With all of the trailers, showcases, and dev diaries that always lead up to a game’s launch these days, it’s more durable than ever for one to be a actual shock – and that’s very true of a multiplayer first-person shooter when, like me, you’re a Certified Old Gamer™ who’s been taking part in them because the style started. Yet FragPunk has achieved simply that. What I fearful may finish up being a Valorant clone with a card gimmick and a massive record of different buzzword options has as an alternative impressed me with how recent all of it feels. It's nonetheless early, and I'm removed from able to say if that is a particular winner, however to this point, I’m having a exhausting time placing FragPunk down.
In some ways, FragPunk jogs my memory of a reverse Ship of Theseus. If each part of a game got here from someplace else, does it will definitely turn out to be one thing authentic? It’s exhausting to say, however the result’s a minimum of a lot of enjoyable. Like Overwatch, it has very distinct characters with massive personalities and distinctive instruments to match them. Like Valorant or Counter-Strike, the first game mode, referred to as Shard Clash, revolves round groups of 5 competing to plant or defuse a Converter (aka bomb) or get rid of each other throughout a number of rounds. And like Fortnite, it has a deep bag of beauty objects like costumes, weapon skins, stickers, and emotes to entice you to spend some money on this in any other case free-to-play shooter.
FragPunk’s playable characters are referred to as Lancers, and to this point that is a enjoyable group to select from. Some are comparatively typical archetypes, like a sniper named Hollowpoint along with her talents that help reveal enemies. Others are method on the market, just like the punk rocker Axon, who shoots lightning from his guitar. Unlike Valorant, the place talents may give you an edge however are hardly ever what win a fight outright, Fragpunk locations a a lot larger emphasis on utilizing them to dominate the map, which I like. When talents like Broker’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 customary assortment of shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, and more types the spine of fight. I don’t thoughts that the weapons actually aren’t the star of the show right here, however I do want there was more selection to select from. There are two choices in every class you possibly can choose as your major weapon, they usually all shoot just about precisely how you’d count on. Most of the maps appear to favor medium-range engagements, so I’ve been gravitating towards the SMGs. The gunplay is clean and responsive, and the quick time-to-kill does a good job of emphasizing the significance of positioning over uncooked gun talent.
The different side of taking pictures that stands out is how little motion impacts your purpose. Unlike 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 rely till a teammate identified that I’m higher off treating gunfights like Call of Duty with powers, advice that put me proper on the prime of the following match’s leaderboard. That model of taking pictures isn’t essentially higher than the more deliberate action of different video games, but it surely does stick out as atypical for an objective-based tactical shooter in a method that looks like a good match with the overall FragPunk vibe.
The star of the show, nonetheless, is the Shard Card system. Before each spherical, every staff has three random playing cards pulled that gamers can then put Shard Points into, successfully voting on which of them shall be energetic. The prices of results differ, and also you earn more Shard Points by both getting kills or choosing them up off the ground mid-round. Some Shard 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 Big Heads, which (as marketed) offers your entire enemy staff overgrown, easy-to-hit craniums. A couple of 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-collecting side of FragPunk. You begin with much less than a third of the 169 complete Shard Cards in your stock and may earn more after finishing matches. Getting more issues, because the playing cards which might be randomly chosen earlier than every spherical are primarily based on what every staff member has unlocked. It’s fairly thrilling getting a new card and studying what weirdness it’s going to introduce. I additionally admire you could simply see your assortment, learn the impact, and, in some circumstances, watch a fast video displaying you precisely what it does.
Rounds of Shard Clash go by quick – presumably too quick. In idea, one staff is making an attempt to plant the Converter on one of two goal factors, which the opposite staff would then need to defuse… however in observe, the overwhelming majority of rounds finish when one staff wipes out the opposite, typically in simply a couple of minutes. That signifies that matches hardly ever have the identical kind of strategic back and forth that makes hard-fought video games of Valorant so partaking. It additionally signifies that Lancers with talents which have more of a nuanced, tactical focus have appeared much less viable general to this point. I’d like to hunker down with Nito’s turrets and drone to carry a level, however that’s simply a recipe to have all of the action occur elsewhere. Hopefully some stability tweaks will arrive to make the aims a more related half of the action.
Matches finish when one staff wins 4 complete rounds, but when each groups attain three wins earlier than that occurs, it prompts one of my favourite twists: Duels. This has every staff face off in a sequence of 1v1 fights in a small area, and whoever survives sticks round to face the opposite staff’s subsequent champion till each member of one has been eradicated. Health and skills don’t regenerate spherical to spherical, which makes it powerful for one great participant to run the desk. The action is as thrilling as it’s tense, and spectating when you root in your teammate and wait in your own flip is thrilling, particularly once you get the win that clinches the Duel and, by extension, your entire match in your staff.
So far, 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 few ranges short of having the ability to compete in ranked competitors, which is an important mode for this type of game. Likewise, as a lot as I’m having fun with each the action and the hilariously mad Shard Cards, I’m wondering if that novelty may put on off sooner reasonably than later. There are nonetheless more matches to be fought, Lancers to unlock, playing cards to gather, and fairly a few in-game currencies to determine. For now, I can say that FragPunk could be very enjoyable, and whereas it’s pulling a lot from video games that got here earlier than, it goes towards the grain and mixes in twists in a method that feels authentic, which has me wanting ahead to taking part in more.