It has been a good three and a half years since Diabotical was the last great hope of the Arena shooter genres was announced. On February 28, 2020 – after numerous postponements – the first beta weekend in the Epic Games Store finally started and was a complete success, according to the developers.
A total of over 250,000 players are said to have already taken a look at the closed beta, with over 43,000 spectators watching Twitch at the same time. Not bad for a relatively unknown indie title. But can that be enough to single-handedly save the genre?
Arena shooter in crisis
While classics like Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament were still among the most popular multiplayer shooters at the beginning of the millennium, the Arena FPS lost more and more players to military shooters like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare over the years.
Since then, the genre has been in crisis: Quake Live and Quake Champions are only played by almost 1,000 people at a time, the online mode of Doom was extinct shortly after the release and Epic Games stopped developing the Unreal Tournament Remake in favor of Fortnite. The Lawbreakers, which was discontinued in 2018, was even such a big letdown that the developer studio Boss Key then had to close its doors.
Diabotical as a last hope
Diabotical is considered in the Arena FPS community »The last hope for an entire genre«. The game itself relies on gameplay that is heavily influenced by Quake 3 Arena:
- The most popular weapons from Quake 3 can also be found in Diabotical (Rocket Launcher, Lightning Gun, Railgun, etc.)
- The movement is also inspired by the great role model, rocket jumps, circle jumps and penalty jumps want to be mastered.
To one target group as large as possible To address, the developers signed a deal with Epic Games: The shooter originally planned as Buy2Play title will now appear completely free in the Epic Games Store.
The financial supp ort is also intended to support development for two years after the release
Are Arena FPS still up to date?
It is questionable whether this will be enough to save an entire genre. The tastes of many players have changed too much in recent years:
- In the past it was considered a progression, such as in CS: GO, to improve your own skill through hours of training. Many current shooters, on the other hand, are about experience points and unlockable skills and weapons – you get stronger as soon as you have unlocked a new weapon.
- Character or account progression is a great motivation for many players – Overwatch regularly rewards its players with loot boxes that contain skins and other cosmetics. Diabotical will offer at least one ranked mode as a motivating element.
- Arena shooters are just too difficult for many players. Similar to fighting games, arena FPS have a brutal learning curve. Combined with a small but extremely committed player base, this creates a difficult situation for new players: They start the game, are disassembled by experienced players and then often no longer feel like it.
- Class-based shooters like Overwatch have support and tank characters that allow players with weaker mechanical skills to do their part to win.
In order to actually be a success, Diabotical must Ideally pick up both target groups: Younger players who are spoiled by the latest progression mechanics and need constant motivation through unlockable items, as well as old arena shooter rabbits who need perfect gameplay to get completely involved in a new title.
We'll see if that will work from the June 1, 2020, because then Diabotical should appear. Until then, it will be playable every weekend as a beta, for which you can register on the official homepage.
