Cinder City is a sci-fi spin on The Division 2 that boasts colossal mech battles

With no word yet on when we might see The Division 3, Cinder City is looking to make a name for itself as a fresh challenger in the open-world third-person shooter space, taking on the likes of Warframe and The First Descendant with an impressive promise of large-scale multiplayer. To do that, it's offering a range of character classes, vehicle action including bikes and helicopters, and the ability to support hundreds of players at once. At Gamescom, we spoke with Bigfire Games CEO James Bae about the size of its environments, just how many people we can squeeze into them, and why the team chose to pursue that goal.

At launch, Cinder City will actually offer two locations, which Bae says are each around seven square kilometers wide. Most of the outdoor areas are part of the shared open world, allowing large groups of players to gather together, but much like The Division 2 and many MMORPGs, you can expect specific areas that are set up as instanced dungeons. These will be tackled by smaller groups, typically of around four to six players, either premade or put together via matchmaking.

With publisher NCSoft's history in massively multiplayer experiences such as Guild Wars 2 and Throne and Liberty, Bigfire has the backing to make something that plays more into that immense sense of scale that you don't really get from the dozen other people you might bump into in a Division 2 map. The reveal trailer below gives an early impression of just how chaotic this can start to get once you begin all gathering around to fight a giant battle mech in an intersection.

Bae has mostly focused on MMORPGs across his 20-year career, and says [via translator], "The thing that gave me the greatest sense of achievement was to defeat enormous bosses or break through challenging missions alongside fellow players, whether they be strangers or friends. Making something happen with other players gave me the greatest fun and pleasure; so I thought, 'Can we make that happen in shooters as well?'"

The team has been running playtests for a long time. Bae notes that, even a few years ago, "150 or 200 players were able to play in the same space together." For the purposes of the demo version at Gamescom, we're accompanied by NPCs, but these "are all running on the server and they are not scripted." They'll adapt to the terrain and make decisions based on context to find ways to approach and shoot at players, he explains.

Bae says that "nine heroes will be prepared at launch," and says each will have a campaign story that reveals their background. One of them, which we get to test out, is called 'Seven,' and he's a fairly by-the-books super-soldier with a mix of grounded military equipment and more futuristic tools. Expect some weirder members of the roster, however, as Bae remarks that Seven is considered roughly "in the middle" along the game's theoretical slider of 'normal to more extreme' designs.

Of course, the risk of a game with such a multiplayer focus is that it needs to build a community to work. "We are in a more challenging position," Bae admits, "launching a successful MMO is one thing, but we're trying to combine that with the shooter [aspect]. I should say that I'm confident with our project, but the commercial success really hinges upon the reactions of players, which cannot be predicted."

Despite this, Bae believes "there are a lot of players out there who are waiting for a game like Cinder City, a game that has plenty of story and PvE content and then has a legitimate shooter experience. That part I am confident about, that there will be a lot of players looking for a game like this." Currently, Cinder City is scheduled for launch in the second half of 2026. You can visit the website to learn more.

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Additional reporting at Gamescom by Jamie Hore.