Project Arc preview – a top-down Rainbow Six Siege in the PUBG universe

Krafton's next game is all about tactical nuances, which sets it apart from everything else. 
Project Arc
Project Arc / Krafton

I just spent an hour with Krafton’s latest, Project Arc, a tactical shooter where teammates share visual information and every angle could spell death. Oh, and speaking of angles, it’s played from a top-down view.

Here’s a familiar story: you choose from a team of heroes with varied loadouts before taking turns attacking or defending a bomb site..

Read more: PUBG Studio’s next game is Project ARC, a 5v5 PvP shooter that’s all about line of sight

Now, I’m as sick as the next person of hero shooters, but Project Arc is way more about accuracy and positioning than gimmicks. The game’s tactical nuances set this apart from everything else. 

Top down view of a map in a screenshot from Project Arc
Project Arc / Krafton

The maps are a series of corridors with deadly angles, made more complex by weak walls that can be destroyed, reinforced, or penetrated with bullets. You can also crouch, and toggle your aim low to catch people crouching, at the risk of not seeing someone peeking through a window and training a laser sight on your forehead.

There’s a team deathmatch mode, but this CSGO-style, round-based mode with no respawns is where Project Arc sings.

The vision sharing I mentioned earlier makes teamwork vital. Using gadgets and coordination, you must move like a unit, covering each other’s backs as you breach and clear rooms. It reminds me of classic Rainbow Six, but the top-down perspective gives it its distinct flavor. 

Project Arc tactical gameplay screenshot showing a top-down view on one of the maps
Project Arc / Krafton

Weapon sway, ballistics, and recoil give each weapon a unique personality, and everything feels finely balanced at this stage, even if shotgun deaths are as infuriating as they are in every game ever made since the dawn of computing. 

Every weapon feels devastating, with excellent feedback through animations, punchy sound, and scenery reactions.

In one game, I crept through a back window while my teammates kept the enemy pinned down. I stuck a guy with a sticky grenade and melted into the night, backing away into the fog of war. When you pull your plans off, it feels excellent. I’m sure he was as annoyed as I was when he blasted my face off with a shotty. 

Gameplay screenshot of Project Arc showing a player character aiming at an enemy.
Project Arc / Krafton

There’s a lot of potential here for teams of highly skilled players to dominate. The only downside to this is there’s a steep learning curve. You can jump in and play and get a few kills easily enough, but doing it without accidentally murdering your teammates constantly is a different matter. 

Controlling a character in real-time from this perspective while also wrestling with the camera doesn’t come naturally to me, but it’s worth pushing through to experience a tactical shooter unlike anything else.

Project Arc doesn't have a firm release date yet, but you can already wishlist it for PC on Steam, if you're keen.


Published
Kirk McKeand
KIRK MCKEAND

Kirk McKeand is the Content Director for GLHF.  A games media writer and editor from Lincoln, UK, he won a Games Media Award in 2014 in the Rising Star category. He has also been nominated for two Features Writer awards. He was also recognized in MCV's 30 Under 30 list in 2014. His favorite games are The Witcher 3, The Last of Us Part 2, Dishonored 2, Deus Ex, Bloodborne, Suikoden 2, and Final Fantasy 7.  You can buy Kirk McKeand's book, The History of the Stealth Game, in most bookstores in the US and UK.  With a foreword written by Arkane's Harvey Smith, The History of the Stealth Game dives deep into the shadows of game development, uncovering the surprising stories behind some of the industry's most formative video games.  He has written for IGN, Playboy, Vice, Eurogamer, Edge, Official PlayStation Magazine, Games Master, Official Xbox Magazine, USA Today's ForTheWin, Digital Spy, The Telegraph, International Business Times, and more.  Kirk was previously the Editor-in-Chief at TheGamer and Deputy Editor at VG247. These days he works as the Content Director for GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage, serving media partners across the globe.  You can check out Kirk McKeand's MuckRack profile for more.  Email: kirk.mckeand@glhf.gg