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I've been playing first-person shooters for a long time, so if you show me a man wall-running while blasting an enemy, a big smile is going to creep across my face. Empulse's gameplay, shown for the first time at the PC Gaming Show, has me grinning like an idiot, then.
There's a warm, fuzzy nostalgia to Empulse that 1047 Games are no doubt hoping will attract lapsed fans of arena shooter silliness. The trailer, a solid minute of frantic gunplay that ends with a bloke lamping a mech with a sledgehammer, immediately took me back to the glory days of Xbox 360 shooters and left me wanting more.
At heart, I love tactical shooters and saying things like "enemy down" and "we're clear here", but I grew up on weird and wonderful arena shooters like Halo 3, Brink and Timeshift. Empulse's kinetic movement and high-speed combat reminds me of those days, back when I was a teenager with unlimited internet access and basically no responsibilities: the ideal conditions for keeping up with the people who play FPS games online.
That feeling comes rushing back every time the trailer shows someone sliding between a mech's legs or hip-firing an assault rifle while sprinting along a wall. Telling PC Gamer more about the game, 1047 Games promised that movement is at the heart of everything in Empulse. In addition to wallrunning forwards and backwards, you'll also be swinging with grapple hooks and even tossing paint on the ground to change the way the ground works.
Did I mention there are mechs? They spawn on the map armed to the teeth and the different teams can claim them to splatter the enemy team across the scenery. If powerful game-changing stuff spawning on the map doesn't scream classic arena shooter to you, I'd posit that you never played one.
This nostalgia even extends to the soundtrack. Joey Valence & Brae's bustamove might be a brand-new track, but it channels golden-era Beastie Boys so effectively that it put a smile on my face. It might do the same for you.
If you've been convinced, Empulse is releasing on Steam's Early Access platform on June 24, and you can play it for free at Steam Next Fest starting June 15.
Check out everything revealed at the PC Gaming Show.
