Spectre Divide Hands-On Preview: Breaking FPS Boundaries

When I booted up Spectre Divide for the first time, I fully expected to play yet another team-based competitive shooter that would probably be fine but likely wouldn’t elevate above that. After all, the teaser trailer provided no other information other than Spectre being a mash-up of Valorant and CS:GO. But I am so glad to be wrong and to be incredibly overwhelmed by the novelty Spectre Divide brings.

The first thing that stood out to me was the art style. Cel-shading in FPS games is definitely not something you see every day, and some may argue it could be distracting, but the shadowing and details you can see in the world are actually very clean and bright so you don’t get overwhelmed.

I will say that the only downside to the visuals was the fact that sometimes the orange outlines on your enemies were too slight and you’d be unable to determine if who you’re looking at is, in fact, your enemy. But the fun I had in matches greatly outweighed that visual hiccup – one that I’m sure can be addressed before launch.

Seeing Double

But let’s back up. Spectre Divide is a 3v3 tactical shooter that utilizes a mechanic called Duality, where you control two characters in matches. Technically these characters are both you, just split into two bodies. To further solidify the point that these are your two bodies, you’re actually able to fully customize both yourself and your Spectre in the menu.

It’s a really interesting system in a genre that has Valorant or Overwatch where you traditionally have these set characters with set abilities that you recognize. Instead, you have yourself and your split body that you’re able to really make your own. But Spectre Divide not only encourages you to be creative with your character customization, but your gameplay too.

You’re equipped with a puck that allows you to relocate your Spectre to any position, and then swap to that body. So this can be used to get up to higher points, quickly reposition through a gate, or even just live to see another day.

Your Spectre can also alert you to any enemies approaching that specific body. If I left my Spectre on Point B and I had been guarding Point A, I’d be alerted if enemies were nearing Point B based on where my Spectre is. This allows your Spectre to be even more of a useful tool in each match.

If your Spectre dies, you’re still able to use your remaining body to see the game through. So the Spectre gives you a second chance if you’re smart with placement. When I ran through my first few rounds of a match, I was surprised that learning to manage a second body was not as difficult or daunting as I expected during the tutorial.

It takes a solid minute to figure out how to position yourself and your Spectre and how to best utilize your two bodies in a fight, but the learning curve was actually incredibly shallow. I got about four hours of gameplay in, and during that time I did learn a few tricks to really boost my Spectre mechanics, but learning the basics getting the reflexes down for managing your Spectre was pretty quick.

While Spectres themselves don’t have any unique abilities, you’re given options for different sets of tech with Sponsors. Sponsors provide you and your Spectre with equipment that benefits your team with different abilities and gear. Think of the Sponsors as your different classes in an FPS. There are currently eight Sponsors available with different kits that vary from assault-based abilities to healing support abilities.

Each set of Sponsors are created with Duality in mind so you’re able to further utilize your Spectre while activating your abilities. For example, when I used the Pinnacle Sponsor, using the Adrena-Link stim would heal the body I was currently in. But if I swapped to my Spectre, I’d be able to gain enhanced movement and vision for the duration of the stim.

This really encourages unique gameplay from players and during my hands-on time, it kept me on my toes throughout each round. Trying to strategize the best ways to flank enemies or utilize my Spectre for intel was half the fun. I honestly found myself immediately taken by this concept and, after each match, I’d want to queue back in and try a different strategy.

Familiar Format With A Twist

The actual matches themselves are pretty self-explanatory. You’re tasked with either defending or assaulting different bomb sites, and the first to eight wins takes the victory. There’s a buy period in the first few minutes of each round where you determine what weapons and abilities you want to equip.

Unlike Valorant or CS:GO, when you buy weapons you don’t just buy individual weapons for each character. The weapons come in sets of two that split between you and your Spectre. So when I bought the first weapon set in Tier 2, I received the Buzzsaw for myself and the Harpe Sniper for my Spectre.

If either you or your Spectre dies but one of you survives the round, you’re able to simply buy back the single weapon you’re missing in the kit for a discounted price. On that note, the weapons in Spectre Divide aren’t particularly unique, they’re weapons I’ve seen before in most FPS rosters with your typical burst-rifles, SMGs, assault rifles, and super-powered Operator sniper rifle. But it’s the way the weapons work that was the more creative angle.

Run, Don’t Walk

Usually in tactical shooters, your aim becomes less accurate as you move and you’re encouraged to walk slowly or even crouch when pulling the trigger. It’s quite the opposite in Spectre Divide. As long as you’re ADSing, you’re able to shoot on the move with crosshair accuracy.

You can still hipfire, but the best way to ensure your accuracy is maxed is by ADS-ing a majority of the time. Considering that developer Mountaintop Studios is comprised of developers from Valorant, Apex Legends, Destiny, and other FPS projects, these elements all make sense for Spectre Divide’s base mechanics. A lot of casual players feel isolated from the fact that you’re not able to move at your max speed and accurately shoot in tactical shooters.

But now you’re able to move around however you want and maintain that accuracy. The competitive nature of Spectre Divide works without the added need to be strategic in your stuttered movement because of required management of you and your Spectre. Mountaintop’s ability to balance these mechanics is genuinely intelligent.

The barrier to entry is a nonissue with the concept of Duality being easily comprehended. However, the skill gap between comprehension and mastering Duality is deep enough that players can spend hours and hours in the game and still find new ways to utilize this mechanic in unique ways in each match.

For the first time in a really long time, I’m so very excited for an all-new competitive FPS. Spectre Divide will be free-to-play with Spectre and weapon cosmetics as the only purchasables, and no pay-to-win mechanics. Stay tuned for lots more on this one as development progresses.

Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she’s previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn’t streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.