Titanfall remains one of my favorite FPS series of all time, and I will forever be bitter that EA canned it at its peak. It wasn't even Titanfall 2's fault; the game was essentially sent to the slaughter by being released between Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. With no hope in sight for a Titanfall 3 from any AAA studio, it has fallen upon indie developers to provide our next dose of mech-infused movement shooters.
ShatterRush: A Spiritual Successor to Titanfall 3
Enter ShatterRush, a spiritual successor being developed by the two-person team at Tetra Studios. You can currently download a pre-alpha build on Steam, though the developers describe it more as "pre-pre-pre alpha" when you boot it up. While textures and sound effects are very barebones right now, ShatterRush absolutely has the sauce.
The experience begins with a familiar speed-running tutorial where an obstacle course teaches you the controls and encourages high scores. It is unapologetically reminiscent of the mechanics we loved in the original series. Even this early in development, the movement feels incredibly fluid. You can engage in:
- Wall-running and Mach 10 sliding.
- Grappling hooks, dashes, and stims.
- High-flying jetpack maneuvers.
The gameplay loop allows you to find that classic rhythm of jumping between walls while raining bullets down on enemies or launching yourself like a cannonball with a shotgun. While the maps are visually basic, they are cleverly designed to facilitate this slick movement.
Piloting the Guardian Mech
Just like the predecessor we crave for a Titanfall 3, you spend your time running and gunning while slowly charging up your pilotable mech. You could swap your mech out for airstrikes, but why would you ever do that? Your Guardian Mech is packed with massive machine guns and rockets, and it even features a shield to block incoming fire. When the mech is on its last legs, you can simply tug the ejection handle and exit the fray, blowing up any nearby enemies in the process.
A Unique Twist: Fully Destructible Environments
At first glance, this might look like a low-budget copy of Respawn's iconic shooter—but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. ShatterRush actually has a unique trick up its sleeve: destruction. Taking a page from the Battlefield playbook, the environments are fully destructible.
It is incredibly satisfying to call your mech down on a rooftop and watch it crash through the floors. While the feature is currently a little buggy and can occasionally get you stuck, being able to crack open buildings to create new paths is a brilliant vision.
The developers at Tetra Studios explain that they update the game roughly every two weeks. In fact, the game was updated during my playtime to tweak maps and make mechs more tanky. ShatterRush is clearly in its infancy, but it is an incredibly promising project to keep on your radar.
