Spectre Divide, a new free-to-play, 3v3 competitive FPS shooter from Mountaintop studios, was announced on August 1st of this year and has entered closed beta tests. The developers were also working with Shroud, one of the most famous competitive Counter Strike players to date to take his experience into account to provide a new take on the competitive genre.
Mountaintop studios is a company consisting of industry veterans from Naughty Dog, Epic Games and Respawn Entertainment was founded in 2020 and this is going to be their first foray in the genre of competitive FPS, aiming to stand alongside Valorant and Counter Strike.
What This Game Is Bringing
You’d think the competitive FPS has peaked with Counter Strike and Valorant, the standard bomb defuse/defend which is a 5v5 in Counter Strike and Valorant introduced specialists with gadgets to bring a new side to strategic planning akin to Riot’s other title League of Legends. What Spectre Divide is doing is making a 3v3 and each player on each team has a clone of themselves that they can place and control however they like, along with each player having a special ability and/or gadget to use and finally the management of economy as each round masses. This is no doubt a fresh take on the standard Bomb defend and defuse game mode and there are ten thousand spots available for open beta tests as of now.
The Duality mechanic allows a player to strategize on each map as the player is allowed to place it anywhere they see fit, such behind enemy lines or they can play around the placement to quickly get revenge in case they die, this of course is also available to the opponents. The ways to plan out attacks or defenses becomes more complex and exciting when it becomes clear that the clone of the player can be another character with a different special ability. This opens up an unimaginable amount of ideas and potential which can only increase as presumably the developers start adding on new characters to play just like in Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege.
As developers themselves said, it is meant to be a love letter to the saga of Counter Strike but also something with a fresh take on the genre. They have opted for passive specials instead of offensive specials prioritizing a player’s skill over everything. The Duality mechanic also changes up the age of rule of not peeking the corner with the sniper as now players can take a second chance to engage and clear the corner.
The Artstyle: A Cel-shaded Visual Treat
Mountaintop studios worked in more ways than one to make their game standout from the sea of competitive shooters already available. The visuals in game look spectacular, the artstyle and distinct colors combos on the characters and guns are so delightful to look at. The potential designs that are coming to the various guns are going to be amazing as it looks like they have clearly mastered the pastel colors and artstyle.
As it is free-to-play, they confirmed that with the launch they will have a number of weapon skins available to buy with the awesome cel-shade appearance that they have opted for along with skins for their initial characters.
Competitive Players Should Keep An Eye
The game is in a closed beta with ten thousand players as of now as it was with “The Finals”. While the game hasn’t been given an official release date, if we are to presume its path like the path of “The Finals” then a release date is very near. Shroud has released a match between him, syncDez and Tarik against the developers, showcasing the duality mechanic, the various tactics that are possible on a single map alone.
It is going to be exciting to see and will have a more engaging competitive scene as a new, free-to-play title. Developers of the “The Finals” should take note on how to target audiences as in the end “Spectre Divide” has an overall simple mechanics but it’s one feature, Duality is more than enough to change how competitive or tactical players would have approached the game as they have done with Valorant or Counter Strike.
