to nullify the crits of the other team's giant.
My favorite tactic so far has been to use Demoman with the Tide Turner charging shield and the Half-Zatoichi katana while playing as the giant. The former gives you a charge attack that helps offset the giant's movement speed penalty and returns 75% of it to you whenever you get a melee kill, while the Half-Zatoichi gives you 50% of your base HP whenever you score a kill with it. With this combo, you can charge into enemy players, decimate them all with critical melee swings, get all of your health back, and charge in again to continue your rampage. Just watch out for opposing Demomen also using the Half-Zatoichi, since it instantly kills anyone else using the sword (even if you're a giant).
Overall, Crasher is a ton of fun to play on, and I highly recommend checking it out before Scream Fortress 2022 ends on November 7, 2022. You can try it out by selecting the Featured Halloween section in TF2's Casual matchmaking, then selecting Crasher from the map pool.
