How to Play Bodycam: From Purchase to Your First Firefight

Bodycam is a paid Steam title ($26.65) built around ultra-realistic body-camera gunfights in Unreal Engine 5. This page walks you through everything between buying the game and surviving your first rounds: picking the right starting mode, joining a match, the callout culture, and the V0.8 lobby features that matter.

Step 1: Buy and Launch

Bodycam is available on Steam as an Early Access title. It is not free - expect to pay $26.65 at the current launch discount - and it is PC only: there is no PlayStation, Xbox or Switch version as of September 2026.

Before buying, take the system requirements seriously. The minimum spec asks for a Ryzen 7 3700X or i7-9700K with an RTX 2070-class GPU, and the photorealistic UE5 rendering is exactly why. If your machine is borderline, read our system requirements guide first.

Step 2: Pick a Friendly First Mode

The lobby offers Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Gun Game, Hardpoint, Wingman, Versus and the new Trench Warfare experience added in V0.8. Team Deathmatch is the friendliest place to learn: constant respawns, frequent fights and no round-elimination pressure.

Once gunfights feel natural, Trench Warfare is where V0.8 wants you - it is the headline mode of the update and where most of the community plays right now.

Step 3: Joining Matches and Lobby Basics

V0.8 refreshed the lobby: a jukebox now plays the Early Access soundtrack (you can check the current track and skip it), and you can add an individual player mute button - a small feature that massively improves lobbies with open microphones.

Joining a match is server browser style: pick a mode, pick a server with space, and you spawn in. If a server feels empty, back out and choose another rather than waiting - Bodycam matches need active lobbies to feel right.

Step 4: Surviving a Bodycam Gunfight

The body-camera perspective compresses your view: you see less of your own body and weapon, and the camera reacts to every step. Stop moving before you shoot. ADS whenever you expect contact. Pre-aim corners at head height instead of clearing them at close range.

Sound is information. Every footstep, reload and callout is audible and the maps are small enough that callouts matter. The community uses simple, direct callouts - building, window, trench line - and answers them fast. Playing with a microphone is the single biggest skill jump in this game.

Step 5: Set Up Your Keybinds Early

V0.8 patch 1 added the ability to clear keybinds and improved key conflict detection, so there is no better time to build a clean binding layout. Rebind anything that fights your movement keys, and keep grenades and gadget slots within a finger's reach - fumbling keybinds in a realistic FPS is fatal.

The same patch added a Film Grain setting and DLSS Multi Frame Generation support. If your FPS dips, Film Grain off plus DLSS MFG on is the first thing to try.

FAQ

Can I play Bodycam with bots or offline?

No. Bodycam is an online PvP game - the Steam page lists Online PvP and there is no offline bot mode or single-player campaign. The only PVE content is the Zombie Mode, which is also played online.

How do I join a game in Bodycam?

From the lobby, choose a mode (Team Deathmatch is best for beginners), then pick a server with free slots from the list. You spawn directly into the action.

Is Bodycam free to play?

No. It is a paid Early Access game on Steam, currently $26.65. The V0.8 Locked and Loaded update was free for all owners.