Online shooter Shatterline from the Ukrainian studio Frag Lab, which was once in Steam’s free early access, is already available in EGS. Now the game costs $4.99 (or UAH 92 for the Ukrainian region) and has the game web3 company as a publisher.
Online shooter Shatterline from the Ukrainian studio Frag Lab, which was once in Steam’s free early access, is already available in EGS. Now the game costs $4.99 (or UAH 92 for the Ukrainian region) and has the game web3 company as a publisher.
Shatterline is a multiplayer FPS with co-op PVE and competitive PvP modes. According to the game’s lore, a mysterious interstellar object exploded near Earth, and its debris crashed into the planet’s surface, turning entire cities into toxic craters and causing millions of deaths.
The debris also infected the planet with Crystallin, which distorts living organisms and causes anomalies. The player takes on the role of one of the operatives (among them the Ukrainian medic Malva) who use crystalline technologies to fight him.
Welcome to Shatterline — ground zero for the apocalypse. Are you ready?
— Shatterline FPS (@ShatterlineFPS) December 5, 2024
Shatterline is LIVE on @EpicGames! pic.twitter.com/1OgWVGh8Go
Shatterline was in early access on Steam for about 2 years — from September 8, 2022 to August 1, 2024. The game had a f2p model with paid battle passes, but in recent seasons the developers have made even them free. The studio later announced that it was ending early access and shutting down the servers to focus on preparing for a full launch.
Later, the developers announced that the project will not be free when it is released in EGS, as before.
«After much thought, we’ve decided to launch Shatterline at $4.99 because there’s a very good reason why this game will still remain free for most players! Our goal is to make this game 'effectively free,'» the developers wrote on their Discord.
According to the developers, the low paywall can also scare away cheaters. According to them, this is one of the worst problems for any free-to-play competitive game.
They explained that they plan to recruit «hundreds of official creators» for Shatterline and give them «hundreds of game keys» to give out to their viewers on the stream. These keys will provide access to the game for free.
Earlier it became known that Frag Lab was reducing the number of developers. According to sources, then the studio lost funding for the second time and part of Frag Lab employees, whose number reached more than 200 people in 2022, was looking for a new job. The studio had to lay off part of the developers and give up a large office in the center of Kyiv.
Game blockchain company Faraway, which is now listed as the project’s publisher, apparently helped with the funding to complete Shatterline’s development. Along with this, elements of NFTs and crypto tokens appeared in the Ukrainian game, which were not in early access.
«NFTs should not interfere with the core gameplay. We use NFTs and blockchain in general in areas where we believe it improves the gaming experience (meta or gameplay),» Faraway assures.
HV-MTL robots appeared in the game as NFT combat companions in the Expedition mode. Different classes of HV-MTL have different playability.
Also, in various modes of Shatterline, players will earn Engrams currency. It can be used to activate the Rift Decoder on a separate site to win HV-MTL points, which are converted into HV-MTL tokens.
Engrams also produce rewards in the form of Rift Keys and Ascension Materials that can be sold in the Faraway Shop.
«Season 1 is more of a Play-to-Airdrop season for the HV-MTL token. More web3 systems (for example, for crafting) will be introduced in the following seasons, which will coincide with the launch of FCHAIN,» notes Faraway.
According to the company, for places on the leaderboard in PVE and PVP modes, rewards will be paid in USDC using a smart contract.
