Shroud is making a tactical shooter with some very odd rules

Spectre Divide brings aim-down-sights action into the tactical shooter space, and spices up the teamplay with three-vs-three action where all players control two different bodies—and you can try it for yourself during this weekend’s playtest.

Branded as a “free-to-play, 3v3 tac shooter driven by Duality,” Spectre Divide is a new contestant in the live service market, brought to life by Mountaintop Studios, an independent studio filled with industry veterans who snagged shroud in an advisory role in a bid to challenge the giants of Counter-Strike, VALORANT, and Rainbow Six: Siege in the space.

The gameplay trailer for Spectre Divide went live on Aug. 1, and it immediately honed in on the special double-body element that aims to set the title apart from the crowd. Boasting the currently trendy clean and cartoonish art style, readability complaints sure seem to be at a minimum, as long as you can wrap your head around the complexities of the gameplay.

In an interview with PC Gamer, game director Lee Horn was quoted saying the initial idea was to create a pure three-vs-three experience, but realized that a twist would be needed to make it work. “What happens is, when you have one defender on each site, imagine three attackers rushing that defender, eliminating them—the space is kind of solved. We have the site, take it over. That game is still fun, but it’s not 10,000 hours fun.” Then came the big idea: Why not give players another bite at the cherry? He also revealed that they have been holding closed tests of the game “for over a year now” at this point, suggesting a well-honed formula.

Shroud himself also put up a promotional video for the new title, where he brought tarik and sYmceDez along for a match against the devs, and they duly did so with a score of 8-5. The thirteen-round affair clocked in just below half an hour, suggesting the pace of the gameplay will be mostly similar to the tactical shooters you’re familiar with, at least in the current state of the game.

To check out Spectre Divide for yourself, all you need to do is to request access to this weekend’s playtest on Steam, which you can do on the game’s store page. Double the deaths, double the fun? Mountaintop Studios and shroud sure seem to think so.