It is nearly surreal to experience a drop pod all the way down to the floor of one of EVE On-line’s tens of hundreds of planets within the upcoming shooter tie-in, EVE Vanguard. I’ve flown by them a whole lot of instances within the a few years I have been taking part in the venerable spaceship MMO, however often at astronomical distances. I at all times puzzled about what was happening down there. I’d make up tales about it in my head. Now I’ve a high-powered house rifle in my arms and I am experiencing the universe up shut and private. And whereas it was a really, very construct that could not exhibit quite a bit of the larger guarantees, to my disappointment, there are some promising hints already.
As a fast caveat, the footage you are seeing continues to be from an early construct and quite a bit of issues, together with the weapon and enemy fashions, aren’t closing. CCP simply introduced that Vanguard will likely be going into Early Entry in Summer time 2026, so we have nonetheless received some time to attend. Additionally, the portion we truly received to play was solely the session-based shooter maps themselves, and never the profession and development stuff that will likely be going down again in house. But I received to speak to the devs about each, so we’ll get right into a bit of every right here.
What, precisely, is a Vanguard? Properly, like most issues in EVE On-line, it is some esoteric excessive idea sci-fi that may appear a bit of bewildering at first. Your character is a semi-immortal “infomorph” – which is to say a digital human consciousness that lives in our on-line world. I suppose you may say you are one thing like Johnny Silverhand from Cyberpunk 2077. To combat on the entrance traces of New Eden’s many wars, you add your self into a strong struggle clone, which is purpose-grown from a recent soup of organic matter for every mission. They don’t seem to be free, however you possibly can name down a brand new one within the center of a mission if the one you are in will get blown up, explaining how one can respawn again and again.
On a scale from random cannon fodder to Grasp Chief, the devs mentioned you possibly can suppose of struggle clones as not precisely superhuman, however extra like absolutely the peak of human skill an elite athlete may obtain. They’re famend throughout the galaxy, and operating into one other player-controlled Vanguard on a deployment is supposed to really feel like a mini boss combat.
Swimsuit Up
Vanguards collect in bastions, which CCP says you may suppose of nearly like The Continental from John Wick. I swear I am not attempting to shoehorn in additional Keanu references right here. It simply occurs! It is impartial floor to buy, swap tales, and decide up new contracts, represented by a digital house the place you can bodily stroll round and work together with different mercs’ avatars. As somebody who was devastated when EVE On-line eliminated the power to stroll round in stations, I used to be significantly happy to listen to this.
The actually cool factor, although, is that these bastions exist out in the identical universe the place EVE On-line gamers are zipping round of their spaceships. The preliminary ones will likely be NPC-controlled, however it can ultimately be potential for gamers to assault, construct, and even personal their very own bastions. CCP hopes particular bastions would possibly develop a popularity because the place you go if you really want a job accomplished proper. And just like how EVE has “excessive sec” house the place NPC regulation enforcement protects new gamers and “low” or “null sec” the place gamers are free to PvP to their coronary heart’s content material, new Vanguards can even have the ability to select the place they find yourself primarily based on how they’re in combating different gamers.
Hair Set off
One of the largest modifications in philosophy EVE Vanguard has undergone since its reveal again in 2023 is how the weapons themselves are being designed. We’re shifting away from smooth, understated army sci-fi into what the designers known as an homage to the “golden age” of shooters, citing inspirations like Doom, Quake, and Unreal. There may be nonetheless your customary house rifle, which is available in a couple of totally different faction variants. But I additionally received to mess around with an vitality shotgun with ricocheting projectiles that may fireplace in an expansion sample, or a single, large orb of destruction when you maintain down the fireplace button for a pair seconds.
As extra of a long-range enjoyer, my favourite was this high-powered sniper rifle that options the power to carry your breath to line up an ideal shot. Whereas the mannequin is clearly unfinished, the reload animation of swapping out the little focusing crystal is slick and memorable as nicely. Like in EVE On-line, nearly all the things is gathered and crafted by gamers, too. Even in a mission, I needed to loot some corpses and spend a bit of time with my transportable fabricator to high up my ammo. Mining and trade can even be a component of the Vanguard expertise. It can even be potential to focus on it – although the devs warned me that you will in all probability wish to convey some backup with fight expertise when you do.
You would possibly see me switching weapons with a debug menu within the video on the high of the web page, which was only for the demo. Finally, we’ll be choosing our loadout from the deck of our personal battlebarge forward of a deployment. This can even allow us to decide which sort of struggle clone to spawn, and we have been instructed they’ll ultimately are available all totally different sizes and shapes for various specializations. Vanguard can even have a bit of separation from the principle EVE On-line financial system. Notably, you do not purchase weapons and ammo with ISK, which is the principle forex for the starship jockeys, because it would not make a lot sense for a rifle to value the identical as a frigate.
There completely will likely be methods for gamers of each video games to work collectively and profit each other symbiotically, although. Some supplies Vanguards can entry planetside may not be plentiful in house, for example. One other instance I used to be given likened it to Star Wars: Rogue One or Return of the Jedi, the place an elite floor crew might need to take down a protect generator so the fleet above can assault a fortified station.
Nightmare Gas
The enemies listed below are additionally a work-in-progress. Utilizing placeholder fashions, they spawn in small teams and largely maintain their distance, however I did get caught a pair instances by a flanking assault from an sudden route. We received to see some idea artwork of one of the PvE enemy factions, Mordu’s Legion, although, and they’re extraordinarily unsettling. These cyborg house mercs who’ve their coronary heart ritually eliminated as half of their initiation will are available a number of totally different ranks, with some with the ability to direct the others on the battlefield.
On any given deployment, you would possibly find yourself operating into these NPCs and different gamers. These arenas are large, open-ended, and diverse, a mixture of procedurally-generated terrain and handcrafted battlegrounds that includes the wreckage of some of EVE’s recognizable starships. On this mission, there was particles actively streaking by means of the environment as we fought, which was a very superior contact.
For now, EVE Vanguard continues to be quite a bit of “wills,” “shoulds,” and ” hope tos.” It’s playable, and the gunplay feels a bit unpolished nonetheless, however satisfying. The environments are spectacular, and the weapon designs are various and bombastic. It is simply arduous to get the total image with out truly experiencing the way it will tie into the EVE On-line shared universe or the social options, that are positively probably the most thrilling half of the entire concept. For that we’ll have to attend till the center of subsequent 12 months when Early Entry warps in, at which level each video games will likely be linked finally.