Leap is a 60-player FPS that looks like Tribes with hoverboards and a robo-moose

Citadel: Forged With Fire developer Blue Isle Studios is working on a new project called Leap that will pit up to 60 players against one another in high-mobility, aerial-focused FPS combat. The shooter is "coming soon" to Steam, and will begin closed beta testing later this month.

Leap players will choose from four unique classes, each with a distinct combination of power, agility, defensive capability, and special abilities, as they take up arms in team-based battles of up to 60 players on behalf of the United Earth Defense Coalition or the Exo-Terrans. Traversal across Leap's "large-scale maps," will be aided by jetpacks, grappling hooks, and "personal vehicles," and complicated by automated turrets, orbital strikes, and player-controlled cruise missiles.

The trailer takes awhile to get to actual gameplay, but once it gets rolling it reminds me a bit of Tribes, which appeals to the old-time online shooter fan in me—although it apparently opts for snowboarding rather than skiing. But Blue Isle is pretty clearly opting to take a not-entirely-serious approach to the action: Other vehicles in the game include what appears to be some kind of cyber inner tube and—I'm not kidding here—a "mechanical moose."

Yes, seriously.

Leap — (Image credit: Blue Isle Studios)

We'll get a better sense of how that impression translates into gameplay with the start of the closed beta test on January 19. If you'd like to check it out for yourself, you can sign up for access to the beta at playleap.com. Leap is currently set to launch into Early Access on Steam later this year, and you can have a look at some screens down below.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.