US game dev startup Distinct Possibility Studios has decloaked, revealing its PC-based persistent open-world loot shooter Reaper Actual.
The studio is headed by John Smedley, who was one of the original team on MMOG EverQuest, later running Sony Online Entertainment, which released games such as PlanetSide, Star War Galaxies and H1Z1. He later headed up Amazon Games’ San Diego studio.
It’s raised $30.5 million in investment from VCs such as Bitkraft and Brevan Howard Digital.
As for Reaper Actual, it will see players buying bases, which they use to craft in-game gear and weapons, and store their loot. Over time, these bases can be expanded to unlock more abilities.
In terms of metagame, the action takes place on the island of Marova, in which five AI-driven factions are fighting for control. Players select the missions they want to complete, with each mission fulfilling the aims of one of the factions. Conversely, attempting a mission will put players in conflict with the other factions and other human players.
Indeed, as a persistent world, the game is always PVPVE. It also seems to have a reputation system, which means that (at times) opposing factions (and other players) will attempt to raid your base to steal some of your loot. Hence one element of the game is ensuring your base is well-defended in terms of autonomous systems and AI-controlled agents.
In terms of how in-game assets work, as well as bases, players will own different reaper characters, which provide access to specific gear and attributes. Examples include a sniper, an engineer, a recon class etc.
Developed using Unreal Engine 5, Reaper Actual will be released as a pure F2P web2 game on Steam and Epic Games Store, monetized by battle passes and asset sales.
The web3 version of the game will only be available directly from Distinct Possibility Studios and will use Etherlink, which is Tezos’ EVM L2, as its blockchain to secure item ownership and trading. These will include bases, reapers and in-game crafted items. However, these NFTs will not be transferable to the Steam and EGS versions of the game. There will also be a game token released at launch, but few details of its utility have been provided.
More generally, none of the monetized items in either version of the game will provide any in-game skill advantage.
You can find out more at the Reaper Actual website or wishlist the game on Steam here.