The next tactical shooter to hit the saturated scene is Spectre, a vibrant and stylish game from Mountaintop Studios that has streamers like Michael “shroud” Grzesiek involved.
A full reveal for Spectre was announced today on X, with more details and gameplay coming August 1. Until then, players have been left with a short clip that looks like a more comic book illustration-style version of Valorant. Is it just a Valorant dupe? That’s hard to predict just yet, but popular FPS streamers seem to think it’s going to be a hit either way.
Veteran FPS streamer and former Counter-Strike 2 pro shroud tweeted earlier today that read: “Been working on this game for a long time, excited to show you guys.”
shroud and Sentinels content creator Tarik “tarik” Celi have been involved in Spectre’s production, both as investors and helping with insight and the game’s direction.
shroud has been a long-time fan of Valorant and has considered it easier to learn and more fun to play than Counter-Strike 2. With so much love and dedication to Valorant, it points at Spectre probably taking a lot of inspiration from Riot’s competitive shooter. Even some images in the short teaser shared today look strikingly similar to Valorant maps. It actually had some people replying to shroud with a question: “How’s it different from Valorant?”
Other streamers, however, seem excited by shroud’s take on a tactical shooter. Ryan “Ohmwrecker” Lord, known for playing online multiplayers, said the game seemed like a blend of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Valorant, which would make sense since these are two of shroud’s most-played games. The art style, he added, looked more like Borderlands.
Some players that have participated in the in the beta commended shroud on the game, calling it a “gem.” But others are sceptical of Spectre, calling it Valorant with a reskin or saying they’re sick of the cartoon style. Others noted they are just plain old sick of games like Valorant and CS2.
The criticism is met in equal measure by positive reviews. One fan wrote: “I got to play for the first time, very interesting game. I had a lot of fun.”
Glaze or facts? Only time will tell.
Some fans who saw shroud’s announcement regarding Spectre became confused. Previously, the FPS expert had announced he was working on a survival game — but Spectre is a shooter. Is the survival game scrapped?
On X, one fan asked if the survival game was still coming.
shroud replied: “Yuppers.”
shroud first announced a survival game in partnership with Splash Damage back in 2023. This game is being called Project Astrid, an open-world game with survival elements that fans have been excited for ever since it was revealed.
It’s unclear when Project Astrid is coming outm and there’s been very little gameplay information shared since the first announcement. Seems like shroud is probably focused on Spectre for now, which will be fully revealed on August 1.
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