EVE Vanguard Makes A Lot of Big Promises, But Delivers Good Gunplay

It's astir surreal to thrust a driblet pod down to the aboveground of 1 of EVE Online's tens of thousands of planets successful the upcoming shooter tie-in, EVE Vanguard. I've flown by them hundreds of times successful the galore years I've been playing the venerable spaceship MMO, but usually astatine astronomical distances. I ever wondered astir what was going connected down there. I would marque up stories astir it successful my head. Now I person a high-powered abstraction firearm successful my hands and I'm experiencing the beingness up adjacent and personal. And portion it was a very, precise physique that couldn't amusement disconnected a batch of the bigger promises, to my disappointment, determination are immoderate promising hints already.

As a speedy caveat, the footage you're seeing is inactive from an aboriginal physique and a batch of things, including the limb and force models, are not final. CCP conscionable announced that Vanguard volition beryllium going into Early Access successful Summer 2026, truthful we've inactive got a portion to wait. Also, the information we really got to play was lone the session-based shooter maps themselves, and not the vocation and progression worldly that volition beryllium taking spot backmost successful space. But I got to speech to the devs astir both, truthful we'll get into a spot of each here.

What, exactly, is simply a Vanguard? Well, similar astir things successful EVE Online, it's immoderate esoteric precocious conception sci-fi that tin look a small bewildering astatine first. Your quality is simply a semi-immortal "infomorph" – which is to accidental a integer quality consciousness that lives successful cyberspace. I conjecture you could accidental you're thing similar Johnny Silverhand from Cyberpunk 2077. To combat connected the beforehand lines of New Eden's galore wars, you upload yourself into a almighty warfare clone, which is purpose-grown from a caller crockery of biologic substance for each mission. They're not free, but you tin telephone down a caller 1 successful the mediate of a ngo if the 1 you're successful gets blown up, explaining however you tin respawn implicit and over.

On a standard from random cannon fodder to Master Chief, the devs said you tin deliberation of warfare clones arsenic not precisely superhuman, but much similar the implicit highest of quality quality an elite jock could achieve. They are renowned crossed the galaxy, and moving into different player-controlled Vanguard connected a deployment is meant to consciousness similar a mini brag fight.

Suit Up

Vanguards stitchery successful bastions, which CCP says you could deliberation of astir similar The Continental from John Wick. I curse I'm not trying to shoehorn successful much Keanu references here. It conscionable happens! It's neutral crushed to shop, swap stories, and prime up caller contracts, represented by a virtual abstraction wherever you'll beryllium capable to physically locomotion astir and interact with different mercs' avatars. As idiosyncratic who was devastated erstwhile EVE Online removed the quality to locomotion astir successful stations, I was peculiarly pleased to perceive this.

The truly chill thing, though, is that these bastions beryllium retired successful the aforesaid beingness wherever EVE Online players are zipping astir successful their spaceships. The archetypal ones volition beryllium NPC-controlled, but it volition yet beryllium imaginable for players to attack, build, and adjacent ain their ain bastions. CCP hopes circumstantial bastions mightiness make a estimation arsenic the spot you spell if you truly request a occupation done right. And akin to however EVE has "high sec" abstraction wherever NPC instrumentality enforcement protects caller players and "low" oregon "null sec" wherever players are escaped to PvP to their heart's content, caller Vanguards volition besides beryllium capable to take wherever they extremity up based connected however funny they are successful warring different players.

Hair Trigger

One of the biggest changes successful doctrine EVE Vanguard has undergone since its uncover backmost successful 2023 is however the guns themselves are being designed. We're moving distant from sleek, understated subject sci-fi into what the designers called an homage to the "golden age" of shooters, citing inspirations similar Doom, Quake, and Unreal. There is inactive your modular abstraction rifle, which comes successful a fewer antithetic faction variants. But I besides got to play astir with an vigor shotgun with ricocheting projectiles that tin occurrence successful a dispersed pattern, oregon a single, monolithic orb of demolition if you clasp down the occurrence fastener for a mates seconds.

As much of a long-range enjoyer, my favourite was this high-powered sniper firearm that features the quality to clasp your enactment to enactment up a cleanable shot. While the exemplary is intelligibly unfinished, the reload animation of swapping retired the small focusing crystal is slick and memorable arsenic well. Like successful EVE Online, astir everything is gathered and crafted by players, too. Even successful a mission, I had to loot immoderate corpses and walk a spot of clip with my portable fabricator to apical up my ammo. Mining and manufacture volition besides beryllium a portion of the Vanguard experience. It volition adjacent beryllium imaginable to specialize successful it – though the devs warned maine that you'll astir apt privation to bring immoderate backup with combat skills if you do.

You mightiness spot maine switching weapons with a debug paper successful the video astatine the apical of the page, which was conscionable for the demo. Eventually, we'll beryllium picking our loadout from the platform of our ain battlebarge up of a deployment. This volition besides fto america prime which benignant of warfare clone to spawn, and we were told they volition yet travel successful each antithetic shapes and sizes for antithetic specializations. Vanguard volition besides person a spot of separation from the main EVE Online economy. Notably, you don't bargain guns and ammo with ISK, which is the main currency for the starship jockeys, since it wouldn't marque overmuch consciousness for a firearm to outgo the aforesaid arsenic a frigate.

There perfectly volition beryllium ways for players of some games to enactment unneurotic and payment 1 different symbiotically, though. Some materials Vanguards tin entree planetside mightiness not beryllium abundant successful space, for instance. Another illustration I was fixed likened it to Star Wars: Rogue One oregon Return of the Jedi, wherever an elite crushed squad mightiness person to instrumentality down a shield generator truthful the fleet supra tin onslaught a fortified station.

Nightmare Fuel

The enemies present are besides a work-in-progress. Using placeholder models, they spawn successful tiny groups and mostly support their distance, but I did get caught a mates times by a flanking onslaught from an unexpected direction. We got to spot immoderate conception creation of 1 of the PvE force factions, Mordu's Legion, though, and they are highly unsettling. These cyborg abstraction mercs who person their bosom ritually removed arsenic portion of their initiation volition travel successful respective antithetic ranks, with immoderate being capable to nonstop the others connected the battlefield.

On immoderate fixed deployment, you mightiness extremity up moving into these NPCs and different players. These arenas are massive, open-ended, and varied, a operation of procedurally-generated terrain and handcrafted battlegrounds featuring the wreckage of immoderate of EVE's recognizable starships. In this mission, determination was debris actively streaking done the ambiance arsenic we fought, which was a truly awesome touch.

For now, EVE Vanguard is inactive a batch of "wills," "shoulds," and " anticipation tos." It is playable, and the gunplay feels a spot unpolished still, but satisfying. The environments are impressive, and the limb designs are divers and bombastic. It's conscionable hard to get the afloat representation without really experiencing however it volition necktie into the EVE Online shared beingness oregon the societal features, which are decidedly the astir breathtaking portion of the full idea. For that we'll person to hold until the mediate of adjacent twelvemonth erstwhile Early Access warps in, astatine which constituent some games volition beryllium connected astatine last.