Spectre Divide Hands-On: Shroud's New Game Forced Me to Think Outside the Box (2024)

As a former MOBA nerd who no-lifed Dota 2 for over 10k hours, I have always thought that FPS games were one-dimensional. Whether it is aiming for the head or running and gunning, in the end, shooters are always about well, shooting. So, when I initially saw Shroud promoting his own game, I felt it would be just another tactical shooter. However, having played the day for a day in the public beta, I realized that Spectre Divide exceeded my expectations and then some. And you know what? It just might have the sauce tac-shooters need right now.

Spectre Is Not Just a Clone, It Is the Game

The main highlight of Spectre is well, the Spectre. Put simply, it is a clone that you place anywhere on the map. Sounds simple right? Well, not really. Unlike clones like Yoru in Valorant or Mirage in Apex Legends, you control the clones themselves!

Players can switch back and forth between the Spectre anytime they want. This means while one of your body is the active player, the other remains idle on the map.

It might sound like your Spectre is always vulnerable. Luckily, there is a solution for that as well. Your Spectre works as an alarm, notifying you about enemy activity whenever someone is in a radius of your idle body. You will see a warning sign on the screen when someone is near your Spectre.

It will also turn dark red if your Spectre is in the line of sight of an enemy. This helps you strategize around the Spectre and jump back to a backstab fight whenever required. Once your Spectre is killed, it cannot return to the battle!

The interesting part here is that you get weapon sets for both your bodies at once. However, given they are in a set, the loadouts you get are panic-inducing. So while you might get an AR with a shotgun, you can end up with a pistol and SMG too! One of your only bodies needs to live for your weapons to stay.

That means if any of your body survives a round, you will retain all the utilities, weapons, and armor. This significantly helps in handling the economy part of the game.

Clean Gameplay for Tactical Shooters

Even though the game revolves around the Spectre, the shooting mechanics are amazing too. With a clean recoil pattern that you can understand, it shows that Shroud really had a lot of input in the game. The recoil takes an easy-to-master approach which I could feel right away. Compared to other FPS games that I played, it felt more stable and understandable.

This adds to another important aspect of the game that I understood right away. As Shroud already said in his streams, Spectre does not benefit hip-fire aimers. This means you will have to ADS before you start shooting for better accuracy.

Luckily, moving and shooting while ADS is much more reliable in Spectre than hipfire. You can still utilize hipfire if you are really close to enemies. Otherwise, the ADS gives a fair ground for all players to have a solid 1v1 aim battle.

When it comes to talking about tactical shooters, they’re usually just one dimension. However, in Spectre Divide, you are not only utilizing your Spectre but also get tons of abilities. Utilities are based on which Sponsor or class you are using in the game.

As there are eight classes in the game, the gameplay for each will vary accordingly. From heal to dupes to damaging smokes, you get a lot of room to gallop.

The utility each class has can easily change the course of the game. While I was playing as the Pinnacle class, the key was to damage enemies with the splinter grenade and flash them. Similarly, other classes can heal, place mines, or even detect enemies.

This felt really similar to Valorant as well as Rainbow Six Seige. As the signature ability only replenishes and there are two additional utilities, using them properly becomes vital.

Playing as a healer is not always punishing in the game either. Whether you use Bloom or Pinnacle Sponsors, the healing will be swift enough or let you fight while you heal. This made me feel more confident in taking fights unlike when I play Sage in Valorant and stay behind to heal my teammates always. The best part is that even if you die, you can still use the utilities if your Spectre is alive.

While a lot of things were familiar to other tactical shooters, the pattern felt a bit different. The Molotov pits or glitch abilities felt like a fresh concept. Moreover, casting a lot of abilities including the smoke or detection drones are safer in Spectre.

In comparison, controllers in Valorant are required to be in a vulnerable state. As a support player, this made me feel more relaxed when using support utilities. Just do not forget to buy your utilities before the round begins.

Moreover, you get a lot of early customization options for your character and Spectre as well as options like high polling rate mouse support. Yes, hardcore FPS gamers with up to 8k polling rate mouse, be ready!

Verdict: Should You Be Excited for Shroud’s Spectre Divide?

After spending enough hours on the game and countless defeats, I think Shroud’s game Spectre is absolutely worth trying. Not only does the gameplay feel like a mix of Valorant and Rainbow Six Seige with the good bits of them, but it also has its own element. The Spectre concept feels fresh and makes the tactical strategies much harder to learn.

The game has a clean UI perfect for minimalist folks like me. Furthermore, I ran the game on a 1650 super GPU with an R5 3600 CPU with low-medium settings and got a constant 120+ FPS. That showcases the game’s optimization even being on a build client.

Spectre’s art style, however, gives me a hint of Borderlands mixed with Zenless Zone Zero which I absolutely love after getting into endless realism freak shooting games. Even the lighting is softer compared to other games. The bullet traces or flashes feel right out of a comic book.

As a MOBA gamer turned FPS nerd, I absolutely loved the game’s strategy. The clone mixed up with different utilities gives me a lot of freedom for tinkering. While I agree that the game is not exactly made for raw aimers, I feel it will get its audience because of how clean and optimized it is. At least you won’t have to learn about all Valorant characters just to stay on silver rank.

So, if you’re a gamer who favors tactics more than plain RNG, Spectre Divide will be for you. That being said, have you tried Shroud’s game Spectre Divide yet? Share your experience in the comments below!