E3 Videos (No Discussion)

The Berlin based developer Yager announced Dreadnought, a Free 2 Play Space Shooter that will release next year. If you cringed upon hearing Free To Play, rest assured that Yager doesn't go for an ominous Pay To Win Model, but would rather expand the World with the Community. We're not allowed to go into more detail, but Yager's Explanations sounded quite fair and thought through.

Dreadnought plays about 500 years into the future, after a war between two major factions battling for the various resources of the Solar System. We're not part of either faction, but are instead Outcasts that turned their back on the war, to save the lives of their crew.

We aren't Lone Wolfs though, since we can ally ourselves with other players and create Alliances. Team play is the focus in general, if you're going at it alone, you've pretty much lost.

All in all, there will be 5 different Types of Ships, each one sporting several variants. The Destroyer is a relatively classic warship, whereupon the Artillery Cruiser works as some kind of Sniper, the Corvettes as well as the healing-centric Tactical Cruiser, are the smallest and most agile Classes and are best suited to Guerrilla Warfare. Last but not least, there are the eponymous Dreadnoughts. Unbelievably large Battleships with an equally impressive Firepower, as we can see here right now.

The combat plays appreciably different. Instead of fast paced action, the spaceships move and control according to their Size and demand the skillful use of their respective Special Abilities. Using the Corvettes, you'd best remain in constant motion, while the Artillery Cruisers pick a place away from the Battlefield. The Destroyers and Dreadnoughts are relatively slow, so you're usually trying to get the enemy to fly into a broadside. The maneuvering into perfect Battle positions is reminiscent of the Sea battles in Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag.

All in All, each Class has 4 different abilities, as well as primary and secondary Cannons, so you can adapt to any combat situation, which offers an enormous tactical depth. Additionally, you can manage your Power Levels, to increase your shields for example. Despite the rather slow game speed, Dreadnought shines with a lot of Action that feels weighty and authentic.

It's too early for a real estimation, but Dreadnought has a lot of potential.