PUBG Studios’ upcoming top-down 5v5 tactical shooter, formerly known as Project Arc, has now been given an official name, and you’ll be able to try it out yourself when it gets a free Steam demo this month just ahead of Steam Next Fest.
Project Arc is now called PUBG: Blindspot, a name which was chosen to reference the shooter’s “core gameplay elements” as well as design philosophy. Namely, players use “real-time shared vision” with their teammates, so what you can (and can’t) see will play a large part in your strategies.
The Steam demo is set to go live on February 20 at 8pm PT (that’s 11pm ET, or February 21 at 4am GMT), allowing us to get our hands on 10 different playable characters – each complete with unique weapons and “special tools” at their disposal. In total, there’ll be seven different maps to try out – three of those are team deathmatch maps, while the other four are demolition mission maps. You can take a look at a demolition mission in action in the latest trailer below to get a flavor of what’s to come.
GamesRadar+’s Andrew Brown had the chance to go hands-on with PUBG: Blindspot last year (when it was still known as Project Arc), and had some very positive things to say about it, although noted that the deathmatch mode was “absolute carnage,” and didn’t leave quite as good an impression as the Rainbow Six Siege-like standard mode. “Its top-down perspective emphasizes the strategic thinking that draws me to games like Counter-Strike in the first place, with less weight on quick reaction speeds and accuracy,” he wrote about the latter.
It’s not long now until everyone is able to try PUBG: Blindspot out for themselves, anyway. There’s still no word on the full game’s release date, so be sure to make the most of the upcoming demo.
For more games that’ll give your brain a workout, be sure to check out our roundup of the best strategy games.