Bodycam: Review

Remember back in 2023, the game Unrecord that made the rounds with a trailer that was extremely realistic for a first person shooter? Well, it got fully funded in december 2025 and now the devs behind the game are working full steam ahead for a release in the near future. But looks like they are pretty late, since in the meantime I guess some other developers from France (Reissad Studio) were either inspired or already working with something similar, which is what we will review today: Bodycam.

I’m not the only person who actually at first confused both titles. The face blurring effect (with mosaic over the face) is also pretty much the same in both games, which added to the confusion.

The concept

Bodycam is still a game in early access, and is exclusively focused on multiplayer. There are no plans for a solo campaign, based on my interaction with Reissad Studios. There are two main kind of gameplays: Deathmatch and Zombie mode. In Deathmatch you either play in teams or single player Deathmatch. Either way, you are placed in a small environment and equipped with guns to help you clean up the area. It’s as barebones as it goes on paper.

What makes the game stand out is the quality of the production. Things are seen from your torso (hence the name) and the environments are made from real world textures and modeled or inspired by actual environments. Forget about havings tons of crates everywhere to fill the landscape, this feels very natural and believable. This is way more realistic than your regular FPS out there, and I have to admit the effect is very successful. The shadows, the lighting, and even the sound effects are top notch and makes you feel there.

There is body presence and when you aim at something with your gun you clearly see your arms pointing forward. The movement in general is very good, with the possibility of looking around corners very naturally, by sliding your mouse progressively. This makes it really fun when you want to ambush someone in a sneaky way.

The environments are very diverse, but all fall into in abandoned places category. Houses that are up for demolition, abandoned olympic swimming pool, or even places where you walk in between brutalist style buildings (big concrete blocks). There’s a mix of indoors and outdoors.

Since this is mostly about DeathMatch, the level design is extremely important, and I am happy to report that there is no easy want to camp anywhere and snipe people from a distance. Almost every spot that looks good is actually vulnerable in one way or another: there are always exposed sides where someone can flank you and kill you.

Since Bodycam aims at being on the more realistic side of things, enemies are not bullet sponges. One good shot is enough to get rid of someone, but it’s sometimes harder than you think. You have someone in your sight, but they move, or there are slight obstacles on the way, and you start to spray way more bullets than you expected. Reloading takes time and this is where the opponent has time to surprise you by moving forward or flanking you.

I’m not too much of a multiplayer FPS person, but Bodycam is quite fun to play. I would exoect it’s even better if you find a team to play with, since this allows for more tactics while the solo Deathmatch mode is mostly about luck and skills. The devs keep adding some new maps now and then, and they are all very well done and look great.

There is another version of the Deathmatch called the GunMode where you are given a different weapon every time you kill an enemy, and if you manage to kill using every single weapon you receive you win the round. This is a really nice idea, as you are given less powerful weapons (and ultimately only a knife!) that makes things far less easy.

The Zombie mode reminds me of Left 4 Dead, you are in a small party and you need to go from point A to B safely, while hordes of zombies are spawning in the area. It plays on dark environments, the need of using flashlights, and the fact that you are always more or less surrounded. If you don’t play as a team, you will die very quickly. In such maps you are not confined to a small area and you end up walking a lot. Not too original, but a good addition in case you get bored with the Deathmatch modes.

In terms of microtransactions, there is a shop to sell you some unique guns or accessories, and to motivate you to play everyday, you are given points when you complete games, and when you have enough points you can unlock some skins or gun mods.

Still, I think the game could benefit from a little more content. More maps, more game modes would go a long way to make it feel like a full game.

Compatibility on Linux

Somewhat problematic right now. Had I written this article a month earlier, I would have said everything worked perfectly, however right now in February 2026, the game does not launch anymore if you have a Nvidia GPU + wayland config (which is the case of most distros out there nowadays). It may work better with X11 (but I did not test it). However I could test it on the Framework Desktop (AMD Strix Halo hardware) and it worked as expected there, without any hitch. So if you are interested in the game and have a Nvidia GPU, please do check the reports on ProtonDB before purchasing it. If you use AMD, you are gold.

Don’t even bother playing it on a Steam Deck. It will probably run, but I expect the performance to be atrocious. Even on my 2 powerful desktops, the framerate is hardly what I would consider to be satisfactory. It’s playable, enjoyable, but I’d certainly would like to see stable 60 FPS on my hardware without having to use FSR or other magic tricks.

Overall, a very good entry, that feels really different from a ton of other FPS out there. Looking forward to seeing how it continues to shape up in the near future.

Note: we received a key from the publisher to review this game.