Shatterline - Will Frag Lab LLC's catharsis pay off?

In the book "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" by Jason Schreyer, there's a good point: ...all games come out as miracles.

And indeed they do. Making a game is a time-consuming process that requires the entire team to be cohesive, knowledgeable, and, most importantly, to have the ultimate vision for the project. However, Shatterline came out not just as a miracle, but in some mystical way, no other way.

Frag Lab LLC worked on the game. Some of the developers from Frag Lab LLC once worked on Crysis, Battlefild 2, and Warface. Frag Lab LLC was founded in 2017, at which time the developers already had a vision of their conditional free-to-play shooter. However, 2022 made its adjustments. Frag Lab LLC lost its publisher, and was left with only hopes in troubled Kiev. And Frag Lab LLC succeeded...

There's nothing new if you remember the old...

Frag Lab's previous experience predetermined their new project Shatterline. If you narrow the game down to one sentence, it can be described as this: refreshed Warface + Valorant + a handful of Call of Duty = Shatterline.

Let the rotten tomatoes fly at me after the following words, but Warface was an interesting game at one time with firmly knocked down root mechanics. Game designers created all the maps for PvP battles according to the "three corridors" principle, the maps were small, but invariably with elevations from which it was easier to guard points or rack up fractions. Tight maps guaranteed eternal drive. At times, the player spent more time with the cushioned trigger than moving. Shooting was to the point - no overloading with recoil control, no ballistics, and no bullet speed. With minimal effort, any average skill player could squeeze all thirty rounds into a 30 centimeter-sized patch at any range. Sniper rifle aficionados also had room to roam: the sight stabilized instantly, no breath-holding mechanics and no penalties for shooting on the move. The sniper just had to catch the enemy's carcass in the crosshairs, shoot, and pick up his frag. Roughly speaking, Warface bribed with its phenomenally casual shooting - this brief retelling fits with Shatterline as well. The differences are minimal - Shatterline doesn't have the obvious Crysis roots. The result: Shatterline is an extremely dynamic shooter with a low entry threshold.

The division of PvP and PvE content is also carried over from Warface. Unlike its progenitor, Shatterline does not focus solely on the competitive element, relegating missions against bots to the background.

Shatterline's PvE content is a cooperative Rogue-lite, which also explains the background of the game's universe. An end-to-end story in a multiplayer game is a controversial move, and the local scenario can't be called intriguing. Frankly, the PvE-operations themselves can't be called something innovative either. Players fight off waves of not-so-smart dummies, with the dummies eventually becoming dozy. With each wave, the rewards and risk increase. During the races, time and again the player is presented with a choice between two random bonuses.

At the end of the section is not the most interesting battle with the boss. Of course, to get to the boss is only possible by coordinated teamwork, the personal skill of the individual player is not so critical.

Another thing is PvP. Here it is not without obvious plagiarism. In addition to the classic Team fighting, Point Capture and the "Every man for himself" mode, there is also the "Convoy" mode, where players accompany the transport wagon around the map and get points for this. "Convoy" worked well in Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch, but there was a place for tactics and role-playing, in Shatterline the game modes are not fit for "convoy". Sitting in a secluded corner with a sniper rifle is much more advantageous than rushing to the front lines.

The obvious plagiarism is also felt in the main feature of the game - Shatterline is not just a shooter, but a heroic shooter. Each operative has two passive abilities, two active abilities, and an ultimatum ability. Of course, the abilities and character design are not particularly original. All characters are divided into healers, warriors, and scouts.

The first, unexpectedly, heals; the second is strong, their skills are sharpened to deal damage; the third is dodgy and less visible on the map. And here Frag Lab LLC decided to recall the mechanics of Warface and divided the map into paths that are available only to one type of hero. Only the spies are able to climb high elevations, and the warriors can not go for a long detour, and just kick out the doors.

All active zones are strictly scrambled, so you can't get out just on the ability to move. Vertical gameplay is there, but in fact the only thing left of verticality in Shatterline are tiered maps. There's no sane parkour either, the list of moves is strictly limited: no running on walls, hook-cat and teleporters. Yes, all this will appear in the game later, but at the release it was not.

Not everything is smooth with weapons in the game either. The problem is not in the impact of the weapon, and not in the feelings of firing - for a game like this, the shooting system is almost a reference. The problem is the balance of weapons. The TTC of all initial weapons as if specially lowered to a minimum. To put 25 rounds in the body - it's not normal, it's ugly.

But the fact that the game simply does not have sniper rifles that can kill in one shot, devalues a whole layer of style of the game, and puts into question the future of cybersports. Low TTC in a free-to-play shooter hurts not only the dynamics. The low TTC hints that there will be guns for donation in the future that solve this problem for real money. How do you sell a $100 machine gun when a free machine gun will outshine it if a straight-armed shooter uses it? You want to kill with one shot from a sniper rifle, you know what to do. At the time of writing, Shatterline was not a Pay-to-Win game, but the author is well aware of how to properly monetize conditionally free shooters. And the author only wishes he were wrong in his disappointing predictions.

Conclusion

Shatterline is designed according to the adjusted scheme, so the first 10-20 hours of the game you will not notice any significant flaws. All this conditional-free goodness is played no worse than Call of Duty of old samples. Frag Lab LLC tried to mold their game into something as time-tested as possible.

However, if you're looking for a "game on a permanent basis", investing Shatterline's time can be risky. The future of the game depends entirely on the developers' decisions. May the God of games forgive me, but Warface would be a good game if it weren't for the developers' lust for profit and the endless spindle of hollow updates.