BioShock and Borderlands publisher 2K has announced Project Ethos, a new “roguelike hero shooter” dreamt up by Michael Condrey, the former co-founder of Call of Duty studio Sledgehammer Games.
Project Ethos is the first project from Condrey’s current team 31st Union, which was founded back in February 2019. Prior to that, Condrey, along with Glen Schofield, had worked on a string of Call of Duty hits, including Modern Warfare 3 (the 2011 one), Advanced Warfare, and WW2.
A colourful free-to-play third-person hero shooter, the game visually looks similar to Overwatch (and the recently released and deceased Concord). Indeed, 31st Union has Overwatch DNA running through it, courtesy of Blizzard narrative designer Michael Chu, who holds the same position on this project also.
How is Project Ethos a roguelike? Today’s announcement by 2K reveals the game features “powerful, semi-randomised upgrades unique to each hero” which let you evolve your fighters in real-time through each game.
There’s an extraction mode, because of course, which sounds like it offers the usual risk/reward gameplay loop of lingering to gather more resources or leaving more safely with less.
If you’d like to give it a go, 2K is shadow dropping a community playtest which is live right now – as of 5pm UK time on 17th October – which will run until 1am later tonight.
A second, longer playtest will then run from tomorrow, 18th October, at 1pm UK time to 21st October at 1am UK time.
This playtest will offer the game’s extraction mode, named Trials, and also a competitive head-to-head mode, named Gauntlet, where you fight to be the last player standing.
So, fancy giving it a go?