B.L.U.E. NOVA takes co-op shooting to 30 players
GungHo Online Entertainment has announced a free-to-play PvE shooter for PC, with battles that can grow from one player to 30.
B.L.U.E. NOVA is aiming to turn the co-op shooter into a small-scale war, with GungHo Online Entertainment announcing a free-to-play PvE third-person shooter for PC via Steam. The game begins with a single player and can expand into battles involving up to 30 players.
What's actually going on
The official pitch is built around fighting AI forces in an online co-operative battlefield. Players can connect through the R.I.N.G. system, join other players and take on large-scale encounters as humanity pushes back against the machines.
GungHo says B.L.U.E. NOVA will be playable at Tokyo Game Show from 17 to 21 September at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, giving visitors an early look at the PC shooter. The game is listed on Steam, while its official website is already live.
Why you should care
Thirty players is an ambitious number for a PvE shooter. The interesting question is whether B.L.U.E. NOVA can make that crowd feel like a coordinated force rather than a queue of people emptying magazines in the same general direction.
Our opinion
B.L.U.E. NOVA has a properly clear hook: start alone, find a squad and scale the fight until the battlefield feels enormous. The free-to-play model makes it easy to investigate, but the R.I.N.G. system and the quality of those large AI battles will decide whether this is a smart co-op experiment or just another noisy shooter looking for a crowd.