EVE Online shocked attendees by pulling the veil back on its upcoming FPS made by the London dev team. EVE Vanguard is a new PvPvE extraction shooter made in UE5 that will be integrated with EVE Online from day one.
EVE Vanguard is a stand-alone FPS module in EVE Online, downloadable from the EVE launcher and integrated with the MMO from day one. Vanguard sees a new generation of Warclones descend onto the surfaces of the planets that scatter New Eden, fighting for survival and taking contracts to help their factions, alliances, or just themselves in the broader scope of EVE Online.
At its core, EVE Vanguard looks to be an extraction shooter, where players will take a contract, drop to the surface, scavenge for materials, and complete objectives. Once completed, you'll need to extract back to orbit, all the while contending with other players and the environment itself. Brought to life using Unreal Engine 5, using all the bells and whistles, including Nanite, EVE's shooter looks realistic, with the dev team making a special note to highlight that the aim isn't to look cinematic like other shooters, so you're not going to see things like crazy lens flare, chromatic aberration, and the like. Instead, everything is aiming to look grounded in reality, especially with regard to equipment and weaponry.
There's no space magic in EVE Online, so weapons look functional, though there are still some incredible sci-fi flares thrown in. I especially loved the way looking down the sites expands a holo screen that shows more information, such as the type of ammo an enemy might be resistant to versus others.
Since this is still the EVE universe here, the aim is to ensure that every way you can play EVE Online is somehow represented in Vanguard. So, Soldiers of Fortune, Industrialists, and more will have a role. Basic crafting on the fly is in the shooter as well, with an example being using the materials gathered on the planet to craft the right ammo type to take down enemies, while Biomass can be used to heal yourself and your party in between engagements.
While eventually there will be more maps, during December's test, which is open to Omega players of EVE Online, will feature a single map that centers on a downed ship. While that core concept will stay the same - Warclone Vanguards flocking to a downed ship for resources like scavengers to a whale carcass - the maps themselves might start to peek into the player history of EVE. Maybe a downed ship from one of the next great player wars? Maybe that broken vessel was yours, and all the loot Vanguards are fighting over is stuff you made?
Over time, the interoperability between the two games will deepen, with player contracts eventually coming, industrial objectives being injected into the module, and more over time. One thing CCP notes, though, is that Vanguard is not meant to be a full, stand-alone FPS. Rather, it's always meant to work with and as part of the greater EVE Online tapestry. However, that's not to say that those who want to jump into EVE Vanguard as that entry point to EVE Online aren't going to find plenty to do.
No release date was given for Vanguard's full release, Omega players can look out for that mass test this December. Check out the full details on the EVE Vanguard website. In case you missed it, also at EVE Fanfest today, CCP Games announced its next expansion, Havoc, which is coming on November 14th.
