The horror shooter vibes of Project Spectrum are absolutely on point as you trudge through dank, foggy, muddy woods on the approach to a decrepit manor. Strange anomalies float in midair in the courtyard, distorting and colouring the air around them, when something fast flashes across the rooftop. Yeah, probably time to set a shovel on fire, just in case.
The world has been transformed by the appearance of Embers in a region that has subsequently been quarantined in what is known as the Ember Zone. Those who exist in this region can become transformed by Emberflux, altering their bodies and minds, but you have to gather a group of Agents and then send them in to try and neutralise the threat regardless. On the surface level, this game looks like a horror-infused extraction shooter, but Vice Game Director Rich Fu explains a different path that Project Spectrum is taking:
“We are different from the traditional extraction shooter, we are more like a CRPG [for progression]. One thing that we might think about is that, for instance, the characters or agents that you’re recruiting [and play as] in the game, if that character dies, they might just die! We wanted to be different from the traditional extraction shooter, like Tarkov, in terms of when you are searching for materials in the game and stuff like that.”
Project Spectrum is not a game that you’ll play alone, though, heading in as a squad, exploring this manor and trying to defeat the supernatural monsters you’ll find within. The atmosphere that Project Spectrum conjures up here is there with the very best, with creepy off-angle lighting such that you’ll need your flashlight or lighter, music randomly playing on a gramophone, and rooms where you can practically smell the musty rotting wood from the ruined decor. You might be playing together, but that doesn’t make it feel any less creepy, especially if you choose to split up.
The gameplay demo we saw took us to one of three points of interest in a wider world – alongside the manor, a fishery and a hospital were also options – but the full game will have a larger map to explore. Players will be turning up rather well equipped with modern guns, tactical gear and equipment to spot and track the anomalies – a camera that can highlight their location through walls and scenery – and there’s an emphasis to approaching quietly through the gameplay we’ve seen so far. This goes right down to trying to avoid crunching across broken glass, and hastily improvising a silencer with the crafting system, though I’m not sure what use a drinks can stuffed with cloth would actually be in reality. When it’s time to go loud, crafting molotov cocktails and the aforementioned fire shovel are also options.
And going loud can become a very quick necessity. I’ve buried the lede somewhat, as this isn’t even just a co-op horror game, but rather has PvPvE layered in as well. Other teams of players can be hunting the same anomaly, or looking to wait and attack you while you’re distracted or wounded, and this is another big reason for the cautious and quieter approach, as well as placing trip wires and other traps to prevent getting caught from behind while investigating.
Human combat will have a familiar tactical battle feel of many contemporary online shooters, but fighting the Emberborne monsters will rip you straight back to the horror shooter tone. As seen in the trailer, the towering, cloaked creature, seemingly made up of many masks can quickly shift around the environment, forcing you to spin and figure out where they are again, following the refracted light trails they leave while moving so quickly. Worse than that, as you deal damage, they can crumble down into basically a giant pile of masks with spider legs that splits and skitters around – a damage opportunity for your team, but also horrifying to the arachnophobic. Finally, we see the flaming spade set alight to swing at this enemy, which definitely does not like fire one bit.
All through this, your character’s sanity is being tested and drained, simply by existing in this tortured, twisted region. First by the depressing effect of trudging through the rainy woods to reach the manor, then by the dark and creepy environment, and then by facing the Emberborne themselves. Low sanity can lead to very obvious negatives, hallucinating shadowy enemies that can obscure and confound your view of the game.
But it’s not always bad, as Rich tells us, “Let’s talk about the disadvantages first. For the sanity level and its effect, there is a term in the game that we call Emberflux, and this means that human beings are being affected by the Ember. For the debuff, you can have a lot of illusions, but once you reach a certain level you might even see the perspective from other entities…. but I cannot tell you more than that for now!
“Then for the advantages, we have different characters with different abilities for how they are living with the sanity level, especially when it is low. For instance, some characters might get some new abilities, or their abilities might be stronger when the sanity level is low. And for another perspective, there’s the map exploration. You will only get to see some things when your sanity level is low, which could be a shortcut, certain rooms, certain areas, views or visuals which will help you to explore.
“But the key idea here for us is that we want to let the players choose whether they want to maintain a high level of sanity or low. They can take some risks to experience a different style of gameplay, or they can just make it safe.”
With the anomaly and an opposing team defeated, you’d think that’s job done, but there’s a further layer to this PvPvE game: the Executioner. This is another Ember-infused monster, a blob with smokey tendrils that it walks on in an alien fashion, but instead of being another Emberborne, this is another player that’s on the hunt. It’s an injection of the kinds of asynchronous multiplayer horror from the likes of Dead by Daylight, or perhaps more accurately Evolve.
Switching to the Executioner’s view, and their power is immediately clear to see with great traversal possibilities, climbing up to rooftops, blinking to new locations, and trying to use hit and run tactics. Of course, you can still be defeated, but it’s a fun twist to have yet another wildcard like this in the game. The curious element that’s yet to truly be revealed is how you become an Executioner. Is this a distinct character that you queue up to play as? Is it a sanity-driven transformation that you can aim to unlock mid-game? Surely you won’t have any allegiances to former teammates in that case…
This won’t be the only style of player monster that is in the game, though. Rich told us, “For the current Executioner, it’s only one of its forms. it also has other formats, and of course, we will have other Executioners added in the future, because we really consider this asymmetric gameplay a very important part of the game, so it has to be globally anticipated, so that is why we put a lot of effort on this.”
Project Spectrum is a fascinating blend of genres and ideas that has echoes of Tarkov, Hunt: Showdown and more, but by injecting sanity effects and abilities, giving players the chance to be the monster for asymmetrical battles, it’s creating something new and distinctive.
