FragPunk Preview: Exclusive Hands-on with New Character Chum and Dongtian Map

ign.com:

Hot on the heels of the global success of Marvel Rivals and with other popular live-service games like Naraka: Bladepoint and Once Human under its belt, NetEase has turned its attention to the hero shooter genre with FragPunk. New internal development team Bad Guitar Studio is made up of young, hardcore FPS fans, and after joining them for a one-hour play session where we tried a new character and map revealed exclusively in this preview, the team’s eye for detail is clear to see.

FragPunk’s main game mode is the 5v5 Shard Clash mode. On its surface, this mode resembles your typical Overwatch-like hero shooter skirmish, but it also pulls from a variety of influences to mix up the gameplay. The rounds in this mode are closer to the bomb-defusal objectives of Counter Strike, with one team planting bombs at specified locations and the other defending, with relatively small arenas that keep rounds tight and focused.

As with any hero shooter, players can choose from a selection of characters – named Lancers – who each have a selection of unique skills, meaning plenty to learn in terms of individual character preferences and team makeup. For our session, we tried the newly unveiled character Chum, a stone robot who is accompanied by a mechanical pet angler fish named Chomper. In addition to using the game’s arsenal of satisfying guns, Chum can toss projectiles similar to sticky mines and smoke grenades, as well as sending Chomper out as support. Chomper can track and bite enemies for multiple low-damage attacks, essentially like a walking turret, or can be modified with pet treats that make it explode on contact or trail a thick smokescreen in its wake, adding several strategic layers that felt fun to mix up.

And being made of stone, Chum is also a strong defence character, making him a great all-round option for newcomers.

Many other Lancer abilities are not only offensive but defensive or tactical – walls for cover, traps, speed boosts, skills that highlight enemies on the