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Gamescom 2017: Shadowgun Legends is sort of like Destiny 2, but in the palm of your hand

And it might just do it

Gamescom 2017: Shadowgun Legends is sort of like Destiny 2, but in the palm of your hand
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| Shadowgun Legends

Shadowgun Legends wants to be Destiny. Well, it wants to be the mobile Shadowgun version of Destiny, with swagger and silliness and lovely meaty shooting that makes you smile on the inside and out.

And bugger me if it doesn't work. I don't know what it's like when you're playing with other people, but the slice of game that I got to stick my face into at Gamescom was an entertaining and slick experience.

Bang bang bang

The meat of the game is obviously in the blasting. I play a mission that sees me stomping through a series of space bunkers, shooting aliens in the face with a shotgun that feels like it might be able to shoot through the sun.

I'm playing with auto-shoot turned on, but the game still feels tough. Assailants leap from structures, dance around pillars and try to out flank me, and fire large weapons into my general vicinity.

This being a demo I'm already a tooled up deep space killer, but that doesn't change the slick rhythm of the play. Firefights are short and sweet, then it's off to the next objective marker to move the little story along.

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And story is key here. Your story. In the central hub, which acts like Destiny's tower, there are monuments to your achievements. There's a statue, vid-screens displaying your triumphant return. You build your legend through play, and you build it your way.

There's a bar in the hub, and you can get drunk there. Why not try getting drunk and going out on a mission. You'll be remembered for that. Or maybe you want to do a mission naked? Knock yourself out.

This is a game that encourages you to play in your own way, to forge your own path through it. Yeah you're still blasting alien scum in the gut, but you get to pick your style, and that's pretty darn important.

Kiss kiss blam blam

But there's more going on here too. There's thick and juicy character customisation, from the cosmetic to the skills you can deploy on the battlefield. Oh, and it looks absolutely stunning as well.

There have been decent shooters on the App Store and Play Store before, but Shadowgun Legends is gunning for greatness. And I might have only played 20 minutes of it, but judging by that it may well get pretty darn close.

Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.