Legendary tactical FPS Crossfire gets new, Resident Evil style sequel

Smilegate Entertainment, the studio behind hugely popular FPS series Crossfire, is in a bit of a rut. In 2022, it launched CrossfireX, which was poorly received across the board, and marked a huge L for campaign crafter Remedy Entertainment. That year it also dropped an RTS, Crossfire Legion, which tried and failed to emulate the classic Command and Conquers of old; it's set to be delisted from Steam later this month. Now, Smilegate has revealed a new installment into the series, Crossfire Rainbow, and it looks like the studio's dabbling in horror this time.

Crossfire is a bit of an oddity to me. The original 2007 shooter is one of the most popular in the world, presenting a free-to-play model at a time when the best FPS games like Counter-Strike Global Offensive were charging up front. Though it never came to dominate the western market, its broad proliferation throughout parts of Asia, particularly China and South Korea, means it's no slouch in the player count department.

However, Smilegate has struggled not only to penetrate the western market in earnest, but to actually produce follow-ups of any real quality - no pressure, Crossfire Rainbow. CrossfireX was a disasterclass, complete with uninspired multiplayer modes and an uncharacteristically poor bit of narrative work from Alan Wake developer Remedy. It survived its first year in the wild, but was given the chop not long after. Legion managed to stay afloat for a few years, but its full potential was never realized. The IP's even struggled in a transmedia context, with its episode in the Secret Level show being particularly mid.

Now, the developer/publisher is hoping to break its cursed streak by drastically switching up its formula. From the reveal trailer, Crossfire Rainbow looks to be taking elements of horror hits like Death Stranding and Resident Evil, and cramming them into a decrepit villa, all rendered very nicely in Unreal Engine 5.

'Light' seems to be the big theme of the game, more specifically how it's manipulated. The wraith-like monsters we see all seem capable of bending it, seemingly disappearing and reappearing. The game's name further points to this. We can see the trailer's protagonist picking up all sorts of crafting resources as he explores the villa, so I can imagine there'll be an element of resource scarcity à la Capcom's classic.

There's very little info on Crossfire Rainbow elsewhere, but for now you can at least check out the Chinese website here.

While you're waiting for more comprehensive info on Crossfire Rainbow, check out more of the best horror games and best new PC games you can be cracking on with.

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