ESGS 2018: Project Xandata Impressions

We got a chance to sit down at the Secret 6 Project Xandata booth and played a bunch of 5v5 games here at ESGS 2018. Here’s what we think about the latest build of this locally made multiplayer first-person shooter.

Before fragging friends and strangers, Project Xandata lets you customize your avatar’s name, colors, loadout, class, and skillset. You get to choose three different weapons as your primary, secondary, and heavy gun. There’s an ample selection of guns on offer and you’re free to mix and match them to fit your preferred playstyle.

I went in with a combination of a submachine gun and a sniper rifle. And after loading out my character and weapon preferences, I went in and started a 5v5 Skirmish. The game’s controls are surprisingly tight and responsive. But more importantly for an FPS game, the guns feel good. Many of the staple mechanics such as recoil and spray patterns were a delight to play with.

This version of Xandata is a drastic improvement over the build we’ve played 2 years ago. During our first 5v5 game I’ve been traversing the map with ease, cutting off and flanking our team’s opponent's in close quarters combat while picking off would be roamers with my trusty sniper rifle.

Besides the fluid controls and the arsenal of guns, what’s new to Project Xandata are skills which give you additional options to hurt your enemies. Depending on the skills you’ve slotted into your character loadout, you can perform additional moves mapped to the C, F & E buttons on your keyboard. You can lob grenades, quick dash great distances, backdash while firing energy pistols, take a devastating crack shot with your pistol or go invisible for a limited amount of time.

So far I like what I’ve played in this year’s build of Project Xandata. It evokes some of the simple pleasures of multiplayer classics like Unreal Tournament thanks to its tight controls and fast gameplay. Some polish is still necessary, and adding options — being able to toggle your sights rather than holding the right mouse button would be a personal request — would be nice.

In any case, for as long as Project Xandata continues to receive more love and care in development, it will be a game to look forward to, moreso when it comes to locally-made games. Play it now in the Secret 6 booth here at ESGS 2018!

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