Alara Prime is a free to play 4v4v4 competitive shooter made by Fall Damage, a new studio composed of Ex Dice employees. The game was in beta access for some time but it is being planned to be released sometime this year. Although there are some concerns about the studio as its parent company Fragbite declared bankruptcy earlier in this month.
What Is ALARA PRIME
As mentioned it is a 4v4v4 competitive shooter borrowing from the likes of Counter Strike and Valorant. The maps will comprise right spaces and corridors that require teamwork and precision to enter, defend or defuse. The difference between this game and its very well known peers is that instead of 2 teams there are 3 teams of 4.
One team will be tasked with defending an uplink, while the other 2 are tasked with attacking the uplink. An interesting quirk is that each team will receive a separate timer to complete their objective. Meaning Team A might have a longer or shorter duration to complete its objective from the other 2, Team B and C will also have different durations.
This feature may sound simple but this opens up a completely new experience which demands players use whatever tactics and gadgets they have to their maximum potential. Players will also have to think quickly and adapt based on what timer they receive.
No Operators, There’s Classes
While it is expected that another free to play competitive shooter in this day and age to feature specialists or characters that have abilities unique to them, Fall Damage went a different route. They focused on creating classes which are Assault, Infiltrator, Support and Engineer.
Some weapons are unique to each class and each require a very different playstyle, players who love to get into the action straight away can pick the Assault class while those who prefer a more relaxed and tactical approach can choose the Engineer class.
A Variety Of Weapons And Gadgets
While there are some weapons that are exclusive to each specific class, there are also a plethora of weapons that are available to all classes. Every type of assault rifles, to submachine guns, pistols and sniper rifles are available to choose from.
There are also a huge number of gadgets to choose from, twenty two to be exact that are capable of gathering intel, setup choke points, deal extensive damage and disorient the enemy. These gadgets are also split into 5 categories which are intelligence, infiltration, support, offence and defence.
Some of these gadgets also work as counters to each other, thus setting up potential counter plays to occur in more ways than one. While there are some gadgets offering ways to block entry into the objective, there are other gadgets that help in blowing up defenses for entering said objective.
Some Concerns With Publishing
Earlier this month GamesIndustry.biz published an article that stated Fragbite, which is the parent company of Fall Damage, had filed for bankruptcy for Fall Damage. This was due to Fall damage not being able to find a publisher in time leading to an undesirable financial situation.
The article goes on to state that the board of directors of Fragbite do not believe that Fall damage will be able to cover up its debts in time for launch of the title, thus the date still hasn’t been announced.
The Steam page for the game states that Fall Damage themselves will be the publisher for the game however this could change in the near future if they do manage to find a company willing to publish.
Cautious Optimism
ALARA PRIME is looking to be an exciting tactical shooter that aims to change up the traditional two team system that is present in competitive giants like Counter Strike or Valorant. This is a promising path to take to make the game stand out from its competition.
However there are some problems to address, as stated by their steam page they currently are featuring only one map. This can significantly affect player count as they might quickly get bored of playing the same map over and over.
Another point of criticism is that they do admit to using AI to generate voice lines for their characters, which may not sit right with the players as this speaks to the issue of Artificial Intelligence taking away jobs from actual people.
