Shrapnel

Shrapnel is a Web3 first-person extraction shooter that combines AAA-quality design with unique gameplay features. Built using Unreal Engine 5, this game promises to elevate the Web3 gaming landscape, showcasing talent from BAFTA and Emmy award-winning developers. In its early access phase, Shrapnel introduces seamless NFT integration, enabling players to own, trade, and equip skins, gear, and other assets via an intuitive in-game marketplace. While the game demonstrates considerable potential, it continues to refine its mechanics and visuals to deliver a polished and immersive experience.

Gameplay

Currently, Shrapnel offers a thrilling experience as players navigate competitive scenarios to extract valuable resources. Despite being in its early stages, with some bugs and underdeveloped features, the game shows significant promise. Access to the game is currently gated, requiring either an NFT or an extraction pack to participate in playtests available on the Epic Games.

The game begins with a standard menu interface, allowing players to browse available weapons, characters, and customizable weapon skins. At the moment, the only playable mode is Extraction. Once in the game, players land in a sprawling city enclosed by a towering wall, marking the map's boundary. Gameplay begins with exploration, as players search for chests scattered throughout the environment. These chests contain essential supplies like weapons, ammunition, and attachments.

As matches progress, tension builds when sirens sound across the map, signaling incoming meteor crashes. These meteors mark the arrival of Sigma, a critical resource that players must collect to advance. Sigma can also be found on the bodies of fallen soldiers scattered around the battlefield. Accumulating Sigma not only contributes to your score but also unlocks powerful abilities.

The game intensifies as players are alerted to extraction points. These points serve as the key to victory, with only a limited number of slots available for players to escape. The initial extraction points allow two players to escape, but the final point offers just a single seat, forcing players into a climactic race for survival. Fail to extract, and it’s game over. Successfully extracting with collected Sigma adds to your leaderboard score, rewarding skillful play and resourcefulness.

Shrapnel does a great job of keeping players on edge as they choose between collecting more Sigma or escaping safely. While this adds excitement to every match, the experience is held back by some clear issues. The inventory system feels outdated and awkward, with no quick-loot option and a slow drag-and-drop mechanic that can lead to unnecessary deaths. Combat is also less enjoyable due to problems with hit detection and lack of clear feedback when landing shots. The map’s design offers vertical gameplay, but it’s limited by harsh fall damage and few ways to climb down safely, leaving room for improvement.

Visually, Shrapnel is a mixed bag. The Sigma storms look stunning and immersive, but early-build issues like placeholder blocks, missing textures, and glitches inside buildings take away from the experience. Even with these flaws, the graphics show potential for improvement with future updates. A highlight of the game is its marketplace, where players can easily buy and use skins and gear, adding to the overall gameplay. This feature highlights Shrapnel’s potential to evolve into a polished and engaging title as development continues.

Review

Shrapnel is shaping up to be a bold and exciting take on the extraction shooter genre. The high-stakes gameplay, paired with the thrill of Sigma storms, creates an adrenaline-pumping experience that keeps you on edge. That said, the game’s early build struggles are hard to ignore. The clunky inventory system and hit registration issues can be frustrating, and the unfinished textures and placeholder elements take away from the immersion.

Still, there’s something special here. The seamless marketplace integration and the potential for more polished mechanics make me optimistic about where Shrapnel is headed. If you’re a fan of FPS games and don’t mind dealing with some few bugs, it’s worth diving in to see what this game has to offer. It’s not perfect, but it’s got promise, and it’s one I’ll be keeping an eye on.