Everything is so damn stylized these days. FragPunk, the upcoming free-to-play 5v5 shooter, reflects this almost perfectly, with incredibly cool, hyper-stylized art direction, a card-based system that changes the way you play each round, and smart and fast-paced shooting with an array of weapons at your disposal. It is interesting that under that beautiful facade hides not only depth, but also a sense of fun and humor that we have been missing for a long time in shooters.
Remember when games like arena deathmatch took risks and even poked fun at themselves a little? Cheat codes in GoldenEye, turning into a monkey in TimeSplitters, it wasn’t all about K/D ratios and accuracy in headshots. Surprisingly, FragPunk revives the arena shooter by not always taking itself too seriously, and it makes the game even better.
I need to explain the cards. Before the start of each round, you can activate and play a selection of cards from your deck. You earn the currency needed to activate cards by playing well in each round, and each card brings boosts, modifiers, or new abilities with which you can attack the enemy team even more efficiently, and sometimes more insanely.
There are cards that allow you to heal every time you eliminate an opponent, or cards that give you an overpowered shotgun called Devil’s Breath. Others add a nice, easy double jump, allowing you to score a headshot from above, but the ones that stand out the most are, say, “funny cards.”
These include, but are not limited to, a card that enables Big Head Mode, making it much easier to put a bullet in an enemy’s head, or a card that places a cute and cuddly turtle on your back, shielding you from fire from behind with its armor.
With new elements introduced each round – each team can play up to three cards at a time – you must adapt your approach to the next conflict. Just because you feel powerful with your giant shotgun doesn’t mean the opposing team isn’t playing something just as powerful, and there’s already an interesting dynamic between the teams.
There are currently around 70 maps, but the team plans to add more, with ideas that would take them well beyond 100 maps. They’re the real difference between FragPunk and other hero shooters, and if they manage to keep the balance, it looks like this is one shooter that won’t get boring from round to round.
Of course, there are also the characters you play, known here as Lancers. There are currently ten of them, and each of the ones we saw and played were visually unique, emphasizing the stylized art direction, with a healthy dose of neon colors that fit into the overall punk aesthetic. This is definitely not a shooter that is shy about standing out.
As a shooter hero, each Lancer also has their own individual special abilities, from the fiery Corona whose deadly attack can devour enemies, to the main character Broker and his devastating rocket launcher. My favorite though was Axon, with his special that gives him a shotgun shaped like an electric guitar, allowing him to slide around the field. It doesn’t get more punk than that. As with the maps, they plan to add more Lancers as the game’s development continues, and as a game that functions as a live service, it will be interesting to see how far the team can go.
During our playtime with the game’s lead developer, it became clear that shooting in the game is a bit more challenging than you might expect elsewhere. There’s still a relatively short time to eliminate (TTK), but the team has deliberately made weapon management a bit more difficult, which not only gives FragPunk a distinct feel, but makes every elimination feel like a well-deserved victory.
FragPunk was a great highlight at Gamescom 2024, and as someone who has been very attached to Overwatch for the past 8 years, this is a game I will definitely be keeping an eye on. You should, too, if you’re a PC or Xbox gamer, because the open beta is coming out in October.
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Source: www.itnetwork.rs
