Newly announced MMO shooter Project LLL is doing several unusual things. For one, it’s set in a science fiction world in which post-apocalyptic South Korea, the 10th century Byzantine Empire, and a 23rd century future are all somehow colliding. For two, it was revealed yesterday not with a brief logo or a show-nothing cinematic trailer, but with a nine minute video comprehensively depicting the actual game. Watch it below.
Project LLL is set in a 30km open world which includes “procedurally created content that reacts appropriately to the player’s situation”. There are vehicles to help you traverse that terrain, including cars, helicopters and giant mech suits. Its developers also cite inspirations from sci-fi classics, including Foundation, Dune, Blade Runner and The Man In The High Castle.
When I hear phrases like, ‘NCSoft are making an MMO shooter’, I still get pictures in my head of Tabula Rasa. LLL looks to have more in common with Tom Clancy’s The Division or Destiny. Guns have the pop and flash you’d expect from any modern first-person shooter, and the trailer above runs through a lot of different tools and scenarios. There’s low cover, and there’s stealth, and there’s scanning to reveal enemies, and there’s a camo-suit that turns you invisible, and there’s auto-targeting shoulder missiles, and there’s a disintegrating digi-shawl, and there’s a mixture of PvE and PvP, and–
Although not Tabula Rasa, there are still parts of the video above that make LLL seem slightly like a game from another era. A game from a more hopeful, pre-Anthem time, perhaps. Tom Clancy’s Titanfall? On the other hand, or hands, the trailer also ends with a swirling vortex of wrinkly arms. If Project LLL is following blockbuster design trends from five years ago, it’s at least coming from a different place.
Project LLL will apparently launch on PC sometime in 2024. There’s a subtitled developed interview with a few more details over on YouTube, should you want them.