Summary
- MetalCore is shaping up brilliantly; alpha scheduled for Q3 2022
- MetalCore extends partnership with Polygon to Polygon Studios and moves to the Polygon’s ecosystem for NFTs
MetalCore is a game that has slipped under the radar a little to my eyes and that’s a shame, but I suspect it will fizz into the public consciousness within the next 6 months.
I first covered MetalCore in 2021 for a reason I often begin following projects: the team behind it is impressive. As much as we do our best to support indie developers in blockchain gaming, it’s hard to filter out the scams and the future rug slips at times, particularly the latter. So, in that regard, I invest my attention in people. To reiterate the point I made in the above article, here is an overview of the team’s joint C.V:
The team of developers has worked for the likes of Activision, EPIC Games, and Paramount Pictures, as well as on some gaming royalty such as Fortnite, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls.
MetalCore will be a first-person, mech-based combat game with large-scale PvP of 50-versus-50, as well as some PvE, and different game modes. The project is certainly in-line with AAA and the team behind it matches the ambition. Nevertheless, I’m always stand-offish until I have seen some gameplay footage and it has been scheduled for around NFT.NYC.
The game looks unambiguously superb — it reminds me a little of Titanfall mixed with Battlefield — but the trailer is a little lacking in actual gameplay footage, using more in-game footage instead. I want to simply see someone playing the game, UI and all. MetalCore is still in pre-alpha so this can be excused, but as the top comment on that video said: “I swear to god if you pull a classic E3 trailer meme and the game doesn’t look like that on launch, I’m gonna lose my mind.”
Honestly, I have more faith in this project than most given the caliber of the team, not to mention the $15 million of investment they received earlier this year. Still, we’ll have to wait for Q3 this year to see how the alpha plays.
The other news to come out of Studio369, the developers behind MetalCore, is the partnership with Polygon. MetalCore was originally set to be a part of Immutable X but has fleshed out their previous partnership with Polygon to include Polygon Studios and to have all NFT assets in the Polygon ecosystem.
The reasons quoted appear to be less to do with leaving Immutable and more to do with the attraction of the Ethereum layer-2, Polygon. That is, Polygon Studios is excellent at onboarding games with a strong support system, as well as all the usual benefits of layer-2s, such as low transaction fees, higher transaction speeds, and not melting polar bears.
