Gaming: Finally, The Fps I Keep Asking For: Deep Combat, Classic Modes, And...

Out of Action's acrobatic movement and chill server culture are plucked out of the 2000s.

Welcome to FOV 90, an FPS column from staff writer Morgan Park. Every other week, I cover topics relevant to first-person shooter enjoyers, spanning everything from multiplayer and singleplayer to the old and the new.

While the internet reckons with another premature hate campaign against a hero shooter that's just OK, a genuinely exciting new multiplayer FPS is passing most of us by. Not to pick too much on Highguard (review forthcoming), but every minute I'm playing it, I wish I were playing Out of Action instead.

Out of Action is the debut project from solo dev Doku Games. After years of dazzling us with clips of electrifying movement and backflip headshots, Out of Action finally landed in early access last week. It's very much a work in progress—basic features like "weapon reload animations" and "non-test maps" are bound to a roadmap for now—but what it's already got is strong:

Also, it's $20 and features zero microtransactions. If you, like me, miss when more multiplayer games were like this, then I think you'll dig it. But those are just details—how does Out of Action play?

Out of Action's big hook is its wild movement set: you can dodge, dive, dive roll, slide, wallrun, and double jump. The only thing you can't do is, surprisingly, sprint. Getting around efficiently isn't just about speed—it's about chaining together maneuvers so you don't faceplant into a wall and discovering shortcuts across the map.

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It's skillful and, at first, super wonky. I spent hours accidentally diving off the map, rolling when I meant to dodge, and forgetting that I can run straight up any wall. It took longer to learn that everyone has a bullet time ability that, cleverly, only slows down targets within line-of-sight of the user (shoutout to Max Payne 3 multiplayer), and even longer to learn how to unlock new "shells" with abilities like active camo or a friggin' jetpack.

It doesn't help that PvP servers are a baptism of fire. Some folks who've been playing test builds for months are really good, but so far I've found the community super helpful. Like when I kept randomly dropping dead after a firefight, someone gave me the heads up that direct hits cause bleeding that you need to patch up with the stim. The wonders of server chat. You can also set up offline bot matches for a p

Source: PC Gamer