Spectre Divide Review (Jayohfive)
Spectre Divide is the game the tac-shooter genre sorely needed. Its refreshing to see a developer willing to take the basic hide-and-seek gameplay and do more than just add a few new guns or new movement gimmicks. Duality is a legitimate game-changer, and its going to be truly exciting to see what kind of tech this community comes up with based off of that alone.
A few highlights from my experience with Spectre Divide as a 20+ year genre veteran:
- Snappy gunplay and a unique aesthetic which looks clean, and most importantly emphasizes visibility (no more valorant/overwatch ability storms to clog your brain/eyes up)
- Clean map design with fun, engaging areas to setup flanks, ambushes, and holds, all utilizing the puck-throwing mechanic aspects of duality (adding an entirely new, unique layer of strategy for attackers/defenders to consider on a round-to-round basis)
- Mechanics and game-flow that allow for some genuinely exciting, big-brain plays and outplays. In more than just a handful of my experiences both in beta as well as post-launch, I've seen some things I'm STILL itching to try.
- DUALITY. The depth this adds to the tac-shooter gameplay loop cannot be overstated. In a genre where the true advantage is catching your opponent off guard, you now have an entire second body to assist you in achieving this goal. You can bait your peek, aggressive push, or recently picked-off body with your other spectre, You can cover yourself planting/defusing, you can watch both bombsites almost simultaneously, utilizing audio cues and quick swaps to gather absurd amounts of intel, just to highlight a few grains of sand in the sandbox.
- Weapon Sets. Gone are the days of seeing 3 or 4 weapons used 95% of the time with little strategic consideration beyond "We have too many awps." In Spectre Divide, you'll need to choose your weapon sets dependent on a much larger range of factors (map, what position(s) you are playing, opponents playstyle, etc.) You'll also need to consider your weapon sets disadvantages, and how you and your team might need to adapt to that.
I could go on , but I'm gonna go grind my ranked placements now. Hope to see you in Breakwater, rookie.