EGX was two weeks ago, which is crazy. Time has really passed. However, there’s one game that’s been stuck in my head lately – especially as I’ve been kicking my heels in the Overwatch 2 queue and looking for a quick, competitive FPS fix during downtime program.Enter squad explosion, it has stuck to me since I got it in London. It has the spirit of Overwatch and CS:GO, but both excitingly expressed on a 2D plane. As a result, it’s really excellent.
I’ve spent a lot of time playing Squad Blast at EGX and had the pleasure of interviewing Anatolijs Ropotovs, CEO and founder of Ultrahorse, about the inspiration for the title, what the studio hopes to achieve, and what it thinks players will skip the genre. Some big hits, try this fresh, more 2D approach.
Squad Blast is a team-based competitive shooter where you and your partner will outsmart and outsmart the enemy team in short, powerful goal-based matches. It’s hero-based, meaning different characters have different weapons and abilities, and even in my short hour or so, I could feel the counter-play metadata bubbling behind the scenes. Snipers dominate mid-range rocket users, shotguns beat snipers, and rockets are very good at cutting off the propulsion of offensive shotguns. You can play defense, you can play offense, but you have to play well…or you’ll see a clear difference between yourself and your opponent. Like any good competitive title.
“It was the early days of lockdown, and we wanted to build a new type of competitive experience,” Ropotovs said. “We wanted to explore how to make a side-scrolling tactical shooter as fun as a modern FPS. A game with enough depth and challenge so it’s a hero shooter with multiple classes and squad interactions .”
But who is it for? As with any competitive multiplayer game, there are two main crowds. Casual gamers and hardcore gamers, those who join every now and then, and those who spend hours streamlining and enhancing their games. According to Ropotovs, the answer is not binary. They want to appeal to both groups, and the keys to success are clearly accessibility and familiarity.
“We want it to be accessible with a lot of pick-and-play components. We envision this being playable by the entire FPS audience, so millions of players. On the one hand, we have this accessibility, controller support and basic weapons , like the Homing Bazooka, which is great for novice players. Then, once you go deeper, all the classroom interactions and special skills, which is where the pro game comes in, you see that depth.”
It’s time for the elephant in the room: why play Squad Blast instead of any other competitive shooter? A quick behind-the-scenes look at this is the question I’ve asked all the field service developers I interviewed, especially those creating games in a saturated market. There may not be many games that offer exactly what Squad Blast is, but in order to appeal to the entire FPS player base, what does Squad Blast have to do to win over such a large crowd? The answer: focus on a balanced and non-frustrating experience. Something not all big games have. Plus, player-created content.
“Squad Blast is about fair play at its core. We’re going to do that by balancing all weapons, classes and maps. So that’s our first major desire as a first-half pro team. We’ve always wanted the game to be balanced and Complete so that everyone can have a real competitive experience. Ultrahorsel’s second wish is to allow for creativity and expression in the game. Once we are out of beta and into full release, we will add a level editor for all players so that They can then build a variety of gaming experiences that may exceed our own.
It remains to be seen whether Squad Blast will have the impact the developers crave and attract the competitive shooter crowd they’re building the game for. As for how to experience the game now, it has been released in the Steam closed beta, and you can apply for access and experience it yourself. If you manage to get in, let us know what you think of the games below!
For more coverage of EGX, check out Jim’s great coverage of Shadows of Doubt, the great detective RPG we love on the show.
