Mountaintop, a new game studio staffed by talent from VALORANT, Apex Legends, Halo Infinite, Oculus VR, and more, has officially announced Spectre Divide, a 3-on-3 competitive tactical first-person shooter with a body-swapping twist. The free-to-play game will be available for PC via Steam, but a release date hasn't been announced yet. The first major stress test for the game will take place from August 3 to 4.
Just like in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and VALORANT, the objective of the attacking team is to plant the bomb while the defending team must prevent that from happening or defuse before time runs out and the bomb explodes, but Spectre Divide features a unique twist known as the "Duality" mechanic that aims to "reshape" how players approach strategy. According to Mountaintop's overview of Spectre Divide, this mechanic will let you "control two bodies in real-time, letting you defend two sites at once, cover your own cross, or even trade yourself. Duality is an entirely new vector for mastery, bringing a new dimension to tac shooter fundamentals."
“Our team has been patiently waiting for this day to show how Spectre Divide will bring new life to the genre,” said Lee Horn, Mountaintop game director, in the press release. “Our community’s support means everything to us and it drives us to make a better game. A huge thank you to all of our incredible play-testers who’ve helped make the game what it is over the last few years.”
It's been four years since Mountaintop started organizing its 70-person fully remote team, raising $60 million and drawing a variety of popular streamers along the way. Former CS:GO/VALORANT pro and Twitch star Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek became the studio's lead gameplay adviser for the past year or so.
You can watch the gameplay reveal trailer for Spectre Divide below:
In Spectre Divide, there's an in-universe explanation for the two bodies: nobody is actually dying in this game. Players are competing in Santai, a relatively bloodless sport where players can use a former military tech known as Duality, which lets them inhabit a pair of empty spectre avatars — “one mind, two bodies,” the studio likes to say.
Spectre Divide is set in a city called Breakwater, where corporate sponsors have gotten involved with the sport. Instead of abilities you get in a hero shooter like Overwatch or VALORANT, sponsors give you gear (grenades, traps, vision blockers, flying drones, dupes, and more). Each round, players can choose a sponsor, decide how much cash to purchase on weapons, abilities, and armor. Each player gets two bodies, and they can swap between the two as many times as they'd like. At the beginning of a match, players can immediately teleport their two bodies anywhere in the starting area of the map, and angle them as they'd like.
One of the major ways Spectre Divide is not like VALORANT is that aimed shots are always accurate. If the targeting reticle is on a head, and you click a mouse, that's where the shot will hit. Of course, tactical shooter purists might not like this change. And there are no ultimates in the game, so don't expect your characters to unleash a powerful move that you can usually pull off in Riot's popular shooter.
Here are the key features of Spectre Divide, according to overview of the game from Mountaintop:
Duality: One Mind, Two Bodies
Use Duality to freely swap to your second body—called a Spectre—at any moment to overwhelm and surprise enemies from multiple positions.
Death cannot stop you. Your Spectre is a second chance at victory, giving you twice the uptime every round.
Duality has been threaded through every aspect of the game, including maps, equipment, weapons, economy, and more.
Tense, Tactical Gunplay
Aim-down-sights (ADS) gunplay lets you shoot on the move with true-to-crosshair accuracy.
Deterministic spray patterns requires mastering your weapons of choice.
An Arsenal of Future Tech
Each match, select from a powerful equipment set provided by Sponsors to specialize your role and playstyle.
Gather intel, set traps, and reinforce teammates on the fly—no ultimates.
Every equipment set is integrated with Duality, creating new ways to outplay the enemy.
Visceral, Anime-Inspired World
Spectre Divide‘s style is rooted in sci-fi comic book art and the classic Japanese cel animation of the ’90s.
The world has a hand-drawn look, capturing the same energy and momentum as the concept sketch.
The style presents clean visual reads, perfect for executing next-level plays.
Forge Your Legacy
Compete solo or with your team in Ranked to prove your skill.
Compete with your Crew of 60 friends in a weekly, engagement-based competition to score the most points and move up the leaderboard.
Personalize the look of your own pair of competitors and crush the competition in style.
According to Mountaintop, Spectre Divide closed beta will launch soon, so expect the public to have access to the game within a few weeks. While the game is free-to-play, players will be able to purchase cosmetic weapon skins and character customization parts, as well as new packages of "sponsor" equipment players can acquire by grinding. Mountaintop says they'll be priced similarly to other games, and the company assures that the game will be not be pay-to-win. “We’re committed to the fact that Spectre Divide won’t be pay-to-win,” Mountaintop writes.
