Ratloop Games may not have much experience so far, but they’re already attempting to change the meta with their upcoming multiplayer first-person shooter Lemnis Gate. Unlike every other shooter out there, Lemnis Gate is different in that instead of a multiplayer shooter, it actually seems more like a chess game.
Ratloop went into detail on how they intend to re-invent the FPS genre through the game in the latest issue of Edge magazine, issue 358. Ratloop CEO Vivian Yen said that “We knew this was the idea that was going to differentiate us from our competitors,” and it seems from the gameplay that they’re doing a pretty good job.
Players in Lemnis Gate face off against one other player, taking control of a single team of five and running through 25-second rounds in order to complete objectives in one of three game modes: a capture the flag, a king of the hill, and an objective-based assault map. The meat of the gameplay comes from anticipating your opponent’s moves and countering them.
Players don’t play at the same time, either. Each player gets one 25-second round to make a move, while the other player then gets a similarly long round to counter that move in some way. In between, the player who’s waiting can study the playing field and figure out what they want to do in their own round. The rounds then go back and forth until each operative has made a move, then the round plays out to find a winner.
Ratloop co-founder James Anderson says that “Using your mind is just as powerful as using your weapons,” and he’s not wrong. With the way the game is played, Lemnis Gate requires you to strategize and do your best to counter your opponent’s own moves, whether it’s shooting at a place where an enemy will be in the future, or doing something to counter their own counter.
Ratloop is banking on a number of things to make the game successful. For one thing, as they’re a small indie company developing a small indie game, they have a great deal more flexibility than other bigger first-person-shooter studios. The fact that each game is one-on-one can also help players be able to find plenty of games without lacking slots.
Lemnis Gate still doesn’t have an actual release date yet beyond a nebulous “2021”, but considering its inventive premise and gameplay style, hopefully it will end up being quite popular whenever it does come out.