Dr. Disrespect’s Studio Announces Vertical Extraction Shooter Called Project Moon
Battle royale games have begun branching out into a new and more challenging sub-genre called extraction shooters. These are basically session-based PvPvE games, like Escape: From Tarkov or The Cycle: Frontier, where players keep all the loot when they survive a match and lose everything they brought with them when they die.
Midnight Society, a fledgling development studio founded by former Sledgehammer Games level designer and other industry veterans, has announced its own addition to the sub-genre called Project Moon. Unlike other extraction shooters that take place in relatively open environments, the studio’s flagship game is set in high-rise maps which offer their own unique set of vertical challenges.
“Our high-level gameplay goals are to capture the essence of arena shooter level design with the scale and scope of battle royale player counts, and the session-to-session gameplay mechanics of extraction-based shooters,” said Midnight Society.
The studio will be releasing what they call “Snapshots” of the game every few weeks to gather feedback from the community through every major step of its development. “[Snapshots] are playable experiences focused around specific milestones, every six weeks,” the studio said. “Every milestone has feedback parameters around weapons, player abilities, gameplay, and play spaces within the game. Our team will be collecting feedback, prioritizing it, and applying it to upcoming Snapshots.”
These Snapshots will exclusively be available to Access Pass holders, the first of which will feature an assault rifle which eligible players will be able to test out in a shooting range located in their home base. “We’re offering three different Shooting Range experiences throughout the Player Hideout. Anywhere you see a red button, you'll be able to activate a unique target practice, each designed to hone a unique skill with the first assault rifle.” These Snapshots will not be covered by an NDA and Access Pass holders will be able to stream their experience and share screenshots, assets, and other content related to the builds.
The team has yet to reveal a release date for the first Snapshot but it’s going to be one of the key points discussed at the founders’ event that’s going to be held in Los Angeles on July 29th.
Midnight Society was founded last year by former Sledgehammer Games level designer, and now streamer, Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahms along with other industry veterans. The studio started selling beta access to Project Moon last month in the form of a $50 Access Pass which included a procedurally generated NFT that will also serve as the owner’s in-game avatar.
