The opening mission, Distant Smoke: escort President Canindo to safety.Warhounds is set in an alternative-future East Africa, beyond 2035. The region is collapsing under the DAAMAT regime — a violent faction seizing power country by country with executions and open warfare. In one of the last countries still holding out, President Canindo hires an elite mercenary squad: the Warhounds. What follows is a contract war that will decide Africa's future.
This page collects everything we know about the setting from the Steam store page and from long-form gameplay videos (First Hour Gameplay, Steam Playtest and the Distant Smoke opening).
Key Factions
The DAAMAT threat
2035+. The DAAMAT regime is seizing power across East African countries with violence and executions. Only a few pockets still hold out; the region is mostly anarchic, which allows targeted operations.
The president's contract
President Canindo hires the Warhounds to drive the enemy out of the cities and eliminate their commanders one by one. But when you arrive, he has been overthrown — and the opening mission, Distant Smoke, is a fight to get him to safety.
Mission structure
Contract-based and mission by mission. Each mission runs 25–40 minutes and the campaign is designed so your choices change what missions, gear and allies are available later.
Allied factions & consequences
Choose allied factions, build relationships and gather intel. The United People's Front is a newly formed resistance alliance running guerrilla operations. Your choices have consequences — access to missions, gear and allies changes because of what you do.
The DAAMAT Regime
DAAMAT is seizing power across East African countries with violence and executions. In the intro, its battalions are finishing off the remaining government forces in a burning city while the president's guards do not answer the radio. DAAMAT also possesses advanced military drones — one observed drone carried the number "nine", implying at least eight more in service. Where that technology came from is a question the story keeps open.
President Canindo
The resistance leader who hires the Warhounds. He provides missions and intel, and his first piece of advice is practical: put body armor and grenades on your recruits. But by the time the squad arrives, the palace is under attack and the president is gone — the immediate objective of the opening mission, Distant Smoke, is to find out what happened to him and extract him if he is still alive.
The Warhounds
Your squad. Recruited from personnel files on the base computer, up to six operators at a time. Named operators include Julia (navigation and ops, receiving intel and coordinates) and a soldier called "Fidget". The squad is addressed as "Commander".