Pearl Abyss On Plan 8: "Unique Shooter Title With MMO Gameplay Elements"

Pearl Abyss revealed more details today about Plan 8, its "exosuit MMO" that it revealed at G-Star last month, along with half a dozen screenshots and a new logo. The new info comes in the form of a bulleted fact sheet, which has enough details that we'll simply reproduce it below and offer commentary after:

Development History

• PLAN 8 is the first shooter introduced by Pearl Abyss and combines open-world MMO elements with action-packed gameplay and realistic graphics that players expect within the shooter genre.
• PLAN 8 is built on Pearl Abyss’ brand-new, proprietary engine.
• PLAN 8 is currently being developed for PC and console by Lead Producer Seungki Lee, former Environment Art Director for Black Desert Online, and Technical Advisor Minh Le, co-creator of the original Counter-Strike.

Genre Defining

• Pearl Abyss is striving to create a next-generation shooter that combines the best elements of the MMO genre to create an entirely new experience unlike any other shooter game on the market.
• A vast open world and profound worldview will be important to PLAN 8.
• Though Pearl Abyss describes PLAN 8 as a shooter, it is difficult to confine the game to a single genre. The project aims to create a unique shooter title with MMO gameplay elements.

Gameplay

• PLAN 8 is defined as an exosuit MMO shooter. The exosuit is a robotic device that the player can wear, offering amazing abilities.
• A key feature of PLAN 8 is finding and equipping different Gears to the player’s exosuit, opening up gameplay experiences never-before-seen in any game.

Exosuits

• Exosuits allow players to exercise superhuman power, granting wearers extraordinary strength and capabilities.
• Every exosuit has its own special abilities. When an exosuit meets another on the battlefield, they can counter each other depending on their compatibility. This allows for complex strategic gameplay through advantages and disadvantages among exosuits.
• Player can use exosuits in many different ways. For example, an exosuit with enhanced arms will help them climb up and down walls, while one with enhanced legs will help them jump over high walls and buildings.

Firearms

• Firearms play a very important role in the world of PLAN 8. Like exosuits, firearms can be enhanced or modified using various parts that players can choose.
• Enhancement and modification of firearms doesn’t follow a standardized format. Players can customize their firearms based on their own creative ideas.

I'm not on board with all the hype -- "unlike any other shooter game on the market," "never-before-seen" -- but Plan 8 does sound like it could be a solid looter-shooter title in the vein of Destiny 2 or Warframe. The one thing that does stand out is the use of "enhanced" arms or legs to facilitate movement, so everyone doesn't just have a rocket pack or some other same-ish movement ability.

And hey, it looks pretty, as the screenshots below indicate. Maybe it won't be as revolutionary as the press release would have you believe, but it could still be pretty good, whether or not it turns out to be free-to-play.

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