Counter-Strike is for gambling addicts, and Valorant is on autopilot after Riot laid off pretty much everyone but the cosmetics department. The tac shooter landscape is rather dire these days, which is why I was willing to give this game a try.

It definitely scratches that tac shooter itch, though in a weird way. This game is heavily reliant on ADS, you can be accurate while moving, there's sprinting now and the whole two-body mechanic is its own beast entirely. The 3v3 format is also much less forgiving compared to traditional 5v5 gameplay, even if you do control two bodies at once. There's a lot of jank – the devs even admitted that it would have been best to launch in Early Access to manage expectations. Even now, after the launch of Season 1, it's noticeable that Mountaintop is an indie studio on what is comparatively a shoestring budget trying to achieve what bigger studios do with AAA money.

That said, I think it's worth giving this game a chance if you can keep an open mind about some of the weirdness. There's a good game at the core of Spectre Divide and everybody loves an indie darling to root for in a genre dominated by greedy C suits.