With all of the trailers, showcases, and dev diaries that always lead as much as a sport’s launch these days, it’s more durable than ever for one to be an actual shock – and that’s very true of a multiplayer first-particular person shooter when, like me, you’re a Licensed Outdated Gamer™ who’s been enjoying them because the style started. But FragPunk has performed simply that. What I anxious may find yourself being a Valorant clone with a card gimmick and an enormous checklist of different buzzword options has as a substitute impressed me with how recent all of it feels. It is nonetheless early, and I am removed from able to say if this can be a particular winner, however to date, I’m having a tough time placing FragPunk down.
In some ways, FragPunk jogs my memory of a reverse Ship of Theseus. If each element of a sport got here from elsewhere, does it will definitely turn into one thing authentic? It’s arduous to say, however the result’s a minimum of numerous enjoyable. Like Overwatch, it has very distinct characters with large personalities and distinctive instruments to match them. Like Valorant or Counter-Strike, the first sport mode, referred to as Shard Conflict, revolves round groups of 5 competing to plant or defuse a Converter (aka bomb) or remove each other throughout a number of rounds. And like Fortnite, it has a deep bag of beauty gadgets like costumes, weapon skins, stickers, and emotes to entice you to spend some cash on this in any other case free-to-play shooter.
FragPunk’s playable characters are referred to as Lancers, and to date this can be a enjoyable group to select from. Some are comparatively typical archetypes, like a sniper named Hollowpoint together with her skills that assist reveal enemies. Others are approach on the market, just like the punk rocker Axon, who shoots lightning from his guitar. In contrast to Valorant, the place skills can provide you an edge however are hardly ever what win a struggle outright, Fragpunk locations a a lot larger emphasis on utilizing them to dominate the map, which I like. When skills like Dealer’s rocket launcher can immediately erase enemies, it feels good to make use of it your self or devise a counter on the fly as you see it coming, like throwing down a wall of Fungi as Pathojen to offer cowl after which returning fireplace from a distant managed fight drone.
Naturally, Fragpunk isn’t all lightning guitars and rockets. Your commonplace assortment of shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, and extra kinds the spine of fight. I don’t thoughts that the weapons actually aren’t the star of the present right here, however I do want there was extra selection to select from. There are two choices in every class you possibly can choose as your main weapon, they usually all shoot just about precisely the way you’d anticipate. A lot of the maps appear to favor medium-vary engagements, so I’ve been gravitating towards the SMGs. The gunplay is clean and responsive, and the quick time-to-kill does job of emphasizing the significance of positioning over uncooked gun talent.
The opposite side of taking pictures that stands out is how little motion impacts your purpose. In contrast to Valorant, the place stopping and popping is usually important if you wish to be correct, Fragpunk totally embraces operating and gunning. I discovered myself repeatedly lagging behind my squad in kill depend till a teammate identified that I’m higher off treating gunfights like Name of Obligation with powers, recommendation that put me proper on the high of the following match’s leaderboard. That fashion of taking pictures isn’t essentially higher than the extra deliberate motion of different video games, nevertheless it does stick out as atypical for an goal-based mostly tactical shooter in a approach that looks as if an ideal match with the final FragPunk vibe.
The star of the present, nevertheless, is the Shard Card system. Earlier than each spherical, every workforce has three random playing cards pulled that gamers can then put Shard Factors into, successfully voting on which of them will likely be lively. The prices of results differ, and also you earn extra Shard Factors by both getting kills or selecting them up off the bottom mid-spherical. Some Shard Playing cards are easy, like one which will increase your motion velocity, whereas others are extraordinarily highly effective, like one other that forces the following spherical to play out as a melee battle – or one referred to as Large Heads, which (as marketed) provides the complete enemy workforce overgrown, straightforward-to-hit craniums. Just a few are even downright bizarre, like Egg King, which causes you to put an egg after crouching for ten seconds, which you’ll then eat to regain well being. It’s hilarious, completely weird, and in contrast to something I’ve ever seen in a shooter earlier than.
I’m stunned by how a lot I benefit from the card-amassing side of FragPunk. You begin with lower than a 3rd of the 169 whole Shard Playing cards in your stock and may earn extra after finishing matches. Getting extra issues, because the playing cards which can be randomly chosen earlier than every spherical are based mostly on what every workforce member has unlocked. It’s fairly thrilling getting a brand new card and studying what weirdness it’s going to introduce. I additionally recognize which you can simply see your assortment, learn the impact, and, in some instances, watch a fast video displaying you precisely what it does.
Rounds of Shard Conflict go by quick – presumably too quick. In idea, one workforce is attempting to plant the Converter on one in every of two goal factors, which the opposite workforce would then must defuse… however in follow, the overwhelming majority of rounds finish when one workforce wipes out the opposite, typically in only a few minutes. That implies that matches hardly ever have the identical type of strategic backwards and forwards that makes arduous-fought video games of Valorant so participating. It additionally implies that Lancers with skills which have extra of a nuanced, tactical focus have appeared much less viable general to date. I’d like to hunker down with Nito’s turrets and drone to carry some extent, however that’s only a recipe to have all of the motion occur elsewhere. Hopefully some stability tweaks will arrive to make the targets a extra related a part of the motion.
Matches finish when one workforce wins 4 whole rounds, but when each groups attain three wins earlier than that occurs, it prompts one in every of my favourite twists: Duels. This has every workforce face off in a collection of 1v1 fights in a small enviornment, and whoever survives sticks round to face the opposite workforce’s subsequent champion till each member of 1 has been eradicated. Well being and talents don’t regenerate spherical to spherical, which makes it powerful for one nice participant to run the desk. The motion is as thrilling as it’s tense, and spectating whilst you root in your teammate and wait on your personal flip is thrilling, particularly while you get the win that clinches the Duel and, by extension, the complete match on your workforce.
To this point, I’m actually having fun with FragPunk, although there are nonetheless some unanswered questions earlier than I can render a ultimate verdict. I’m nonetheless a couple of ranges in need of with the ability to compete in ranked competitors, which is a crucial mode for this type of sport. Likewise, as a lot as I’m having fun with each the motion and the hilariously mad Shard Playing cards, I’m wondering if that novelty may put on off sooner relatively than later. There are nonetheless extra matches to be fought, Lancers to unlock, playing cards to gather, and fairly a couple of in-game currencies to determine. For now, I can say that FragPunk may be very enjoyable, and whereas it’s pulling rather a lot from video games that got here earlier than, it goes towards the grain and mixes in twists in a approach that feels authentic, which has me trying ahead to enjoying extra.