I’m always on the lookout for new first-person shooters to sink my teeth into. For a long time, Destiny 2 was my predominant shooter of choice. I’m not the biggest fan of extraction shooters or battle royales, of which Destiny 2 is neither. But I mainly stuck with it because it combined Bungie’s best-in-class gunplay with individual slices of single-player, cooperative, and competitive action. There aren’t any other first-person shooters mixing these same ingredients together, but some at least offer a single portion.
Empulse, a new 6v6 competitive FPS that recently launched on Steam Early Access, is one of those games. Whether it has the quality and staying power to succeed remains to be seen, but there’s some shooter pedigree with Splitgate developer 1047 Games at the helm. The studio’s previous game, Splitgate 2, may have failed to find an audience, forcing a quick rebrand, but I think Empulse’s under-the-radar status could work in its favor–it also helps that it’s not directly associated with an incredibly tone deaf “Make FPS Great Again” hat.
What I like about Empulse is that it’s relatively simple. While Splitgate 2 chased too many industry trends with its exorbitant microtransactions and a shoehorned battle royale mode–aspects at odds with 1047’s stated mission of bringing back a pure arena-shooter experience–Empulse is stripped-back by comparison. It’s not free-to-play (currently priced at $20, with plans to increase after early access), and there aren’t any microtransactions. Yes, you can purchase loot boxes containing weapon and character skins, but only with in-game money you earn simply by playing. There’s no pay-to-win stuff, and so far at least, the game’s battle pass-esque Events are free and only reward you with cosmetics.
