Crossout is all about vehicular destruction on a massive scale. It's right there in the game's tagline, “Craft, ride, destroy.” Gaming Blend sat down with Gaijin Entertainment's Yulia Shveyko during E3 2015 to discuss each of those three facets of the game, as well as see some of the carnage in action.
If you're familiar with Gaijin Entertainment, it's likely because you've played their hugely popular free-to-play WWII combat game, War Thunder. They're also the publisher behind Star Conflict, Birds of Steel and Death Track: Resurrection, just to name a few. With Crossout, the publisher is partnering with developer Targem Games to offer up a new kind of MMO that destruction derby fans will almost certainly get a kick out of.
Before spilling the details on Crossout, Shveyko shared a brief trailer for Crossout boasting PC gameplay in the alpha stages of development. Sporting a Mad Max meets Twisted Metal vibe, loads of vehicles parade around pits filled with trenches, open spaces and rolling hill, all the while ramming and blasting their opponents with all manner of projectiles. Shveyko explained:
Crossout is an action-packed MMO set in a post-apocalyptic world devastated by alien invasion. Aside from the battles, another big part of the gameplay is the construction and customization process. We do not have any fixed classes or patterns. Players are free to create any kind of video that they want.
Shveyko said that the only thing limiting player creation in Crossout is the roof of your garage and your imagination. When you're not in the midst of combat, you'll spend time improving your rides, with multiple slots available for your favorite rides.
Every new part effects the whole vehicles performance. For example, if you add heavy armor, it will increase the total weight and it might reduce the speed and maneuverability. Some parts require additional parts to be added, too, which is something you'll want to keep in mind. A stealth generator requires electricity, for instance, so you'll have to add an electricity generator as well. You'll also need to make sure you've provided enough room on your ride to place these parts.
As you play the game, you'll earn basic spare parts for the crafting system. These bits and bolts can then be combined to make more complicated parts, which can then be added to your ride. Shveyko said that another important feature will be the ability to trade with other players either outright, or using real world money. Everything in the game can be made from scratch but, if you've just got to have that special rocket launcher nice and early, maybe someone will be willing to sell it to you for a couple of bucks, similar to the store in Diablo III.
You can create everything from the speediest of buggies to the heaviest of frog vehicles. You can create anything you want because you have dozens and dozens of different details that can be combined and painted in hundreds of combinations.
Next up, Shveyko showed off Crossout's test drive feature. After you've bolted on all of the offensive and defensive parts you want, you can roll into an empty arena featuring an exact replica of the vehicle you've just created.
You can shoot it from different sides, check the thickest and thinnest places in the armor and basically fight yourself to see how your vehicle holds up in battle. Once you've tested it, you can go back into the garage to change something or drop straight into the battle.
Similar to the construction process, parts getting destroyed in combat will affect your vehicle through the rest of the match. The key area you'll want to protect is your cabin, where the driver and engine are stored. Pretty much everything else on your ride can be shot off and you can keep on limping forward. The moment your cabin gets torched, though, it's game over.
Currently in early alpha testing, Crossout is slated to launch on PC sometime this fall, though Shveyko said that other platforms are always a possibility, considering Gaijin's track record. A pricing model has not yet been set in stone, so whether or not Crossout will come with a price tag or be free-to-play is uncertain.
