Rogue Point Pulls The Retro FPS Aesthetic Into The Modern Age

Team 17 has officially revealed the next game from the indie developer behind the free Half-Life remake, Black Mesa. It’s called Rogue Point, it’s completely silly, and very much up your street if you liked Tactical FPS titles back in the day.

The aptly named Crowbar Collective is continuing to make the games it appears to be best at, first-person shooters. I love a good FPS title, but making a new one is hard in this modern age when massive publishers throw millions at making the best. Luckily, Rogue Point perfectly toes the line between being too tongue-in-cheek, way too serious, and has no microtransactions.

Rogue Point Brings The Heat Of A Live Service Shooter Without The Microtransactions

This mental trailer for Rogue Point might look a little ridiculous, but I think it perfectly illustrates what you’ll experience. First and foremost is fun-filled gameplay.

You play as one of five Merx class combatants who each have their own play style. Your goal is to breach one of the four diverse locations with up to three others, kill all who stand in your way, and collect the cash and other rewards when you emerge victorious.

This isn’t a simple smash and grab, though. Instead, you’ve got a pre-match phase with planning. Of course, you can just draw a dumb picture of your butt if you want, but here is where you lay out what you’ll do to help the team as they do the same.

Once the planning is over, it’s time to get in and earn your money. In this world, the last CEO in existence has died, and businesses are carving up his empire. Merx are businesses, and you’re out for as big a slice as you can get.

Your slice earns you in-game money to spend on gear for your next mission. You can also buy cosmetics, and bet it all on loot boxes with a crazy stranger. This is the most live service aspect you’ll see in the game, because it’s not going to try to charge you for more stuff. The devs just want you to play and have fun. How novel in 2025.

What really attracts me to the gameplay is how it resembles modern tactical shooters like Rainbow Six Siege, Splinter Cell, and even TimeSplitters. It’s retro-inspiration with all the modern takes necessary to stand up against competitors like Borderlands 4 that believe they can win you over with toilet humor.

I love the look of Rogue Point, but you’ll have to wait until next year sometime before you can try it out. Make sure you follow us on all our socials and keep an eye on our free Patreon membership for updates as and when we publish them.

About the Author

Jamie Moorcroft Sharp

Editor

Jamie adores the indie games that you don’t hear about until you’re on a video essay binge at 3AM and suddenly the sound of them changes your life. He’s played games all his life and loves looking at the intricate details that make them magical and different. If there’s a wierd list, embarrassing feature, or something else far too out there on Bonus Action, there’s a good chance he wrote it. But that’s not all! He’s also an absolute fiend who never knows when to stop when he puts on his dirty robes and takes on his D&D persona as a Mud Warlock who acts on that tiny voice in your head when it wonders what would happen if you did something really dumb right now. He’s easy to beat in a TGC, though, just keep an eye out for his crazy card combos.

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