Despite not overtaking pop culture as much as comparable battle royale games like Fortnite, Garena Free Fire has enjoyed an impressive run of success on mobile devices. It was the most-downloaded mobile game of 2021 according to SensorTower, beating out games like PUBG Mobile.
Continuing its impressive grip on the mobile battle royale market, Garena Free Fire has announced a new Bomb Squad mode. This is not the first time the game has featured a Bomb Squad mode, which shrinks the playfield and player count and changes the goals, but this new version changes and hopefully improves things.
The new Bomb Squad mode redesigns the interface and places two teams of five players against one another with one team guarding a bomb while the other attempts to defuse it–a familiar task for Counter-Strike players.
The new mode and new map, El Pastelo, will be playable starting June 10. Before then, daily warm-up missions that award tokens to teams that survive longer than 1, 5, and 10 minutes will be available. Also starting June 10 and going until June 16, will be the ultimate challenge. During that time players can earn additional rewards like the exclusive Ballin’ n Brawlin Baseball Bat.
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Free Fire is available to download on iOS and Android, but an enhanced, high-definition version, Free Fire MAX, is also available on iOS and Android. Additionally, we spoke with Garena Free Fire’s producer, Harold Teo, about the new mode and how to stay relevant in the battle royale genre.
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