2K has announced Project Ethos, a new “third-person roguelike hero shooter.” Here’s another game among them. 31st Union is a studio led by Michael Condrey, co-founder of Call of Duty studio Sledgehammer Games. Do not perform the Callisto Protocol.
Before forming 31st Union in February 2019, Condrey worked on a series of CoD titles at Sledgehammer that proved to be hits, so he brings a lot of shooter pedigree to the project.
If you look at the screenshots and videos, as you can see, since it is a hero shooter, I can’t guarantee that Overwatch’s Tracer won’t have the cavalry thing going on in my head over and over again and thoughts like this. Sadly, that speaks volumes for the Concord series as a whole, as does the state of play for every game in the genre, which is expected to be released in 2024. But just because one game has had a rough time doesn’t necessarily mean another one will.
The game, which differs from Concord by being free-to-play right out of the box, is still touted as being ‘in development’, so its release doesn’t seem to be too late. A community playtest will soon take place over several days, from October 17th to October 20th. More information can be found here.
Project Ethos has an extraction mode called Trials, which sounds similar to what you’d expect. Staying longer involves risk but also the opportunity for better rewards. The roguelike element comes through a selection of random upgrades, which can change your character’s attacks and abilities and can be earned during matches. I assume you can make money by shooting people for good.
We’ll have to see how Project Ethos evolves and whether it can break away from the bad vibes of hero shooters like Overwatch that will appear in its 2024 cast. Let’s hope it’s popular enough that people won’t try to joke it back on the market after launch.