While Team Jade is known for its popular tactical FPS, Delta Force, their latest venture, Project Spectrum, is a bold departure. It builds upon a tactical shooter foundation but introduces a wild blend of genres: survival games, the asymmetrical tension of Dead by Daylight, extraction mechanics akin to Hunt Showdown and Escape From Tarkov, and even CRPG elements. This ambitious mix was showcased behind closed doors at Gamescom, where I had the opportunity to speak with Team Jade about their vision for this eerie, atmospheric multiplayer experience.
What immediately grabs attention in Project Spectrum is its unique fusion of tactical, military-simulation shooter gameplay with a deeply haunting, supernatural atmosphere. It’s a blend that would surely captivate fans of Resident Evil and Alan Wake.
Players take on the role of agents, armed with military-grade weaponry and modern communication gear, often exchanging phrases like ‘copy that.’ In this regard, it bears a resemblance to Delta Force. However, that’s where the commonalities cease. Developed by a distinct unit within Team Jade, Project Spectrum prioritizes unsettling psychological horror over realistic, explosive combat, delivering scares on par with the genre’s finest.
During the preview, a squad was observed infiltrating the decaying grounds of a dilapidated mansion. Their mission: to locate a cryptic dark energy source known as the Ember using a specialized camera. The scene was set with phantom-like creatures, reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Dementors, hovering over the mansion and perching on its rooftops. Inside, players faced slow, zombie-like entities, requiring either stealthy evasion or direct confrontation. A deteriorating sanity meter added to the psychological pressure, causing dark, unsettling illusions to distort perception, with some even appearing as hostile spectral figures. The environment itself contributed to the tension—picture frames fell from walls, and wind eerily whistled through broken windows, creating an atmosphere of constant dread.
Upon discovering a mysterious energy source, approaching it triggers the appearance of a colossal, black-cloaked boss. This signals an immediate shift to intense combat. After sustaining damage, the boss fragments into numerous spider-like entities, which are then repelled and forced to re-merge by a well-aimed molotov cocktail. Game director Basil Wang noted that these dynamic and intense encounters are distributed throughout Project Spectrum’s map, with creature behaviors often being contextual to their environment. For instance, X-ray-inspired creatures, typically weaker foes, can transform into powerful minibosses if encountered within a hospital setting, their natural habitat.
A unique alternative playstyle allows players to embody the Executioner—a corrupted, hyper-fast monstrosity that serves as an agent’s ultimate foe. This is the heart of the game’s asymmetrical multiplayer. As the beast, players can stalk and brutally attack squads, utilizing abilities like wall-piercing scans and extending tendrils to ensnare unsuspecting victims. This role appears incredibly compelling.
The precise method for becoming the Executioner, and how its formidable power impacts the balance of this PvPvE game, remains a mystery. Wang hinted that while the Executioner is “pretty powerful” and designed to be “super fun to play,” the experience will be “gated somehow” to prevent continuous play. He emphasized the importance of players experiencing the customizable agent role, noting that agents can die, and the Executioner is introduced as a “mixer to spice up the experience” rather than creating an endless negative feedback loop. The exact mechanics—whether Executioner status is earned, triggered mid-match, or queued for like in Dead by Daylight—are still vague, but the destructive potential it offers is undeniably exciting.
Vice game director Rich Yu clarified that in this extraction FPS, players aren’t forced to confront the Executioner or other formidable foes if their objectives don’t require it. He drew a compelling parallel to 2015’s Evolve, a game he felt struggled with balancing its asymmetrical monster-versus-human gameplay.
Yu explained that Evolve’s downfall, despite its asymmetrical design, was its struggle with balancing the monster’s power, tone, pace, and in-game upgrades. “We are trying to avoid that same situation,” he stated, emphasizing that in Project Spectrum, engaging the Executioner is optional; players can choose to “just get what you need, and get out the map.”
An accompanying video showcases various gameplay elements, demonstrating the intense atmosphere and combat mechanics discussed.
As an agent, confronting the Executioner demands substantial resources. The game’s crafting system enables players to build or enhance weapons and devise “very interesting combos to help you survive,” as highlighted by Wang. He described an example: crafting a crawler bot equipped with smoke grenades, allowing players to deploy smoke remotely from a safe distance or out of direct sight.
When asked about the broader progression and metagame, the team suggested it would diverge significantly from typical extraction shooter rivals. Yu excitedly explained, “In Project Spectrum’s metagame, you can recruit, manage, and upgrade your agents. It’s a little bit like a CRPG. So it’s totally different from the Tarkov-like meta.”
While many questions about Project Spectrum, which is still unnamed, remain unanswered, this is understandable given its early stage. The ambitious blend of tactical FPS, extraction shooter, survival, asymmetrical horror, and CRPG elements makes me cautiously optimistic about its cohesion. However, I’m eager to be proven wrong. What’s clear is that Team Jade has masterfully established Project Spectrum’s tone, the tactical combat appears incredibly polished, and the Executioner’s power fantasy feels perfectly executed. This game is definitely one to keep an eye on.