Team Fortress 2 'War' Update Brings New Rocket Launcher, Free Weekend

As the Team Fortress 2 'War' PC update media warmup heats up, Valve has announced another TF2 free-to-play weekend, revealed a new rocket launcher for the soldier and delivered yet another splendid comic.

Created for soldiers "who have mastered the art of shooting at their targets instead of vaguely near them," The Direct Hit has a 70% smaller blast radius than other leading brand rocket launchers but its rockets fly 80% faster and with "25% more destructive force," as well as scoring guaranteed mini-crits on mid-air targets.

The arrival of the 'War' update on Thursday will kick off another weekend of free TF2 for all, and would-be mercenaries can now pre-load the game on Steam.

Tireless demoman are picking up the slack in the update's titular war. At the time of writing, the gap had closed to 4,923,531 soldier casualties caused by demomen versus 5,056,134 demoman murders at the cold hands of soldiers. A fourth "secret, exclusive" weapon unlock will be granted to whichever class is on top when the update launches.

Valve has previously revealed in the week-long media blitz that a crafting system will be added and that the demoman picks up a shield and haunted claymore. New maps, achievements, "surprises" and the remaining weapon unlocks are waiting in the wings.