Project Xandata–the Filipino-made FPS game–is a mix between Quake and Overwatch. It’s fast-paced and offers plenty of customization to adapt in the middle of a match. I first played this game as early as 2017 and already it was showing some promise. Now, nearing it’s Early Acess, Project Xandata feels far more refined.
Project Xandata focuses more on 3v3 matches, rather than the standard 5v5. I don’t mind this at all, as maps are designed to be tight, focusing on intense gun fights. The maps themselves are small, so after respawning, you can immediately run toward the point of action in less time.
Each character you play has a set of skills you can use on the field and what’s more, these skills are swappable during the game, allowing flexible approaches between each engagement.
There are multiple game modes available. There’s the Annihilation mode, which was locked during our play tests. This mode is where all the ranked matches fall into. They have a mode called Skirmish, where teams race to get the highest points by taking out enemy players.
They have a game mode called Overcharged, where you plant batteries and charge it in your respective bases. Enemies can steal the battery last minute and charge it on their base. I found this mode incredibly fun, but I do feel the standard time of battery charging took too long, plus the entire game round itself felt too winded for my taste.
Lastly, they have Free-for-All, which is self-explanatory. It’s their game mode where you blast anyone and everyone to smithereens.
Compared to my experiences in Overwatch and Valorant, the Xandats (the characters you play as) are beefier and able to withstand gunfire for at least two seconds, even with accurate headshots.
You can even switch between your loadouts on the fly, changing primary and secondary weapons to realign your team strategy. It also includes weapon customizations, where you can change your weapons’ properties, like increasing weapon power but decreasing ammo capacity. This lets players build their characters and fine-tune them to maximize their skills and strategy.
So far, there are three Xandat classes to choose from: Agent, Juggernaut, and the Marksman.
Agent is the typical “balanced” character. The Juggernaut is the bullet sponge and a heavy hitter. The Marksman is the ranger-type of character that uses speed and comes with tactical skills.
I’m not big into FPS. I suck at it (but I am good at Souls games and 2D platformers, Kaizo Mario?) but I do appreciate the art and style of Project Xandata. Secret 6 said they’ve used Mega Man as an inspiration and it shows, the Juggernaut looks like Vile and the Agent has clear Mega Man X influences. In the future, more skins will start rolling out.
One of the more common problems in competitive gaming is the level of toxicity. While a little trash talk can be healthy during games, sometimes it can go overboard, discouraging new and still-learning players. Looks like Project Xandata will be no different. Though Secret 6 did say they are working on ways to help reduce toxicity based on their research, the in-game, for instance the repeated over voice “The enemy has the battery, do I have to tell you what to do?” hounding you after every time you respawn, which can get a bit annoying. To be fair, the game will be in Early Access, so this is technically still a work in progress. There’s also that little issue where getting a few kills will tag the player with “Meh'' status. Of course, it’s done in good faith, as part of the game’s humor, but I can see how that may discourage some players.
I suppose we can say that Project Xandata is aimed for truly hardcore FPS players who are looking for new thrills after playing Valorant, Apex, and CS:GO.
Project Xandata will become available via Steam on March 22.