Empulse is a blatant rip-off but I love it
As a massive Titanfall fan, I launched Empulse wanting to love it, and I wasn’t disappointed. I know it’s a blatant rip-off and an inferior facsimile of what I truly want, but it’s got just enough fresh ideas and does just enough of a good impression to keep me happy.
Lots of games are clearly inspired by other games, but Empulse goes a step further: This is Titanfall made by fans of Titanfall. Normally, I’d be dismissive of this; it demonstrates a lack of creativity. I was sceptical because it’s coming from 1047 Games, who seemed to be perpetually trying to rerelease Splitgate to demand that it got noticed, after provocatively wearing a ‘make FPS great again’ hat at Summer Games Fest.
But if I let that be an obstacle, I wouldn’t be able to look forward to a new game that’s a lot like Titanfall. Empulse is a lot like Titanfall and you can play it right now with the Steam Next Fest Demo. It launches into Early Access on 24th June on Steam.
Empulse is an arena shooter where you play as a lancer who can wall run, grapple hook, and kneeslide their way around futuristic urban maps while shooting each other to pieces. Sometimes, they can get into a mech which carries a large cannon and rockets along with an energy barrier and can be used as a show of overwhelming force in the right hands.
This all leads to a balance of quick and agile lancers darting around the mechs to take them down, knowing that they’ll be reduced to a pink mist if they hesitate too long and get into the sights of that 40mm cannon. You’d need to have literally never heard of Titanfall to not spot the similarities.