Fun in hero shooting falls short

Unity is a hero-based multiplayer shooter where you run around sci-fi maps on far-flung planets, using pistols, cannons, fireballs, and knives to destroy enemies in familiar modes like Capture the Point and Kill Stuff. There's nothing in it that surprised or blew me away, but it's pretty and, more importantly, it's fun. That's the worst part about it.

Unity has so much going against it – bad vibes, a cacophonous presentation, and a general sense of apathy that I haven't experienced in a first-party PlayStation game in a decade – but it's clear that a lot of love, care, and attention has gone into every aspect of the live-service shooter, even if not all or even most of it is really paying off yet. The game isn't bad! So why am I so hesitant to call it good?

I played about 5-7 hours this week during the Early Access phase, before Unitys launch on August 23, and, as was the case during the betathe gameplay is solid moment to moment, and I really enjoyed experimenting with the unique weapons, abilities, and movement styles of the starting lineup of 16 “freegunners.” It feels like walking into a new restaurant and enjoying a novel menu full of experimental dishes and new twists on old classics. But would I really want to eat here every day, or even once a week?

The news that developers at Firewalk Studios, which Sony acquired just last year, are working on Unity in any form for up to eight yearsbecame wow-exciting for some, but nothing about the game feels cheap or ill-considered, from the detailed character models and elaborate custom cosmetic kits to the sleek interface and bespoke text fonts. I love that you navigate menus directly rather than via a floating on-screen cursor, and in-game vignettes, animated shorts, and a sprawling lore map hint at a lot of deep and imaginative world-building.

On its own it would not be difficult to recommend Unityespecially a decade ago, when we weren't swimming in online multiplayer shooters, especially colorful ones that weren't called Call of Duty or Battlefield. Unfortunately, it is 2024 and a live service game does not offer a discrete experience but requires an ongoing relationship and committed investment, and there are many time-wasters out there competing for the precious and dwindling minutes of people on this earth. And there are simply not many things that draw me back to Unity and many who actively pull it down.

Matches are short, most lasting around five minutes. This can be good for getting in quickly, getting a taste of the action, getting some cool kills and completing a few objectives, and then not getting lost in the loose matchmaking chaos as one team blows the other out of the water. Occasionally, it feels like matches are cut off just when they're starting to get interesting. It takes a few rounds to get a feel for the strangers on your team and your opponents on the other side, with mini-dramas and revenge stories flickering in and out as the match progresses.

It takes a lot of strategy when it comes to planning matchups, changing team compositions, and gaining bonuses by putting more and more players from your squad on the field in a given game. Unitys Crew Builder mechanic, which adds additional interesting intricacies with a card system for alternate variants of each freegunner with different bonuses. Often it just feels like matches are too short to develop any interesting dynamics, and Rivalry mode, one of three playlists available at launch, simply didn't have enough players to test it out before launch. Unity's full launch (in my attempts, matchmaking always expired after a 10 minute wait).

The characters themselves should be a big draw, and some of them are. Haymar, a glass cannon space sorceress with a crossbow and fire magic, is by far my favorite. I love hovering above the battlefield, unloading her arsenal, and then disappearing back into cover in midair. I won't lie though, sometimes the Freegunner designs wash over me like the colorful but indistinct musings of a sci-fi character randomizer, hence the “we already have Guardians of the Galaxy at home” dig some have thrown on Unity since it was first revealed.

Progression is also an area that doesn't really work for me. Since there are no supers or mini-objectives like killstreaks to track during matches, it doesn't feel like you're working toward anything other than maintaining a healthy KDA and keeping track of the tug-of-war for objectives. And while I've grown to like some maps over time, too many of them feel too sprawling and barren, and garish colors mask the lack of interesting scenery. The simplicity doesn't help spark the fantasy of being a space mercenary in the middle of a gunfight in an exotic location, and it didn't, for me at least, add an extra layer of readability to the environments. My favorite multiplayer shooter maps have spaces that take on their own personality thanks to the type of encounters they facilitate, and most of my games have felt too chaotic for that.

Mostly, and this could probably change after UnityWhen the game first released, it just felt a little lonely. Part of that is due to the size of the environments relative to the five teams of heroes battling in them. Part of it is due to the lack of any social interaction, aside from the kill log that flashes on the right side of the screen. And part of it is due to the fact that for $40, you Unity feels like a relatively superficial experience at the moment. There is a treasure trove of nice but mostly irrelevant cosmetics that you can unlock, instead of a Battle Pass and seasons will be free and bring new characters, maps and modes, as well as weekly story highlights.

This could be a smart strategy for a successful live service game, but I'm not sure what currently exists is enough to bridge that point. I would let my friends play a few rounds with me if Unity was free to play. I wish we had a PVP game with a lively aesthetic that is not as sweaty as some online shooters. But as much fun as I had with Unity so far, moment to moment gameplay hasn't reached the point where I can recommend others take a break from their busy lives, give up their current obsessions, and bet on it.

Two of the biggest feelings surrounding the game this week are that it surprisingly funny and also that no one seems to talk about itThe game was released on Steam today. with less than 1,000 simultaneous playersI am convinced that Unity could with enough time, resources, and community support, it could become something special. The same could be said about many other games, though. It's good enough that I want to keep playing right now, but “right now” isn't as long as it used to be, and the flood of incredible games being released all the time makes it harder than ever to invest time in something that's merely good, let alone not quite fully fleshed out.