NCSoft announces new sci-fi shooter MMO
Seoul-destroying.
NCSoft, the South Korean studio known for Guild Wars, has announced a new project currently in development.
Titled LLL, the game is a sci-fi, third-person shooter MMO set in Seoul.
LLL was revealed alongside an interview with the game's project leader Bae Jaehyun and two videos.
The first video, embedded above, is a gameplay trailer - albeit gameplay from a development build. The footage shows the playable character moving through a dilapidated building to a run-down train tunnel, whilst gunning down heavily armoured mutant foes. The player then emerges above ground, where a battle between their human allies and the enemies is in full swing. The surroundings look like a modern day Seoul, but traces of other time periods are evident too. The player takes control of an enemy's mecha (because it wouldn't be sci-fi without getting to pilot a massive robot), and the trailer ends with a huge creature made of a bunch of arms suddenly appearing.
There's a lot to take in! The second video, embedded below, contains interview with Bae, art director Bae Incheol and technical director Son Donghee. Bae Jaehyun explained the concept of the game stemmed from two main questions: "if technology were to advance without limitations, would what it means to be human also change?" and "what if multiple groups at starkly different levels of technological advancement were to encounter each other?"
Plenty of other details were shared in the interview with Bae Jaehyun. Bae stated that LLL will have a seamless open-world, which measures at "more than 30km of land". The game's plot takes place in an alternate history where "the history we know progressed differently due to a particular event in the past", which has caused Seoul, the Byzantine Empire and the 23rd century to become entangled with one another. Bae took inspiration from sci-fi works including Dune, Foundation (Isaac Asimov), and several of Philip K. Dick's novels.
Bae also said the team went to Seoul multiple times for source material, and created 3D maps of the city from photo scans. The environment in LLL can be traversed with a number of different vehicles, including robots and helicopters, and combat has an emphasis on seeking high ground. LLL will have both PvP and PvE modes. NCSoft is currently targeting a release in 2024 on PC and console.
NCSoft has a number of other ambitious projects in the works currently. In June, we got a look at Project M, an interactive narrative game which looks extremely detailed. NCSoft is also reportedly working on a Horizon MMO in partnership with Sony.