Neotokyo°

Titanfall who? The best multiplayer shooter of the year so far is a mod for a 10-year-old game, and it’s free. The game is called NeoTokyo, a cyberpunk tactical multiplayer shooter that feels a lot like Ghost in the Shell crossed with Counter-Strike.

Originally launched as a standalone mod in 2009, NeoTokyo has been a critical darling and community favorite ever since. The only issue has been its lack of players, but that’s changed now: On July 4, NeoTokyo officially launched on the digital distribution service Steam, making it easily accessible to a wide new swath of players.

NeoTokyo is built on Valve’s Source engine, the same as CounterStrike: Global Offensive and Half-Life 2, and has many similar gameplay features. Its primary mode is a capture-the-flag variant in which two teams try to obtain and return a vital piece of data to their bases.

NeoTokyo rewards players for good performance. Instead of receiving money to buy better gear, players earn experience points for completing objectives, killing enemy players, or staying alive until the end of the round. Leveling up unlocks new weapons and abilities, but these stats are reset at the end of the match, putting everyone on equal footing when the next one starts.

A key difference from Counter-Strike is NeoTokyo’s class system. Players can choose one of three unit types—Recon, Assault, and Support—each with their own stats, weapon loadouts and abilities. Each class has a unique vision power, such as night vision or motion sensing. Recon and Assault also have an active camouflage that grants temporary invisibility. In many ways, this makes NeoTokyo like a fusion of Team Fortress 2′s class-based combat with the tactical precision of Counter-Strike.

Jumping into a match, I was a bit overwhelmed at first by players who had been at the game longer. This was especially so since NeoTokyo doesn’t have a minimap or radar, and doesn’t show you the direction of incoming damage.

Once my team started chatting with each other, eventually plugging in microphones and verbally coordinating our strategy, we easily pulled ahead. I see this as an example of NeoTokyo’s emphasis on precise, tactical play. If a bunch of scrubs can start winning after an hour or so working together, I can only imagine how rewarding it might be in the hands of seasoned pros.

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