- They will arrive on wings of fire...
To remake our world in their image...
Nobody took his warnings seriously...
But when the Strafe hits, it's like someone flipped a switch...
Shatterline is an online multiplayer First-Person Shooter developed by Frag Lab LLC
In the not-too-distant future of 2028, world peace was shattered to bits when a hail of crystal-like alien substance crashes on earth's cities like a meteor storm. Called "The Crystaline", it is an interstellar, silicon-based life-form that assimilates every surface it hits, reducing entire cities to ruins and assimilating sentient life-forms, converting most of earth's human populations into silicon-based humanoids.
One man had foreseen the disaster, years before it could happen. Alan Seer, the self-proclaimed prophet and founder of the Cult known as The Strafe Witness, believes the Crystalline's arrival to be a blessing from some higher entities to cleanse Earth of impurities, for mankind to start anew. And now Alan sees himself as humanity's new leader to subdue the Crystalline growth.
In the aftermath of the Crystalline's apocalyptic takeover, an event dubbed "The Strafe" by the media, members of the Shell Guard squadron - highly-trained operatives carrying the V-Gene, whom are immune to the Crystalline infection, immediately signs up to combat the Crystalline.
As always, players assume the role of various Shell Guard operatives, in an online action-packed FPS game where multiple players across the globe can sign up to battle the Crystalline creatures as a team, partake in roguelike co-op Player(s)-vs-Everything modes or shoot each other's faces in Player-vs-Player modes.
The game is available for the PlayStation 4, GeForce Now, Xbox One and PC.
Welcome Aboard, Immune!
- A.K.A.-47: The Zenith is the closest the game has to an AK-47 expy without being called such.
- After the End: The game is set after an apocalyptic event called "The Strife" which turns most humans into silicon-organic monsters, and the player assumes the part of an elite operative team fighting the creatures.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Most of the bosses have a glaring red crystal spot, called "The Core", as their only vulnerable spot. Your Mission Control will occasionally remind you in-game:"Bright spots, remember?"
- Big Bad: Alan Seer, expectedly, being the False Prophet who founded The Strafe Witness and is using the apocalyptic event called The Strafe to control humanity.
- Body to Jewel: That crosses into Body Horror territory, this is the fate of human victims of the Strafe having the Crystalline taking over their bodies; starting with internal solidification and crystal shards bursting through their skin, and their bodies being ripped apart from the inside as they are converted into silicon-organic hybrids no longer capable of thought, and so on.
- Chain Lightning: An upgrade you can obtain either for firearms or melee-based weapons, where a successful hit will blast your target with electricity that arcs to the nearest adjacent target. It's even called "Chain Lightning" in-game.
- Combat Resuscitation: On multiplayer mode, you could (read: should) stop by and revive deceased teammates with a jab to the heart. Your teammates can revive you too should you be slain.
- Crystalline Creature: All the enemies encountered, of the Was Once a Man variety.
- Crystal Landscape: Most of the entire world has been terraformed by the Crystalline, with scary-looking crystal spikes emerging from the surface and skewering through most skyscrapers. The opening FMV even displays a panning shot of earth in outer space... with crystal spikes coming out the stratosphere.
- Damage Sponge: Most of the bosses have limited attack choices - Behemoths lumbers after you while trying to stomp you down, Stilts scampers around an area while shooting red energy bolts, and the Queen sends a flurry of crystal spikes as projectiles. However, the bosses' health pool is huge, tanking hundreds of rounds before going down.
- Hobbling the Giant: The Stilts (and Mecha-Stilts) bosses are tall, spindly monsters with thin, skinny legs. Aiming for the ankles will slow them down.
- Hostile Terraforming: This is what happened to most of Earth's surface after The Strafe, where entire landscapes gets replaced by crystal which tears through buildings and leaves much of the planet's surface in ruins. There's even a shot of a Pacific Island getting ripped to pieces by the crystal!
- Lethal Lava Land: A few stages are set where the Crystalline growth have caused the ground fissures to open up, and lava pools to spawn all around the area. Don't step on those! Unfortunately, there's a Behemoth boss fight where said Behemoth is made of Living Lava - capable of entering from one lava pit to another, using it's advantage to repeatedly ambush you.
- Life Drain: One of the Combat Melee Buffs, "Bloodthirsty", actually restores your health from killing enemies with melee attacks.
- Multinational Team: As this game was made for international gamers, the Shell Guard's members consists of operatives from all corners of the globe. There's the ex-Hong Kong triad enforcer Mongoose, Ukrainian medic Malva, African-American sergeant Strix, Brazilian sniper Brisa, and so on.
- One-Winged Angel: Alan Seer, when fought as the Final Boss, allows the Crystalline to take over himself, turning into a monstrous crystal-organic monstrosity.
- Orbiting Particle Shield: The Crystalline Queen can control a tornado of crystal shards to surround herself as an improvised shield. She can sometimes pelt you with it, ala Gemstone Assault.
- Power Floats: The Queen has the ability to float and hover all over the place due to energy radiating from the Crystalline growth. None of the other bosses have this ability, somehow.
- Recurring Boss: Practically all the bosses except Alan Seer himself are repeats of their initial encounter. You'll fight Stilts, Mecha-Stilts and Behemoths multiple times (with a Stilt and a Behemoth forming a Dual Boss in one stage), while the Queen is fought twice.
- Robot Me: The Stilts has a robotic equivalent, Mecha-Stilts, who's better armored than their non-mecha counterparts.
- A Winner Is You: Unfortunately, after all the hell the game puts you through, the final victory screen... is somewhat less than satisfying.VICTORY
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED
