Counter-Strike 2 is the ultimate team-based shooter. Sure, you can go rogue, and skip around de_dust with the AWP, attempting to wipe the whole enemy team, but realistically, success is only guaranteed if you’re smart, co-operative, and work in tandem with your comrades. You take that multiplayer sensibility and combine it with the weighty, physical mech combat of Armored Core 6, that immensely gratifying feeling as you zip along the open terrain, launching bullet and missile salvos into distant enemies, before drawing your giant, metal sword for a close-up melee battle – that mix of power, speed, and maneuverability. At a glance, CS2 and AC6 might seem like two games difficult to unify, but a smart, super slick upcoming mech shooter manages to find the sweet spot between individualistic battlesuit combat and team-driven cooperative strategy. And if you want to try it for yourself, there’s a new beta about to launch, and we’ve got all the sign-up details right here.
Mecha Break is a mech and multiplayer game by Amazing Seasun. At GDC, we spoke directly with the studio’s CEO, Kris Kwok, about the shooter’s grand ambitions. Across a sprawling, 256-square-kilometer map, 60 players, each piloting customized mechs, wage war as part of a squad-based battle royale. Some combat suits are designed as tanks, the frontliners who wade in first to clear obstacles and deal initial, area-of-effect damage. Others are more melee-based – they carry swords, spears, and halberds, and follow behind the chunkier units for the showdown proper.
Aside from its grand scale, Mecha Break’s biggest achievement is its balance. Mechs are heavy and convincingly cumbersome, but still nimble, fluid, and intuitive to control. Likewise, you can score victories by going it alone – you won’t be instantly punished and wiped off the map if you stray from the squad – but working together is more likely to yield positive results.
Mecha Break arrives on Steam later in 2024, but in the meantime, a new closed beta is just around the corner. From Friday April 26 to Monday April 29, you can play Mecha Break between the hours of 3am to 9am PST / 6am to 12pm EST / 10am to 4pm GMT / 11am to 5pm CEST. If you want to sign up for the Mecha Break closed beta, just head right here.
Alternatively, try some of the other best co-op games, or maybe check out the best upcoming PC games on their way to you in 2024.
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