'We are not an extraction shooter, hero shooter, or some competitive tac shooter:' Cyberpunk FPS Defect's secret fourth thing actually has me excited for a PvEvP game for once
I felt like I went on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster with the reveal trailer for Defect. A gritty, grungy cyberpunk shooter with Lore and a soundtrack from Mick Gordon of neo-Doom fame: The crowd cheers. Then I get to the line «Play with your friends in PvP or co-op:» The crowd boos. But after hearing some more about the game from Emanuel Palalic, game director at developer emptyvessel? Well, the crowd might just be cheering again.
«We are not an extraction shooter, hero shooter, or some competitive tac shooter,» Palalic explained over email. Thank God. Look, I get there are a lot of fans of the FPS genres du jour, but surely we can have a non-extraction shooter or two every once and awhile, as a treat. Instead, emptyvessel is calling Defect an «Immersive Objective Shooter.»
«We felt like there really isn't a subgenre of FPS that can describe our game other than Immersive shooters,» Palalic said. «We decided to add 'Objective' because every team has their own unique dynamic objective they are following, similar to a Ready or Not, Swat or GTFO type experience. The only difference is another team might have an assassinate or arrest objective on one of your teammates while you are trying to complete your mission. So imagine playing Ready or Not and another squad ends up intercepting and adding tension to your already tense mission.»
I'm more of a singleplayer guy, but those influences and emergent objectives have me intrigued, with GTFO and Ready or Not boasting a design sensibility closer to the singleplayer games I love, and managing to avoid that instanced, throwaway feel of so many multiplayer games. SWAT, meanwhile, is a damn singleplayer game full stop, and so are the other big influences Palalic cited: S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Metro, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. In addition to atmosphere and presentation, Palalic stressed that a minimal UI, as well as a preponderance of diegetic information and interactive environmental details are a big
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