5 years later, we finally know the 2K studio from the Dead Space and Call of Duty lead is making a roguelike hero shooter that’s an “evolution on the genre”

Five years after its formation, the 2K studio 31st Union has revealed its debut project: a free-to-play, third-person roguelike hero shooter tentatively titled Project Ethos.

31st Union has had an interesting history since its formation in 2019. It was founded by Sledgehammer Games co-founder and former studio head Michael Condrey as 2K Silicon Valley in 2019 and officially named 31st Union in 2020. That’s not all that interesting, but it is pretty weird that the new studio said it would be focused on “a single new IP at the time” and then waited almost five years to reveal it. To be fair, a little something called COVID-19 happened between then and now, but that’s a long time between announcement and reveal regardless.

Project Ethos is described in a new press release as “a new free-to-play, 3rd-person roguelike hero shooter and an exciting evolution on the genre.” The roguelike element sounds like an interesting twist on a well-established genre, and it sounds like it’ll revolve around something called Evolutions, which 31st describes as “powerful, semi-randomized, upgrades unique to each hero. Evolve a sniper into a close-range skirmisher, or a support role into a powerful lone wolf. Build your hero in real-time to suit your personal playstyle.”

31st also says every run will be unique thanks to new abilities, stakes, and challenges that’ll be different every match. “With the clock ticking, do you safely extract with your hard-earned cores, or go big, risk it all, and see if you and your team can earn top ranking. The choice is yours,” reads the press release.

The main game mode is an Extraction mode in which you “drop into Trials, an ongoing, persistent fight to collect cores, extract, and unlock powerful Augments which fuel your future Trails runs.” Then there’s Gauntlet mode, which is the more competitive tournament mode in which teams duke it out to be the last one standing. You’ll still upgrade your hero after each match like a proper roguelike, but Gauntlet sounds like the most straightforward hero shooter mode.

There’s a playtest happening this weekend only where you can experience both modes early. The playtest is limited to the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, but if you live in one of those territories, you can get access to the playtest by heading to the official Project Ethos Twitch channel and watching one of the partnered streams for 30 minutes.

Here’s a breakdown of when the Project Ethos playtest will be live by region:

North American Countries

October 17: 9am – 11pm PT
October 18-20: 11am – 11pm PT
European Countries

October 17: 5pm – 1am GMT+1
October 18-21: 1pm – 1am GMT+1

Meanwhile, a battle royale hero shooter MOBA from ex-League of Legends devs is smashing the Steam Next Fest charts.