We don’t know if gamers are feeling turned off by LawBreakers requiring them to be ‘skilled AF’ (studio Boss Key’s words, not ours), but its launch numbers can’t seem to explain the mostly rave reviews it’s got. Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski’s baby, the multiplayer first person shooter set in zero gravity, opened to PC and PS4 only this week.
There’s heavy emphasis on players learning to perform skillful maneuvers to enjoy the best experience it can offer. In fact, just before its launch, Boss Key rolled out a trailer which opens by asking ‘Are you skilled AF?’ and then goes on to show all the awesome moves gamers can pull off in this title.
LawBreakers is as far from story-driven as it’s possible to be. Its style is being compared heavily to Quake, Counter-Strike and inevitably, Overwatch. It contains eight characters classes, with each of these having one to represent the Law side, and the other for the Breakers.
There are large areas of space here and there, meaning gamers can jump to go up thanks to zero gravity. They can also shoot behind their back to propel themselves forward. The PC version has a sandbox mode to help folks practice such tricky moves. PS4 owners have to make do without it.
Despite the pre-release excitement surrounding LawBreakers, GITHYP had predicted in June that this FPS may fail. It could only boast of 2700 players on the day after launch. Additionally, the daily lows are sinking below 1000. Is it perhaps too tough to master, or not novel enough?
We’ll have to wait and see. The game is priced at $30. There is no micro-transaction mechanism in place; but users can watch out for soft currency and stash drops while playing.